Wilma Nadine Tolley, 90, of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, passed away peacefully Thursday, March 12, 2020 surrounded by family at Wabash General Hospital in Mt. Carmel.
She was born August 7, 1929 in White County, IL, the daughter of Samuel and Nora (Duddly) Short. She married Charles Ray Tolley on September 18, 1951. They have enjoyed 68 years of marriage.
She has been a member of Ridge Baptist Church in Grayville Illinois since the age of twelve. She served as the church secretary, treasurer, Sunday school teacher, and pianist. She so enjoyed playing the accordion for the church baptisms at the river.
Wilma was a lifelong member of the Maud Home Extension and was a 4-H leader of the Cinderella Bells for over thirty years. Church and family were her life. She loved cooking and sewing. She made most of her young daughters’ dresses, her granddaughters’, too. She loved mixing and matching patterns to create something new. She was always happy to preserve or freeze the vegetables her husband raised in their garden. She enjoyed cooking and eating the garden produce during the winter months.
Wilma’s greatest joy was taking care of her grandchildren and great grandchildren and attending their music events, sports games and school events.
Wilma is survived by her husband, Charles; children, Brenda Tolley and Connie and husband Bob Mayhue; grandchildren, Jonathan and Alison (Sigler) Mayhue, Catricia Mayhue and Brian McGuire, Terence and Jeannie (Olsen) Mayhue; and great grandchildren, Cormac and Connor Mayhue, Shelby and Emma Mayhue, Dunie and Cosette Nadine Mayhue; and sisters, Grace Walker of Kimball, Nebraska and Laura Ramsey of Marion IL.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Rex and sister Villa.
The Tolley family will receive visitors at Short-Cunningham Funeral Home on Monday, March 16, 2020 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The funeral service will be in the Chapel of Short Funeral Home on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. Burial will follow at Highland Memorial Cemetery.
Memorials in memory of Wilma Tolley can be made to Wabash Area Vocational Enterprises, Inc. 1320 W Third St., Mt. Carmel, IL 62863
Condolences may be made online at www.short-cunninghamfh.com
Short-Cunningham Funeral Home is honored to serve Wilma’s family.
