Wilma Saari

Wilma Helene Saari, Age 91, of Waukegan, IL died on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at Rolling Hills Manor Nursing Home in Zion. Wilma was born May 1, 1919 in Long Beach, California. She graduated from Long Beach Poly High in 1935. Her employment resume included work as a legal secretary, insurance secretary and adjustor. During World War II she worked for the Army Transportation Corp, Quartermaster Division at the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation and after World War II she worked for the Navy Disbursing Office at the Long Beach, California Naval Station. After moving to Waukegan in 1962 she was employed at Abbott Laboratories in the Benefits Office, later transferring to the International Compensation and Benefits Office. She returned to Long Beach and was employed by the Long Beach Unified School District as an Education Aide in Early Childhood Education and volunteered as a math tutor. Her greatest pleasure was seeing the light in a child's eye when he or she had just mastered a math concept that had been a mystery before. She is survived by two step-daughters, Carol Suomu of Waukegan, IL and Sheila (Albert) Stuart of Dubuque, IA; three step-grandchildren, Ruth Carroll, Albert Stuart Jr., and Susan Suomu; and four step-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas W. and Helena M. Gilliland; her son, Richard K. Dowdy; her second husband, Verner J. Saari; her first husband, Kermit L. Dowdy; and her sister, Margret Galaz. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, May 5, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3350 N. Delaney Road, Waukegan, IL with Pastors Jeffrey E. Koth and Willard Bloomquist officiating. Memorial donations to St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church have been suggested.