Wilma Sherwin Ph.D.

She was born July 26, 1922, in the family home near Patterson, Illinois to Jesse Lee and Rebecca Elva Killebrew Sherwin.

She is survived by nieces, nephews, grand nieces and a grand nephew and their spouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. She was preceded in death by her four siblings, two brothers, John J. and Jesse E. and their spouses of rural Patterson, Illinois, and two sisters, Mary Elva Butcher and her husband of Chillicothe, Missouri, and Winifred Sherwin of Glasgow, IL.

Dr. Sherwin spent a lifetime in the field of education, graduating from White Hill High School in western Illinois, in 1940. She completed her college education with an earned doctorate in medieval English literature from the University of Illinois in Champaign – Urbana, in 1959. She taught at every level of schooling from a one room country school to high school to college. Her longest teaching tenures were at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York and Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, where she retired in 1993.

She was known for her love of foreign travel, family history and antiques. Wilma spent her lifetime supporting many mission organizations. Retirement gave her more time to cultivate her vegetable garden, take long walks around her property and participate in a sewing circle that crafted quilts to be distributed to needy people in other countries. She enjoyed the home she had built on Candler’s Mountain Road, Lynchburg, and often rented rooms to college students. She always said that being around young people, whether in the classroom or at home, kept her young.

Visitation for Wilma is Monday evening, August 11, 2014, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. with a service celebrating her life and witness to follow at 7:00 p.m. at Whitten Timberlake Chapel, 7404 Timberlake Road, Lynchburg. Interment will be in Winchester, IL.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to a mission organization of your choice.