Marlies (David) Wilson

Clicker to view Memorial Tribute

Marlies David Wilson, 99, of Kendallville, Indiana, was led by the angels to God's throne of grace, on Friday, July 29, 2022. Marlies (Marie Elizabeth) was born on Friday, Oct. 13, 1922, in Dittersbach, Silesia, Germany, to Adolf and Marie (Schmid) David, with her birth registered in the county seat of Waldenburg. She was christened at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Dittersbach, at 2 weeks old.

In March 1926, Marlies, her sister and mother, sailed to Ellis Island aboard the Bremen. The three then took the train to St. Louis, Missouri, to meet Marlies's father, who had arrived in America, six months earlier. A year later, the David family moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Marlies was confirmed and graduated from eighth grade at St. Luke Lutheran Church, on Belmont Ave., Chicago, in spring of 1936. On the Fourth of July of that summer, the family moved to a small farm in Knox, Indiana, where she began high school, and graduated from Knox High School in 1940. In 1939, Miss David met the next door neighbor, Clair V. Wilson. Marlies and Clair were married on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor, in a small ceremony in the farmhouse, filled with family and friends.

As a newlywed living in Knox, Marlies worked as a secretary for Attorney Nichols and in the office of Taitels. In 1943, the couple moved to Niles, Michigan, where they welcomed their first child, Gerald Clair, in 1944. The family of three then moved to Plymouth, Indiana, where their second child, Barbara Ann, was born in 1948, followed by their third child, Carol Lynn.
On June 15, 2002, Marlies moved to Kendallville, where she lived on her own until May 9, 2022, when she moved to Lutheran Life Villages, Kendallville.
Mrs. Wilson was a homemaker and started working outside the home in March 1964, in the office at American Optical in Plymouth. She retired from there in January 1986.

She is survived by her daughters, Barbara Antonelli, of Kendallville and Carol Ernsberger, of Kendallville; eight grandchildren, Andrew and Janet Wilson, of Plymouth, Jennifer and Todd Russell, of Fishers, Tami and Kevin Parks, of Kendallville, Tracy and Tim Yates, of Kendallville, Tara Ortiz and Freddie Hayes, of Kendallville, Joseph and Jenny Ernsberger, of Kendallville and Elizabeth Kugler and Nathan Hook, of Butler; 27 great-grandchildren, Garrett, Claire, Madeline, Louis, Haley, Alex, Olivia, Sam, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Eli, MacKenzie, Trevor, Brie, Nic, Jena, Lexi, Brycen, Ryan, Kara, Gage, Cale, Jaxx, Isla, Nora, Layla and Thatcher; 16 great-great-grandchildren, with three on the way; Tyler and Michelle Malott, Blaine, Addison, Grayson and Keagan Malott; niece, Gina Lancaster, of Hamlet; and nephews, Bill Netzer, of LaPorte and Rudy and Bonnie Netzer, of Hamlet; three great-nephews; and two great-nieces.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Clair, on Oct. 10, 1977; son, Gerald Wilson, on Aug. 23, 1988; sons-in-law, Roland Antonelli, on June 2, 2013, and Greg Ernsberger, on Oct. 7, 2008; granddaughter, Katherine Wilson, sister, Johanna Netzer; and great-nephew, John Lancaster.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, at 6 p.m., at Hite Funeral Home in Kendallville.
Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m., on Tuesday, preceding the funeral service. Lutheran services will be conducted by The Rev. John Roberts.
Marlies will be laid to rest beside her husband and son at Oak Hill Cemetery in Plymouth, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Graveside services will be conducted by Andrew Wilson.
Memorials may be made to Mt. Pleasant Lutheran Church, 2520 N. C.R. 600E, Kendallville, IN 46755.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Hite Funeral Home, Kendallville.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marlies (David) Wilson, please visit our floral store.