Wilma E Hoy

John and Margaret McCleerey gave birth to daughter Wilma Elizabeth Doris McCleerey on July 5, 1921 in Willow Springs, Missouri. She had 4 brothers Ralph, Floyd, Earl, and Owen and one sister, Frances. Wilma was raised in Iowa in the Smithland-Mapleton area and graduated from High School at the age of 16. She worked for a short period of time in the general store in Smithland. She was asked to help a friend move to Kentucky and then World War II started. Wilma found work in an aircraft factory in Utah where she help detailed plane interiors before deployment. Also she helped to load ball bearings into burlap bags that were then placed in shells. When she left Utah, she traveled to California with a friend, but was growing home sick for her parents, so she decided to go home. Her parents had moved to Lusk, Wyoming so she made her way there. Wilma found work in the local bakery and got to know the residents of Lusk. She met and later married Albert C. Hoy on February 24, 1946 in Lusk and they started a family there. Albert was a carpenter by trade, and they moved several times following work, but returned to Lusk to bring up their family. Wilma gave birth to three daughters, Alice Elizabeth, Mary Frances and Julie Ann. When the girls got older, she'd help supplement the family income by working in the snack bar at the drive-in theater during the summer, a more permanent position came at the Lusk Herald newspaper office, and each fall selling apples from the family orchard. One of the things Wilma enjoyed most was the sense of accomplishment she got from canning fruits and vegetables in the late summer and early fall. A family favorite was apple butter, which according to Wilma, had to sit until Thanksgiving so the spices could mature. As the colorful jars started lining the shelves in the basement, she would start smiling and say, "this will do until next year". Wilma also loved to sew and made many many many dresses and outfits for her daughters and herself. As the family changed and grew, she would sew for her granddaughters also. She also made the gowns Alice and Mary Frances were married in. In 1964, the family moved to Spokane, Washington where she became a stay at home mom. She helped Albert start a small remodeling business after he retired and kept the books and even went with him at times to help fetch and carry so the job went faster. Having always gone to church, Wilma and Albert searched for and found a new church home at Central Baptist Church. Wilma found pleasure in teaching Sunday school, she joined the Dorcas Circle and also helped with weddings, showers, and funerals, but her favorite was sewing day. She loved packing her lunch and going to help make something new for a someone in need. She helped care for Albert in his declining years and then lived with oldest daughter Alice and her husband in the family home. She spent the last year in an assisted care facility because she required a greater amount of care. Visitation will be on Monday and Tuesday April 23 and 24th from 9:00AM – 5:00PM at Riplinger Funeral Home 4305 N. Division Spokane, WA. Funeral service will be held at the Central Baptist Church 19 W. Shannon in Spokane on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 beginning at 1:00PM followed by interment at Fairmount Memorial Park Cemetery.