Wilma Wallis Gochenour

Wilma Fern Wallis Gochenour was the second child of Walter Kidman and Frances Gee Wallis. She was born on November 20, 1909 in Morgan Township Harrison County north of Mondamin, Iowa. Her grandparents Alfred Gee Frances Holben Gee and John Wallis were originally from England. Her grandmother Margaret Fiefield Wallis was born in Canada.

As a little girl Wilma attended a Union Sunday School at the Dry Lake Rural School. After her parents purchased their first car her older brother drove them to Mondamin to attend the Christian Church. It was there that she made her confession of faith and was baptized in October 1922. She started teaching Sunday School in Mondamin at the age of 18 and taught faithfully for fifty years. When she married the Mondamin Christian Church was where her family attended. Other churches the family attended were the Christian Churches at Logan and Missouri Valley, Iowa.

She graduated from the Mondamin Consolidated Schools in 1928 as the class valedictorian. She attended college the following summer at Estherville, Iowa where teacher training classes were offered through the Iowa State College. After receiving her teaching certificate she taught at the Dry Lake School for one year and the Calhoun Country School for two years. Wilma had a dream to become a Home Economics teacher and worked on a degree in the summers of 1929 and 1930.

That dream changed when she met Ross Isaac Gochenour from the Calhoun Community and married on February 28, 1931 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Ross and Wilma farmed in Harrison County for 40 years. They purchased their first farm in 1941. They worked very hard were careful with their money and did very well in the farming business. Five children were born to their family Esther Ann Michael, Robert Ross Gochenour, Wallis Isaac Gochenour, Walter Francis Gochenour and Wilma Kay Ponte. They had twelve grandchildren and twenty three great grandchildren at the time of Wilma's death.

Wilma enjoyed reading and quilting as hobbies. She made over 150 quilts that were given to family members. She enjoyed people and stayed in contact with the members of her high school graduation class. In younger days she had a very large garden and canned many quarts of vegetables and fruits. She had a small garden in her retirement years and continued to can until her last year. She loved music but never had the opportunity to take music lessons. She did make it possible for each of her children to take music lessons on one or more musical instruments. Before her marriage she paid for piano lessons for a younger sister.

Wilma was a kind and caring person. Her children remember her love and devotion to them their father and grandchildren. She cared most about her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Her Christian life was an example to all who knew her. She read the Bible daily and encouraged others to read and follow His word.

Wilma and Ross retired and moved to a house in Logan. Wilma suffered from arthritis. In May of 1994 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for which she took chemotherapy. She suffered with the effects of those treatments and passed away September 8, 1994. She is now at home with her Lord. A life well lived Wilma Fern Wallis Gochenour. Wilma was a kind and lovely lady. Johnny Wallis her brother and his fourteen children honor Wilma with this stone of remembrance.

12/28/94