Judy Wilken

Judith M. Wilken was born March 17, 1941, at Denison, Iowa, the daughter of Earl and Emaline Thiede Ossenkop. She passed away Sunday, July 14, 2019, at the Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denison, Iowa, at the age of seventy-eight.
Judy received her education in the Westside schools. She and Merle Wilken were united in marriage on December 3, 1958, in Jefferson, Iowa. Judy was employed part-time at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in housekeeping beginning in her late ‘50's. She also worked as the bookkeeper for their trucking business and washed many trucks.
Always a happy person, Judy had a good sense of humor and always lived for everyone else. She was a homemaker and babysitter for her grandkids and loved spending time with them. Christmas holiday traditions were always at her house. Family times were very special to her and she was a wonderful mother. She loved baking, cooking, and feeding many truck drivers over the years. The coffee was always on. Judy collected many knick knacks. She loved polka music and listened to the polka hour every day. She read many local newspapers and enjoyed watching television with Family Feud being a favorite game show. Judy had a strong faith and was a member of the United Church in Westside as well as being a member of the Red Hat Society.
Judy was preceded in death by her parents; one granddaughter, Amanda Wilken; one son-in-law, Joe Grothe; and one sister, Jane Ossenkop; one brother-in-law, Dale Cornelius. Survivors include: her husband, Merle Wilken of Westside, Iowa; three sons, Marty Wilken and his wife, Cary, Michael Wilken and his wife, Laura, and Matthew Wilken and his wife, Janice, all of Westside, Iowa; three daughters, Sherri Grothe, and Lori Oeser and her husband, Gregg, all of Westside, and Joni Wilken of Fountain Valley, California; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; one brother, Curtis Ossenkop of Omaha, Nebraska; one sister, Connie Cornelius of Denver, Colorado; other relatives and friends.