Loretta Child Wilhelmsen

Loretta Child Wilhelmsen passed away on February 21, 2022 at home surrounded by love. She is survived by her three sons, Eric, Kirk and Karl; their spouses Jacqueline (Jacky), Karen and Cindy; her seven grandchildren Julia, Max, Elise, Chris, Chad, Adam and Tasha; and five great grandchildren Emma, Hannah, James, Peter and Charles. She was the matriarch of our family, the root of our traditions.  She valued family and learning and while we will miss her dreadfully, her legacy lives on in us. A memorial service will be held to celebrate her life on March 5 at 9:30 am in the LDS meetinghouse at 39450 Green Valley Road, Fremont, CA.  The memorial will be broadcast via Zoom at  https://zoom.us/j/91803371783?pwd=dWlHa1NQQSt0ZFU1RUJtSjlyOWxPZz09

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Loretta Child was born to Charles & Alvaretta Child on September 3, 1929 in Salt Lake City, the youngest of four. She attended the University of Utah where she met Paul (Chad) Wilhelmsen. They were married in August 1952. After helping to support her husband’s PhD they moved to CA where she raised 3 sons. She began substitute teaching as a favor to a friend and ended up teaching in Alamo for 26 years. Her legacy in education is two fold. She taught hundreds of students and impacted generations of families. She was very proud of the vocational program where many children including her granddaughter Julia attended the preschool she ran using high school students learning child development at Monte Vista High School. Her work as a teacher was honored with the WHO (We Honor our Own award) and being elected to the National Education Association Representative Assembly.  The other side of her legacy is more personal. Among her surviving family and descendents there is copious alphabet soup. There are two active teachers (and another inactive credential), 3 Phds (and another in progress), 1 MD,  3 or 4 MS degrees, and about 13  bachelor degrees (Elise has 2 of them). Valuing education is a family trait and part of Loretta’s legacy.

Loretta has 3 sons, but she acquired 3 daughters. Eric recalls being told by his mother when he got married, that his wife would always be right, “I will take her side in every argument” she said. Her close relationship with her daughters in law is evidence of her loving ability to build a family. At one point Chad and Loretta have lived with all of their adult children and their families. It is such a testament to the strong ties she fostered in the family. She was married for 60 years and her example is evident in the many happy relationships amongst her descendents.

Loretta was the student body historian at the University of Utah and her love of preserving family history is proof of her continuing interest. She meticulously documented the family’s everyday happenings with pictures and scrapbooks for decades. She investigated the ancestry of her family back at least 6 generations. She wanted us to remember not only where we came from but the many events that make up our lives. Her granddaughter, Julia remembers watching her cut out all the typed captions for her books and teaching her about acid free paper for preserving photos. Later Julia would be a historian in college and make acid free albums for her sorority. The family takes many photos, creates photo albums and gives framed photos as gifts. Unlike many members of her generation we will have more photos then we need of her for a remembrance album.

Our family is a family of curious, information-seeking teachers, scientists, and engineers. The legacy of family gathering for Sunday Dinner at Loretta and Chad’s house in Alamo was also one of stimulating discussion. Many family members distinctly recall everyone gathering for dinner and discussing everything from politics to robot wars to how to protect the persimmon tree. Many a question or argument was decided with the encyclopedia set she kept upstairs. She was not content for us to only discuss science. As a family, we attended many theater events ranging from the local Walnut Creek Repertory theater, to musicals in San Francisco. She took her grandchildren to their first plays, their first Shakespeare and encouraged a love of the arts in the next generation.

Loretta always encouraged the interests of her children, even when they didn’t want it. She famously cheered loudly at her son’s swim meets until Kirk shouted, “Shut up Mom” while he was racing the backstroke. She read aloud to all of us, especially her great granddaughter Tasha but almost all of her family has some memories of her reading and giving books as gifts.

We have a legacy of family traditions from Loretta as well. The family has been voting on what to eat for Christmas dinner for more than 60 years. While Loretta’s health was already failing this past December she still participated in the Christmas vote. Separate votes for separate dinners took place in 3 states across the country. While she didn’t vote last when Chad was alive she always had a significant look to give him to make sure the vote resulted in edible dinners. Loretta and her sisters created the first voting block for the family vote to secure stew and yorkshire pudding for dinner. Little did they know this would lead to the obstructionist party, whose goal was making the vote take longer and promoting odd meals, and the kid block who secured pizza for one of the three voted meals for years. Some of the families most memorable meals include chinese takeout, breakfast for dinner and the memorable eggs benedict on hubcaps because “there’s no plates like chrome for the hollandaise” .

While she was never larger than life or over the top, Loretta was steadfast in her loyalty and leadership. As a teacher Loretta also taught us to stand up for what is right. She walked the picket line 3 times while she was a teacher including her granddaughter, Julia, and her husband, Chad. She was an example of quiet but strong leadership in both marriage and life. She was always there to guide the family in their problems and struggles. Her guidance and presence in our lives will be sorely missed.