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Evelyn Joan Wickard
1924 - 2016
- March 16, 1924 - April 25, 2016
Evelyn Joan Wickard, passed away late evening on April 25, 2016, at Alta Vista
Hospital in Las Vegas. She was not surrounded by family as we were all out of
state, but she was surrounded by loving aides and friends toward the end.
Thank you DeVonna Williams, Tori Conway and Lorenzo Martinez for the kindness
you showed our mother. Thank you Em Krall, Tito and Mary Chavez for being there
in her last hours. Thank you Caroline Rackley for stopping by.
Evelyn Joan Lewis Speer Wickard was born in McGregor, Iowa, on March 16, 1924,
to Verner and Lena Coobs Lewis of Klemme, Iowa. She moved to Oakland, Calif.,
with her first husband, Donavan Speer, during WW II where they worked in the
shipyards, but a man told my mom she was too pretty to get her hands dirty, so
she just followed him around, assisting him. After the war she became a
housewife and they started a family having two sons and a daughter. They
divorced in 1958.
Evelyn later met the love of her life, Donald "Tarzan" Jack Wickard. They
married on Aug. 22, 1961. Donald brought two daughters into the marriage. They
moved from Oakland to Las Vegas in 1992, where they settled into retirement.
Evelyn was kind and generous, inviting anyone with a good heart into her life.
She was colorblind where people were concerned, a trait she passed on to her
daughter, and she was non-judgmental towards the growing population of gays.
"What's the difference?" she would say. It dawned on daughter Vicki that her
92-year- old mother had set a great example for her, always loving and
accepting.
Evelyn is preceded in death by her husband, Donald Wickard; parents, Verner and
Lena Lewis, brothers. Glenn Lewis, Lake County, Calif., LaVerne Lewis, Buena
Park, Calif., and sister, Louella Lewis Johnson, Balaton, Minn., and daughter,
Deborah Romero (Wickard), Maple Ridge, BC, Canada. Evelyn leaves behind sons,
Dennis Speer, his wife, Patty, Boulder City, Nev., Russell Speer, his wife,
Blanca, Merced, Calif.; daughters, Vicki Speer Howell, husband, Vincent Howell,
Las Vegas, N.M., Christine Wickard Betts, Concord, Calif.; grandchildren, Kalyn
Howell Harris, husband, Brad, Las Vegas, Nev., Erik Howell, Pasadena, Calif.,
Jason Speer, wife, Stella, Boulder City, Nev., Katherine Romero Blackwell,
Mission, BC, Canada, John Evan and Antonio Speer, Merced, Calif., Kelly Holland,
Antioch, Calif., Charlenda Ballou, Patrick Tyson, Concord, Calif.,
great-grandchildren, Priya and Johnnie Harris, Brooklyn and Rylee Speer,
Matthew, Sonora and Sierra Ballou Gonzalez and Sophia and Jacob Tyson.
The family will always be comforted to know that their mother's last words were,
"Get me off the pot, (her beloved) Tarzan's coming to get me!"
No services were held.
source: Las Vegas Optic, 24 Jun 2016
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