Warren Harley Wilson

Centenarian Warren Harley Wilson was born an only child to Jack and Goldie (Stagman) Wilson on March 3, 1922, in West Bend, Iowa. (You know—where the Grotto is.). He grew up surrounded by friends, neighbors, and extended family after his father died before his fifth birthday. He played basketball, piano and trumpet when he wasn’t “going uptown” for ice cream and the talkies.

After high school, he passed the Civil Service Exam and headed to Washington, D.C., for a job at the Department of the Treasury. Drafted into WWII in 1942, he served with Patton’s Third Army in England, France and Germany until 1945.

Back in Washington, he landed a job with the Internal Revenue Service, and during one of the agency’s socials, he asked a pretty girl from Alabama to dance. Warren and Alice (Stephenson) married on August 15, 1947.

His bride was willing to move to Iowa as long as Warren committed to college. The G.I. Bill took him to Drake University, a long streetcar ride from housing at Fort Des Moines, where the family now included two young girls. An accounting degree led Warren to what would become a 33-year career with Farm Bureau Insurance, and a move to the growing Urbandale suburb gave the family room for two more girls. (A male cat, oddly named April, was the closet Warren got to a son.)

In later years, in between visits to daughters on both coasts, Warren and Alice played in the local duplicate bridge scene. Many of their Bridge House friends, along with Farm Bureau colleagues and family, helped the couple celebrate 50 years of marriage in 1997. By then, Alice’s health began to decline, the couple retreated from most activities, and Warren became a devoted caregiver until her death in 2005.

He remained in their West Des Moines townhome, visited often by family, enjoying impromptu road trips, taking his daughters to the opera, tolerating their silly games and paper crowns, and always, relentlessly, following the stock market and tallying his spreadsheets. To. The. Penny.

Warren was always generous, always the peacemaker. He was a quiet, stoic, no-nonsense-no-fuss guy who coveted his independence by living on his own and renewing his driver’s license each year (including this one) so he could continue cruising his Chevy through the McDonald’s drive-through for a McGriddle and a senior coffee.

Someone once referred to Warren as “The Legend.” Yeah, that about sums it up.

Warren is survived by his daughters Belinda Vitale, Barbara Williams and Beth Wilson; grandchildren Michelle (Landers) Martinez, David and Jeff Vitale, and Meghan Williams; and great-grandchildren Rylee and Shalyn Martinez, and Nixon, Nolan and Nash Vitale.

Warren was preceded in death by his daughter Beverly Landers and his wife, Alice.

Services will be private with family members only. In lieu of flowers, consider honoring Warren with a donation to EveryStep Hospice (EveryStep.org/donate). Memories and condolences can be shared with the Wilson family at McLarensResthavenChapel.com or mailed to McLaren’s, 801 19th Street, West Des Moines, Iowa, 50265, ATTN: The Family of Warren Wilson.