Wilmina Avey

Wilmina (Harshman) Avey, formerly of Ossian, and more recently living at the River Terrace Retirement Community, passed into life everlasting on June 9, 2015 after a brief illness. Wilmina, known as Mina to her friends, was born on October 22, 1926 in Wells County, Indiana. She was the second child of Golden Jesse and Gaynell (Pace) Harshman. Her father passed in 1930 leaving her young mother with three young children. They grew up with values of hard-work and sense of personal responsibility deeply etched into their beings. She graduated from Petroleum H.S. in 1945. Sometime in 1947 Wallace Avey, recently returned from the Pacific Front of World War II began farming next door and romance soon bloomed. They were married on October 23, 1948 and were a loyal and loving couple until Wallace passed in 2013, just a few days short of their 65th anniversary. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by both her parents and siblings. She is survived by a daughter, Judy (Jim) Reichert of Sedona, AZ; granddaughters, Anika (Josh) Colvin of Port Townsend, WA and Kylene (Kevin) Huff of Westfield; and soon to be five great grandchildren. Mina worked as a bookkeeper until shortly after her daughter was born when she became a full time homemaker. Later she returned to work in retail most recently with Masterson’s in Bluffton. She was perfect at retail because in addition to bookkeeping skills, she has a natural affinity for talking with people and no one was a stranger for long. She loved learning about everyone’s children and interests and quite naturally charmed all who met her. Over the years she became well known for making the best pies with the best crust ever! It went without saying that family reunions, church gathering, and dessert providing would be in the form of not just one but several delicious pies. Even in her final months, she was not only baking pies for her friends at River Terrace, but was teaching children how to do so. She always had a huge smile of greeting and was bubbly and energetic until very near the end of her life. Most of Mina and Wallace’s adult life was spent on their farm near Ossian. They meticulously tended the land, raised bountiful gardens and were good neighbors. In later years, they wintered several years in Florida and were able to travel throughout the U.S. and visited all 50 states. Always courteous and thoughtful of others, they remained humble and thankful for all they were able to achieve and acquire. She had a great love of animals particularly dogs and cats. Her last dog, Abby, was the light of her life. As her health declined, she made the decision that Abby should live with her daughter’s family, but continued to be delighted in regularly hearing tales of puppy

shenanigans. The last two years of Mina’s life were spent at River Terrace Retirement Community. There she met and formed deep, abiding friendships with the residents and staff alike. She participated in social activities and played Rummikub nearly every night. She was able to travel to Arizona several times to visit her daughter and family and attended church at Lancaster Chapel United Methodist Church regularly. Her family, church members, River Terrace staff, residents, friends, and neighbors from her years of living near Ossian were joys in her life. To the loyal family and friends, the wonderful caring people from River Terrace, and those from Lancaster Chapel who continued to provide support, prayer, and spiritual sustenance throughout her life, her family will be forever grateful. A funeral service will be 11:00 am on Monday, June 15, 2015 at Elzey-Patterson-Rodak Funeral Home, 120 West Mill St., Ossian with visitation one hour prior. Visitation will also be from 2-4 pm on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at the funeral home. Burial will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Ossian. Memorials may be made to Lancaster Chapel United Methodist Church.