The service will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Lutheran Home, 1301 North Highlands Parkway in Tacoma. A private burial will be held at New Tacoma Cemetery. Mrs. Wickman died October 31.
According to information published in Tacoma News Tribune, she was born in Rockford, Illinois, January 10, 1908, to Swedish immigrants Alma and Ernest Johnson. In 1920 the family moved to Upsala, Minnesota, and in 1922 relocated to Minneapolis. Lillian graduated from Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis and for several years worked in the accounting department of a mail order house.
The family was very active in the Covenant Church in Minneapolis and it was there she met Virgil Wickman. They were married in November 1937 and moved near the church that Virgil was serving as pastor in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. During the next four decades they served six Covenant churches across the country, retiring in Tacoma in 1978 at the Tacoma Lutheran Home. Until age 93, Lillian regularly attended the First Covenant Church of Tacoma.
In a letter written by Virgil shortly before his death, he paid tribute to Lillian, saying, “I don’t know what would have happened to the three of you kids if it hadn’t been for the good humor and common sense of your mother.” She was a woman of deep faith and strength. Her life was full as a stay-at-home mom, singing in the church choirs, serving on a variety of church committees and being a gracious hostess. In her 50s and 60s she took classes in writing, tailoring, oil painting, upholstery and nurse’s aid. She is also remembered as an accomplished Scrabble player well into her 90’s.
She was preceded in death by her husband Virgil and son, Torrey, in 2003. She is survived by son Douglas and wife Sherri Wickman of Mammoth Lakes, California; daughter Julie Howard of Pomona, California; and daughter-in-law Rosemary Wickman-Lukens of Tacoma. She has four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. Lillian is also survived by sister and brother-in-law Myrtle and Stanley Olson of Burnsville Minnesota, and a host of other relatives and friends around the country.
Memorial contributions may be made in Lillian’s name to the Tacoma Lutheran Home Foundation.
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