Ila Wilbur, 86, died Jan. 18, 2008.
There will be a family celebration and gathering in her memory during the summer.
Ila Pearl was born on Feb. 21, 1922, at Bridgeport, Wash., to Charles Burton Heller and Bertha Ham Heller. She excelled in her schoolwork and graduated as valedictorian from Brewster High School in 1939.
After graduation, she married Gene Housden of Brewster. They had four children before moving to Hermiston in the early 1950s. Later she married Raymond Wilbur and had two more children while living in Montana and California.
Ila enjoyed being outdoors, flowers, playing games and being with friends and family. She spent the last years of her life with Don and Judy North at Richland, a place she considered home.
“Ila was a good woman and a loving mother and she will be missed by all who knew her,” her family said.
Survivors include her younger brother, Max Heller of Brewster; her five children, Robert Donald Housden of Cheney, Wash., Jack Larry Housden of Laguna Beach, Calif., Samuel Lee Housden of Glendale, Ariz., Alice Ann Cesarano of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Lanny Wilbur of Townsend, Mont.; many in-laws; 22 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her daughter, Debbie.
Memorial contributions may be made to Pathway Hospice through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 21, 2008
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor