Age 96, Died at the Howell Care Center, Howell, MI Tuesday, Nov. 26 after a lengthy illness. After the death of her husband, Herbert Wissinger in 1992, she lived with her son, John, and daughter-in-law, Alice, in Freeport IL and then in Ann Arbor, MI.

Born in 1906, she grew up in a Mennonite farm family in Potsdam, near Dayton, OH. She completed normal school at Miami University and taught school in a one-room school near Dayton before entering nurses training, which was cut short by her marriage in 1928. She moved to Pittsburgh in 1931 with her young family.

For most of her life, the Pittsburgh area was her home, where she and her husband raised four children. During those years, she was active in many groups, often as chair. She contributed her time generously to her garden club, Thursday Reading Club, various PTA’s and the Women’s Alliance of Bethel Presbyterian Church, where she also set up a lending library and taught Sunday school. During the 60s, she was a volunteer at Mayview State Hospital.

Throughout her life, gardening and reading were her special joys. There were always many well-kept gardens outside, potted plants and cut flowers inside. She was a skilled seamstress making many of her own clothes and clothes for her children. Visitors to her home enjoyed her flair for cooking as well as her warmth as a hostess.

During her husband’s retirement, she helped in his "retirement business", which they both enjoyed, making sales samples for PPG Industries. They spent winters in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for many years. Taking art classes there, her talent for drawing and painting blossomed as well as a love for the Mexican people.

Her husband, a son and a sister preceded her in death. She is survived by two daughters, Marilyn Ashbrook of Philadelphia, PA, Jan Palermo of Kent, OH, one son, John Wissinger and daughter-in-law, Alice of Ann Arbor, MI, three sisters, 10 grand children and 14 great grand children

Cremation has taken place by the Cremation Society of Michigan. A memorial service will take place in Bethel Park in May.