Emily Sigrid Wallentinson

Emily Sigrid Olson was born on December 23, 1919 in Newcomerstown, Ohio. She was the eldest of three children, Emily, Martha, and Charles. Her mother, Charity Violet, was the youngest of 13 whose ancestors went back to English settlers here in America well before the Revolutionary War. One ancestor, John Hart the New Jersey representative, signed the Declaration of Independence. Emily's father, Otto, was a merchant marine from Sweden. He had eventually found his way to Newcomerstown by working boats on the nearby river and then working at a local factory.

Emily played the sousaphone, a variant of the tuba, in the high school band. She only weighed 100 pounds then but loved it because no one thought she could play it. She and her sister Martha were also in an accordion band. To help her family out Emily gave piano lessons to neighborhood kids for a penny a lesson. After high school where she was a spelling champion, she went to business school. After graduation she was hired as a secretary for a local business. Even with the dementia of her later years, she could spell any word you gave her. She also used her shorthand to add secret messages to her husband in the love letters she sent him during WW II.

In 1942 she met her future husband, Lawrence Wallentinson, known as Wally in the Navy, when he was on furlough with a friend. They saw each other only five times before they wed on August 30, 1943, but they kept up a lively correspondence before and after their marriage. Emily's brother Charles served as best man shortly before his death in a kamikaze attack on his battleship. They celebrated 69 years of marriage just before Wally's death at age 95 last year. He was still referring to Emily as his "first wife." Their first two children were born in Rhode Island, Denise in 1946 and Larry (Lawrence, Jr.) in 1948. Their third child, Chuckie, was born in Panama in 1956 and died in 1957.

After being stationed in Rhode Island, Kansas, Virginia, Panama, Maine, and Oklahoma, the family "retired" from the Navy in 1960 in Phoenix, Arizona. Emily was the first woman bus driver in the Washington School District as she earned money to help with her children's college funds. She was active at Trinity Methodist Church, her knitting club, and her card club. She and Wally also were in a performance group of senior citizens who put on skits and musical numbers to entertain at rest homes and churches. They also travelled extensively in their motor home, visiting family and Navy friends all over the United States.

Emily is survived by her sister Martha; her children Denise and Larry; her granddaughters Juli, Lisa, Lynn, Candy, and Kristi; fifteen great grandchildren; six nephews; three nieces; and numerous great and great great nephews and nieces. Her firstborn great grandson died as an infant in 1999. A nephew, Larry Price, who was like a son to her and Wally, also preceded in her in death in 2010. In her last years she suffered the loss of much of her memory to a series of micro-strokes which resulted in extreme dementia. Emily may have had dementia and not Alzheimer's, but many of the symptoms are the same. If you wish to donate to an Alzheimer's charity, that would be appreciated.