Sylvia Wimberley

SYLVIA MAE "Mother" WIMBERLY-WIMBERLEY died on Thursday, March 27, 2014 after a short illness. Mother was 95 years young. She was born on September 21, 1918 on a farm in Travis County, Texas, and was the eldest of six children born to James Monroe Wimberly and Minnie Mae Turner. She is predeceased by brothers, Othal Wimberly, Curtis Wimberly; James "Junior" Wimberly, and sister, Dorothy Wimberly Her public school education was cut short at the third grade when she was needed by her father to work in the fields alongside him and her younger brothers and help her mother with household tasks. At the age of 3, her Grandma Calissa started her off with her first quilt scraps and showing her how to make her first hand stitches. MOTHER'S PASSION WAS BORN. She sewed everything she could get her hands on which included flour sacks, seed sacks and her brothers' shirts, which shirts, got her in a bit of trouble for using. As her quilt making skills improved, she was proud to enter them in fairs winning Blue Ribbons and received many accolades. On August 6, 1938 she married her life partner Ira "Bud" Wimberley. He died only a few years after their 50th wedding anniversary. During their life together and traveling between Texas and California for work, Mother developed another passion which was collecting rocks. Her fishing prowess was admired by all who knew her and her cooking skills live on through her five children: Tommy Wimberley (Alice) of El Cajon, CA; Marjorie Pennington (Autry) of Safford, AZ; Bobbie Hetmer (George) of Thatcher, AZ; Thelma Hetmer of Apache Junction, AZ; and Larry Wimberley (JoAnn) of Pima/Glenbar, AZ. Besides her children, she is survived by her brother James "Jim" Wimberly (Austin, TX) and her loving and devoted grandchildren: Scottie Pennington (Susan) of Safford; Sylvia Worthey (Kirk) of Safford; Kete Pennington of Safford; Christine Meinert (Gary) of San Diego, CA; Lance Hetmer (Teresa) of Florence, AZ; Cheryl Hetmer of Apache Junction, AZ; Vincent Wimberley (Becky) of El Cajon, CA; and Amber Wimberley (Chris) of Bakersfield; Debbie Dahl-Smith (Glenn) of Tracy, CA and Aaron DeDecker (Lori) of Gulf Breeze, FL; 18 great grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren and hundreds of cousins, nieces and nephews. Mother is resting at the Pima Cemetery. We love you Mother. Services for Sylvia will be held at Caldwell Funeral Chapel on Thursday, April 3, 2014 with the viewing to begin at 12:00 p.m. and the services to follow at 1:00 p.m. Interment to follow at the Pima Cemetery.