Wilma was John & Martha's seventh child. John died a couple weeks before Wilma was born.

Hershel, Norma and Wilma were still living with Martha when Nathan (Martha's third husband) decided to move the family to Clarinda, Iowa. They left Hershel behind and hitchhiked there.  Nathan was not a good husband to Martha or a good father to the girls. Martha had been working in someone's yard when she said she wasn't feeling well. They told her to go in and lay down for a bit...next thing Norma saw a hearse come and pick her up. When Martha died on July 4, 1952, she was 50 and Norma (11) and Wilma (6) were still living with her. None of the siblings were able to take Norma and Wilma in to live with them, so the state stepped in and put them in an orphanage in Toledo Iowa. Within a year both girls were adopted by Norton & Charlotte Harden and moved to Burlington then to Morrison Illinois.

Wilma stayed until she turned 16 then headed west to Portland Oregon close to where most of the other siblings were.

Wilma passed away in her home on June 2, 2004.

Wilma Marie Haney Harden Cahill Williams (b-6/25/1945 - d-6/2/2004)
married (1) Chuck Cahill - 2 children (adopted) - divorced
married (2) Brad Williams (b-5/13/1949) - 1 child

1. Laura (Lori) Cahill Williams (b-10/22/1967)

   1. Portia Williams (b-5/18/2000)

   2. Isabella Williams (b-11/7/2001)

2. Robert (Bob) Cahill Williams (b-3/24/1970)

3. Sharon (Sherri) Williams Ramage (b-6/23/1972)
   married Robin Ramage

   1. Alicia Marie Ramage (b-7/23/1995)

   2. Amanda Lynn Ramage (b-1997)

Return to Index