Dec. 29, 1921 – March 29, 2016
Mary Elizabeth Inselman, 94, of Sweet Home died March 29, 2016.
She was born Dec. 28, 1921 in Portland. Her parents were James and Sarah Faye Wilkerson. At the age of 71 she discovered that her parents had actually adopted her at birth. This discovery set into motion a 10-year search for her biological family. The search was successful when she was reunited with the family of her biological sister, with whom she developed a loving relationship.
Her younger years were spent mostly in Portland. In 1934, when she was 12 years old, her father was killed. This was in the midst of the Great Depression and there were few resources to help widows and children. Their life, as they had known it, fell apart.
For the next five years they went through many difficult situations and moves until finally, in 1939, she and her mother and brothers arrived at Snooseville, a logging camp north of Hillsboro. Here she met and fell in love with the good-looking young man next door, John Inselman, and they were married Oct. 21, 1939 in Vancouver, Wash.
They spent 57 years together before his death in February 1997. They left Snooseville in 1940, living in Idaho briefly before moving to Sweet Home in 1942 where Mrs. Inselman lived the rest of her life.
She worked off and on over the years at several different places in Sweet Home, including waitressing at restaurants in the 1940s, clerking at Central Super Market and Economy Drug in the 1950s and ’60s, and at White’s Electronics, from which she retired in 1984.
She is a past member of the Sweet Home Elkettes and the Sweet Home Genealogical Society.
In 1998, Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 58, which gave adult adoptees the right to see their original birth certificates. Mrs. Inselman was instrumental in getting this passed. She helped gather some of the 86,000 signatures that were turned in to the state to get the initiative on the ballot.
She was interviewed by newspapers and television stations, including The Oregonian, Boston Globe, and Good Morning America.
On Oct. 15, 1999 she went to Portland and got her original birth certificate. On May 6, 2003 she met her biological family. It was one of the happiest days of her life.
Mrs. Inselman was a friendly, fun-loving person who loved playing games, especially card games and bingo. She would play cards all day long (and all night) if she had willing partners, which she frequently did. She drove to Lebanon to play bingo into her 90s. She also liked to dance in her younger years and enjoyed camping, always having a great time on annual hunting trips with a big group of family and friends.
After she and Mr. Inselman retired, they traveled around the country with their travel trailer. Trips to the casinos to play bingo and slot machines were a real treat right up until the time she died. The common link in all these activities were family and friends.
Over the years the Inselmans opened their home to many family members who needed a place to stay for a short while, including her mother, who lived with them for over 30 years.
She loved being with them all and they loved being with her. Her home was very important to her. It was always neat and tidy and ready for company to drop by at a moment’s notice. She was determined to stay in her home, and to continue driving, and was successful in that until the last two months of her life.
Mrs. Inselman is survived by her sons, Glen and daughter-in-la Sharon of Phoenix, Ariz., and Bruce and daughter-in-law Barbara of Albany; daughter Alice Burnett and son-in-law Rick of Sweet Home; six grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; sister-in-law Ila Inselman; brother-in-law Ken Lundstrom; and several nieces and nephews, including Monica LaClair and Janeen White, with whom she had a very special bond.
She was preceeded in death by her husband John; brothers Ed Wilkerson and James Wilkerson; sister Pat Lundstrom; granddaughter Carrie Inselman; grandson Keegan Burnett; and nephew Steve Lundstrom.
Services will be held on Saturday, April 16, with burial at 11 a.m. at Gilliland Cemetery and a memorial service at 1 p.m. at Sweet Home Funeral Chapel, 1443 Long St.
Donations in her memory can be made to Little Promises Children’s Program, in care of Sweet Home Funeral Chapel .
Sweet Home Funeral Chapel is handling the arrangements.