Erin Williams Detwiler

Mrs. Detwiler was born April 30, 1920, in Forsyth, Georgia, to Dr. Guy W. Williams and Erin (Howard) Williams. Her father died before her first birthday, and from the age of four, she was raised in part by her step-father, John Thomas DeBardeleben, a Chaplain in the United States Army, whom she adored.

She graduated from Bayside High School, Bayside, Queens, New York, in 1938. She continued her education at Randolph Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, where she was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority.

She married Second Lieutenant Robert Putnam Detwiler on June 17, 1941, in Columbia, South Carolina, following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. They met as teenagers in the Panama Canal Zone, and over their lifetime together, they lived in the Philippines, Okinawa, England, Germany and from coast to coast, border to border, in the United States.

Throughout her life, she was an active church and community member. As a young wife and mother, she volunteered her time as a nurses' aide during World War II. She served as president for several of the many Officers' Wives Clubs she belonged to around the world. When she lived in El Paso in the 1950s and 60s, she was an avid member of the Republican Party. In San Antonio, she was for many years a member of Bible Study Fellowship, for which she taught children's Bible classes and later an adult class. Similarly, she taught children's and adult Sunday school classes at McArthur Park Lutheran Church. After settling at the Army Residence Community, she taught an adult Bible class for a number of years. She also enjoyed being an ARC Angel in the Health Care facility, pushing wheel chairs and juice carts, and serving at Health Care parties and playing Bingo for the residents. She especially enjoyed being with family, and she was well known by her many friends for her wit and caring personality.

She is survived by daughters Mary Katherine (Kit) Stone, Erin Dorothy (Dot) Lucas and husband Dr. T. Charles Lucas, and Ann Elizabeth (Bette) Martin and husband Louis B. Martin; grandchildren, Susan Erin Stone, Robert Jerry Stone III and wife Michelle, Taylor Nash Stone and wife Jennifer, Rollin Stone Skowronski and husband Anton, Christopher Charles Lucas and wife Cindy, Scott Alexander Lucas and wife Karen, Dr. James Beeman Lucas and wife Kristi, Lisa Whitecotton Wilkiewicz and husband Sobek, Kathryn Whitecotton Wilson and husband James, and Catherine Fisch Woerheide and husband John; twenty-six great grandchildren, Addie, Sutton, Emily, Sarah, Mary, Vivienne, Genevieve, Josh and his wife Alexandra, Katie, Timothy, Jessica, Matthew, Megan, Jack, Erin, Lindsay, Weston, Amy, Aidan, Morgan, Nick and his wife Vanessa, Jason, Laurel, Daisy, Will, and Stuart and his wife Amanda; great great granddaughter Kinsley; her brother John Thomas DeBardeleben, Jr.; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

Pre-deceasing her were her husband, Colonel Robert Putnam Detwiler; her parents and step-father; two brothers, Guy Watkins Williams, Jr., and Robert Howard DeBardeleben; her sister, Mary DeBardeleben Moore; granddaughter Erin Elizabeth Lucas; and great grandson Colin Taylor Stone.

Burial will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery and will be for family only.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at The Chapel, Army Residence Community, 7400 Crestway, San Antonio, 78239, on Friday, May 15, 2015, at 1 p.m., followed by a reception in the ARC's Sky Lounge.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Center for the Intrepid at 210-916-5131 or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.