Wilma Louise Douglas Heidenreich

Wilma Louise Douglas Heidenreich was born in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky in a coal mining company town on January 3, 1924. She was dancing as she waved her last goodbye kiss to her family on October 20, 2020. Predeceased by her husband John after sharing sixty-seven years, she was his little cutie pie.' She was renowned for her food, especially her tins of Xmas cookies, baked with love, for all the family members; for her exquisite sewing and stained glass projects; and for that stern, arthritic, matriarchal finger that kept popping up to keep her family in line, as she dispensed advice, without any success. Physically she was a dynamo: hiking throughout her eighties, dancing at ninety-five, and always active. She became a star' with residents and staff when she moved into Cottonwood Village at the age of ninety-one, constantly in motion, rarely in her room. Wilma is survived by her four daughters Johnny's angels' Linda, Laura, Karen (Bert) McKinnon, and Yvonne (Ed) Coughlin; grandsons Tom, Steve, and Johri; granddaughters Thalia, Sharon, Laurie, Audrey, and Allison; many great grandchildren, nephews, nieces, siblings, and cousins. There will be a private ceremony at a later date, a hike and picnic, at her favorite hiking spot, Dead Horse State Park Lagoons, to remember Wilma's life, love, and strength. Your strength and influence, the role model that you are, has continued trickling down...and as the matriarch of our family it all started with you...So many Grandmas pass along love, but not many can do this while making others strong, confident, and centered to what's right.' (Steve's Letter to Grandma 10/29/18) And a special heartfelt thanks from Wilma's girls' to her wonderful caregivers at Cottonwood Village! With their love and care, her last years were rich with compassion.