Alice Kathleen Wendling
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Alice Kathleen Wendling, 84, the former Kathleen Crebo of Harrisburg, passed away Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010, at St. Luke's Medical Center, Boise, Idaho, after a short illness. Kathleen suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in early January. After apparently successful surgery, she developed further complications and passed away peacefully in her sleep.
Kathleen was born in Trinidad, Colo., in 1925, the daughter of the late William Robert Crebo, a native of South Africa who had served in the United States Army on the western front, and Alice Lewis Crebo, daughter of Judge Albert W. Lewis, who was for many years a prominent figure in Saline County, and his wife Fannie (Baker) Lewis. When Kathleen was a year old, and just before the birth of her sister Alberta, her father died of tuberculosis, related to a poison gas attack during the First World War. The family returned to Harrisburg, where Mrs. Crebo taught for many years at the former Logan School. Kathleen attended grade school in Harrisburg, was a member of the Harrisburg High School Class of 1943. During those years, the front porch and basement of the family home at 20 W. South St. served as an unofficial social center for Kathleen and Alberta's many friends.
After graduation from high school, Kathleen attended the University of Illinois, from which she graduated with a degree in journalism. In June 1944, she married Lieutenant Jack H. Wendling, the son of William and Gertrude (Stiff) Wendling of Harrisburg. After Jack's service as a bomber pilot over Europe in the Second World War, the couple lived in Ann Arbor, Mich., where their first child was born and where Jack completed his degree in aeronautical engineering. Kathleen and Jack later lived in Dayton, Ohio, and New Carlisle, Ohio, while Jack worked as a civilian employee of the Department of Defense at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Kathleen raised a growing family. After her youngest daughter entered school, though, Kathleen returned to journalism as a reporter for the New Carlisle Sun, concentrating on historical and human interest subjects.
In 1973, the couple retired to a farm outside Filer, Idaho, where they have resided ever since. After the move to Idaho, Kathleen worked for several years as an ace reporter for the local newspaper, The Buhl Herald. Kathleen will be missed by her many friends in Southern Illinois, Ohio and Idaho, who will always treasure the memory of her quick wit, mischievous good humor, and sense of fun.
Kathleen's loss is mourned by Jack, her beloved husband of 65 years, and their four loving children, Mark (Kathy) Wendling, of Bayfield, Wis., Dr. Sue Wendling of West Linn, Ore., Dr. Scott (Eileen) Wendling of Kalispell, Mont., and Ann Wendling, of Portland, Ore., as well as by seven adoring grandchildren, five adorable great-grandchildren and three fond nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents and by her sister Alberta, wife of Dick Ferguson, formerly of Harrisburg, now of Hinsdale.
In accordance with her wishes, there will be no funeral, but Kathleen's life will be celebrated at a memorial service in Idaho on Mother's Day, May 9, followed by inurnment May 10, her birthday, at the Idaho State Veteran's Cemetery in Boise, Idaho. The family asks that those who want to honor Kathleen's memory make contributions to the Salvation Army.