Virginia M. Wilhelm

Virginia M. Wilhelm, 74, of Seneca, Kansas, died Thursday, January 4, 2001, at the Hiawatha Community Hospital, Hiawatha, Kansas.
     She was born February 27, 1926, at Kelly, Kansas, the daughter of Joseph B. and Gertrude Waller Lehmkuhl. She attended St. Augustine's School at Fidelity and later the Oak Grove School east of Seneca.
     On January 3, 1945, she married Lester Wilhelm at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. Lester, her husband of 56 years survives of Seneca. They lived south of Seneca most of their married life. She was a homemaker, worked at the Gilford hotel for ten years, cooked at the Prairie Lounge in Seneca for a number of years, and also had cared for elderly people in their homes.
     She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, St. Ann's Altar Society at the church, the Loyal Christian Benevolent Association, the Nemaha County Historical Society where she was a former board member, all at Seneca. She volunteered her services at the Mission Center also in Seneca.
     Survivors beside her husband are four sons; Wayne Wilhelm of Junction City, Kansas, Bob Wilhelm of Topeka, Kansas, Dale Wilhelm of Seneca, and Tom Wilhelm of Hiawatha; a daughter, Charlene Collom of Topeka; a brother Kenneth Lehmkuhl of Seneca; two sisters, Mildred Hermesch of Seneca and Jeanette Barkley of Uhrichsville, Ohio; fourteen grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
     She was preceded in death by a grandchild Lori Collom on January 19, 1998; two brothers, Donald Lehmkuhl and Elmer Lehmkuhl; and two sisters, Delores Haler and Jane Gay.
     The mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 A.M. Monday at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. The burial will be in the church cemetery. The rosary will be prayed on Saturday at 7 P.M. and a vigil prayer service will be conducted at 7 P.M. Sunday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca where she will lie in state after 3 P.M. Saturday.
     Memorials may be given for Sts. Peter & Paul School or for the Mission Center, both in Seneca, and sent in care of the family.