Frances "Cleo" Wilson

Frances Cleo (Collins) Wilson, 101, died July 15, 2009, at the Jewell County Hospital Long-term Care Unit, Mankato, Kansas. Cleo was born March 10, 1908, at Garden City, Kansas, to John G. and Frances Catherine (Zimmer) Collins.

Cleo received her schooling in Randall, Kansas, graduating in 1926. She attended and graduated in 1932, from Emporia State Teachers College. On February 15, 1936, Cleo and E. Victor Wilson were married in Lawrence, Kansas. After teaching for several years in Lawrence and Hutchinson, Cleo retired and became a secretary of the Grace Episcopal Church in Hutchinson of which she was a faithful member. She belonged to several book clubs, music club, and was a member of the church choir.

In 1997, they moved to a retirement home in Syracuse, Kansas. After the death of her husband in 2001, she moved to Mankato to the Jewell County Hospital Long-term Care Unit.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; two sisters - Hilda Hower and Louise Powell; and two brothers - Murray and Carroll Collins. Survivors include one sister - Alda Rich of Hercules, California; nieces - Pat Grout of Mankato, Kansas; Kathy Tucker of Junction City, Kansas; Cheri Elvin of Lenexa, Kansas; Linda Glessner, Tacoma, Washington, and Judy Fulton of Rodeo, California; and nephews - Robert Wilson of Gardner, Kansas; Mahlon Powell of Salina, Kansas; James Powell of Tucson, Arizona; Skeet Powell of Temple, Texas; and Larry Hower of Waterdown, Ontario, Canada.

A requiem Eucharist at the Grace Episcopal Church, Hutchinson, Kansas, will be Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 1:00 p.m., with Fathers Mike Milliken and Larry Steadman officiating. Inurnment will follow at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Jewell County Hospital Long-term Care, Mankato, Kansas.