Wilma Bayless

1928 - 2022

Born Wilma Grimm in the village of Heidelberg Germany on the banks of the Neckar River on April 1, 1928. She was the youngest daughter of three children in a blended family. Her father was a Zither musician and comedian who traveled within Germany and also made a couple trips to America to visit his brother. During the American occupation after WWII, she met William Bayless, a soldier in the US Army Air Force. When Bill's enlistment was up after the war ended, he extended his service in the Army so he could stay in Germany to be with his new found love. They married and returned to the United States. After his enlistment ended, they returned to his hometown with Wilma and started farming. She was welcomed into the Bayless family with open arms by Bill's parents and all his brothers and sisters. Even though a farm was the last place that Wilma wanted to be, she hung in there, working at detasseling, house cleaning and even cleaning the Elmo Methodist Church once a week. When she took John to the Elmo Osteopathic Clinic for a checkup, she asked Dr. Ford if he had any work that she could do, he gave her a job and the rest is history. She worked at the Elmo Osteopathic Hospital for 45 years until Dr. Ford retired. She started out cleaning and eventually became Doc's assistant and bookkeeper. She was a hard worker and always wanted to learn more and more to improve her skills. Elmo established a fast response medical rescue unit and she took many classes to become qualified to be an EMT. She even applied and received a job as an assistant at the Clearmont Post Office at the age of 75. She was a great baker, cook and gardener, always having a huge garden full of vegetables. She was talented at sewing, knitting and crochet and even taught a knitting class for the 4-H. Even though at times, farming was not always profitable, she was always willing to assist her children in their aspirations and to obtain the education they desired.

She died on peacefully at her son's home on September 21, 2022 at the age of 94. She was preceded in death by her parents Jacob Grimm and Anna (Annie) Katharina Bonte Grimm of Heidelberg Germany, her two sisters, Gisela and Betty of Heidelberg and Munich. She is survived by sons Robert Bayless and John Bayless and his wife Deborah.

Services 11am Thursday, September 29th at the Elmo United Methodist Church under the care of Price Funeral Home. Burial LaMar Cemetery, Elmo, Missouri.