Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Belle Wilson, 84, of Neodesha died Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, in Springfield, Mo.
She was born May 31, 1926, in Iola, the daughter of Thomas Eugene and Calla Belle (Allen) Shanahan. She graduated from Iola High School in 1944 and studied to be a registered nurse through the Cadet Nurse Corps Program at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, Okla., receiving her certification in 1947. She later became a certified registered nurse anesthetist and served in the medical field for 47 years.
On Oct. 24, 1948, she married Ernest B. Wilson in Iola. The couple lived in Wichita, Mission and St. Joseph, Mo., before moving to Neodesha in 1962. He died in 1985.
For more than 30 years she served as a certified registered nurse anesthetist at various hospitals in southeast Kansas including Wilson County Hospital in Neodesha, Mercy Hospital in Independence, St. Margaret’s Hospital in Fredonia and Katy Hospital in Parsons. During that period she also served in a temporary capacity for a number of other hospitals in the region. 
She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Order of the Eastern Star and P.E.O. She was also an active member of Neodesha Arts Association where she served as director of several community dramatic productions.
Survivors include two sons, Brian, Kansas City, Mo., and Thomas R., Springfield, Mo.; a brother, John Attison Shanahan, Lake Worth, Fla.; two sisters, Nellouise Sherman, Lawrence, and D. Jane Gleason, Iola; and a grandchild, Erin Wilson.
Two brothers, Edgar Eugene and Robert Allen, died earlier.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Neodesha under the direction of Penwell-Gabel Loran Fawcett Chapel. The Rev. Maurine Olson will officiate. Interment will be in Neodesha Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church. She will lie in state at the funeral home from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Memorials to Wilson Medical Center Foundation may be left at the funeral home, 704 Indiana, Neodesha, KS 66757. To leave a message for the family online visit penwellgabelneodesha.com.