Wilma J. Kressin

Wilma Jean Twing was born and raised in Beloit, WI, on May 5, 1941, the only child of Harry and Elsie Twing.

Wilma was a Girl Scout, participated in dance classes, played the clarinet in her high school band and was an honor student.

Wilma loved animals. She loved animals so much she wouldn’t even kill a spider or other insects that were in the house. She would scoop them up with a piece of paper and set them free.

Wilma’s mother would not allow her to have a cat or dog growing up. However, she was allowed to have a parakeet who she named Tippy. Tippy would sit on her shoulder as she walked around the house and loved to take a bath if the water was running in the kitchen sink.

Growing up, Wilma worked as a summer camp aide, as well as a waitress at the Toot & Tell root beer drive-in.

Wilma attended and graduated from the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison with a BS in Related Arts. While attending UW, Wilma met Lou, her future husband, at UW in Economics class while she was a junior. Lou was a 4th year Mechanical Engineering student who graduated through the ROTC program.

Lou proposed with an engagement ring during Christmas vacation in December 1962. Lou was commissioned as an Ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps of the Navy in January 1963. Wilma finished up her last semester of school and Wilma and Lou were married on June 22, 1963, at the 2nd Congregation Presbyterian Church in Beloit.

After a short honeymoon in the Wisconsin Dells, Lou was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for his first assignment. Wilma and Lou bought a new Chevy II and drove from Beloit to Philadelphia with a short side trip through Cincinnati. Lou had already been hired by Procter & Gamble Engineering, so the Cincinnati side trip was a preview of when he would get out of the Navy.

Wilma and Lou lived in a sparse one bedroom apartment in Woodbury, NJ, across the Delaware River from the shipyard. Lou could take a ferry directly to work. Wilma got a few substitute teaching days in the local NJ area.

Their daughter, Jan, was born on May 28 1964, in Philadelphia and shortly thereafter they moved into base housing at the shipyard. Jan was a fussy baby, but driving seemed to put her to sleep so it didn’t stop them from going places. Lou built a crib-like enclosure for the back seat and they drove to Wisconsin several times to visit their parents and friends.

Lou was rotated to the southeast US office Bureau of Ships and Docks in Charleston, SC. They lived in a rental house in New Waylyn, SC, a few miles from the base. Jan enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids and people said she had a slight southern accent.

After 4 years on active duty, Lou left the Navy to continue at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. After briefly living in an apartment, they moved into a brand new house in Springfield Township.

Their son, Matthew, was born on July 5, 1968. Wilma became a stay-at-home mom at that time. Matt was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2-1/2. He went into complete remission with chemo several times but, ultimately, passed away when he was 5 on November 29, 1973. Bone marrow transplants didn’t exist back then and leukemia survival rates were very low too.

When Jan was in high school, Wilma went back to school earning an associate degree in architectural technology at the University of Cincinnati. She got a drafting job with KZF Inc., a local architectural, engineering and interior design firm just outside downtown for several years and then with Smith, Stevens & Young in Springdale where she worked at for about 10 years until the firm dissolved. After that Wilma retired.

Jan graduated from Mt. Healthy High School in 1982 and briefly attended the University of Cincinnati until joining the workforce. Jan worked into her early 50s and was grateful that she was able to stop working and spend time with her mom and dad in their later years.

In 1998, Wilma and Lou moved to a house on Susann Lane in Wyoming, the suburb, close to Evergreen Village Retirement Community and not far from Drake Hospital. They lived in a secluded neighborhood with only 9 houses. The house had a large deck and a walk-out basement to an in-ground pool which they enjoyed. The house included 2-1/2 acres of mostly wooded hillside.

When Wilma and Lou moved in, Jim Borgman, the political cartoonist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, was their next door neighbor for several years. In May 2011, Wilma and Lou decided to move into a garden home in Christian Village at Mason.

During Wilma’s lifetime, she has been very interested in genealogy, gardening, Bible history, history pertaining to Israel and, of course, animals. She enjoyed reading. She owned a weaving loom, enjoyed quilt art and fabric-related design and art. She enjoyed some types of gospel music, including Elvis and Johnny Cash, as well as 60’s folk music groups such as the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Harry Belafonte and Odetta.

Wilma was a devout Christian. She served as the church librarian at Northern Hills Bible Chapel in Springfield Township, as well as participating in Bible studies, women’s events and watching the babies and young children during service.

Wilma went to Northern Hills Bible Chapel in Springfield Township for 30 years. She loved attending there. She always wished she had found the chapel sooner. After Wilma and Lou moved to Mason in 2011, she received her dementia diagnosis in 2014 and stopped going to the chapel shortly thereafter as she didn’t feel comfortable driving the ling distance. It was a very sad time for her to say goodbye to her beloved chapel.

Wilma is preceded in death by her dad Harry Twing, her mother Elsie (Dennison) Twing, her father-in-law Alvin Kressin, her mother-in-law Norma (Schlueter) Kressin, her aunt Marie (Dennison) Brewster and Lou and Wilm’s precious son Matthew. She leaves behind her husband Lou of almost 63 years, her daughter Jan and numerous sister and brother-in-laws, as well as nieces and nephews. She will be interred at Spring Grove Cemetery next to Matthew.

A Celebration of Wilma's life will take place on Thursday, March 26, 2026 from 10 am until the time of the funeral service beginning at 11:00, at The Christian Village of Mason Stone Center, 411 Western Row Rd, Mason, OH 45040.