Sunday, June 12, 2011

Wilma Allee Remembered as Diehard Cardinals Fan, Family Person

Wilma Allee's life was celebrated and remembered Sunday as a good portion of the family came to celebrate her life at the Sheridan Community Building. She was remembered as a diehard Cardinals fan who was always up and doing something and who always was more worried about her children and grandchildren than she was about herself. For instance, she would not let one visitor go on the road in a light van in the snow until she had weighed the back end down with huge cinder blocks so that they would not slide around in the snow or get stuck in the drifts.

Wilma grew up with 14 brothers and sisters and attended country school until the 8th grade. It took a lot of work and many hours in the garden to feed such a large family, but there was still time for "shenanigans" and practical jokes that provided a constant source of laughter. This trait has rubbed off into some of her descendants as great-grandson Brett always seems to give us a hard time about allegedly filling up our car with diesel. Another practical joke we deal with on a regular basis is from a great-granddaughter Megan McClain, who puts up her hand to give a high five and then withdraws it right away and says, "too slow, too slow!" Wilma was a person who loved her family and who left her mark on them for the rest of their lives.

First and foremost, she was a Cardinals fan -- she would always listen to the Cardinals on the radio. In her memory, the family wore Cardinals shirts to the celebration of life and released 94 Cardinals balloons into the sky following the celebration. Family members shared all sorts of stories about Wilma -- for instance, she gave an earful to anyone who thought Mark McGwire was on steriods; however, she had no problem with suggesting that Barry Bonds, who beat McGwire, was on them.

One of the things Wilma hated the most was "I have to go," from one of her many visitors. She would regularly have company at her house; nobody was a stranger for her. Wilma was passionate about Missouri, Northwest Missouri State, and her grandkids' sports including Worth County and Jefferson and would always ask while in the Nursing Home if Worth County or Jefferson was on the radio that evening. She also hated Nebraska with a passion. One thing, however, would have been a dealbreaker for Wilma regarding the Cardinals -- she would say, "If they don't sign Albert Pujols, I'm not going to listen to them anymore!" She was also known for throwing her shoe at the TV over wrestling matches that were on.

Wilma was one of those people who was constantly on the move -- even in a non-rocking chair, she would rock back and forth. She loved wood heat, but she would never let anyone else go and get the wood for her. She and her late husband Bob did all sorts of different things, from running the General Store in Isadora, to to working in the sugar beet fields in Wyoming, to farming turkeys, capons, and sheep on the family farm near Sheridan, to buying cattle for the Grant City Sale Barn in the 1950's, to training and racing horses and competing in tracks across the country from places like Fonner Park and Grand Island, NE in the sping to places like Sportsman's Park in Chicago, Thistledown in Cleveland, and Erie, PA. Wilma was known for working circles around the men when it came to cleaning out the stalls of the horses. She always wanted to be close to the action -- for instance, during a cop chase in Chicago once, instead of taking cover, she sneaked outside and hid behind a dumpster so she could see what was going on until the chase was over.

Wilma was known as a good cook and passed it on to her family and cooked for many years when the Kobbes or Allees had family reunions. Wilma was always worried about family members driving long distances on the roads; she would always worry about whether someone's tooth was better or whether someone had made it home OK even during her time at the Convalescent Center. Among some of her favorite dishes were red salmon and potato soup, game that her family hunted and would mix with mushroom soup which would be mouth-watering, and "wagon wheels," which consisted of sausages, hash browns, and eggs mixed together.

Wilma would have been 94 on Sunday, June 12th. The family released 94 Cardinals balloons to celebrate the occasion and collected 94 different memories of Wilma that they shared at the celebration.

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