Katherine Ann Wilhelmsen

Katherine Wilhelmsen, 102, drew her last breath and peacefully departed this life with her son at her side holding her hand on January 11, 2024 at Cypress Glen Retirement Community in Greenville, North Carolina.

The funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 11 am at Mt. Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131 with a visitation one hour prior to the funeral service. Burial in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.

She was born on February 20, 1921, in Kansas City, Missouri to parents of Swedish descent, Philip and Effie Oldberg. She was an example of resilience, starting at the age of 5, when she survived a ruptured appendix before the discovery of antibiotics. She first met her future husband, Roy Wilhelmsen, in primary school, and years later they married on November 1, 1941. She conceived her first child, David, shortly before her husband entered the Army during WW2. Upon completion of the war and Roy’s safe return, two more children were to follow. They raised their family in Kansas City before accepting a transfer with Roy’s lifetime employer, Arthur Andersen, to New Orleans as empty nesters in the 1970’s. Ultimately, Roy’s job offered a position based in London, England, where they stayed until his retirement in 1982. They happily returned to Kansas City upon retirement, but she was widowed within a year.

She strengthened connections to her family as a sibling, aunt, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, answering to a number of endearing names along the way, including Sis, Aunt Kayo, Kathie, Mom and Mamam. She continued to travel and explore the world with new and old friends until her late 80’s. She was proud of her service in several volunteer capacities in her community including Head Start and teaching Sunday School at Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City. She knitted caps for newborns and blankets for women in shelters in Kansas City until her early 90’s.

Unfortunately, in her 90s, she developed a progressive dementia, which necessitated a move to an assisted living facility in Greenville, North Carolina, in 2017 to be closer to her sole surviving child. There, her resilience was again on display when she survived COVID-19 before the availability of vaccines. In the end, she succumbed to the unyielding progression of dementia, which was a slow heart-rending goodbye. However, throughout the later stages of her life, an underlying sweetness prevailed until her final peace.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Philip Oldberg, her husband, Roy Wilhelmsen, and two children, David Wilhelmsen and Nancy Wilhelmsen Stiller.

She is survived by her brother, Willard Oldberg of Prairie Village, Kansas, her son Bruce Wilhelmsen and wife Lisa Brenner of Greenville, North Carolina, and daughter-in-law Donna Wilhelmsen Kearsley of Mesa, Colorado. She leaves seven grandchildren: Kirstin Wilhelmsen of Decatur, Georgia, Doug Roberts of Ashton, Maryland, Kimberly McDaniel of Atlanta, Georgia, Jason Wilhelmsen of Smyrna, Georgia, Tricia Brackeen of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Anna Wilhelmsen of Santa Monica, California, and Jon Wilhelmsen of Santa Monica, California. She also leaves behind 11 great-grandchildren and 13 nieces and nephews.

Katherine requested that gifts be made to Second Presbyterian Church, 318 E. 55th St, Kansas City, Missouri 64113-1223.