Edith Kilcrease Wilbourn

Obituary Notice

Edith Kilcrease Wilbourn, of Little Rock, died December 28, 2003. She was 85 years old.

Carrie Edith Kilcrease was born on April 11, 1918, in the Ashley County village of Promised Land, Ark. to Eloise Mosely Kilcrease and Rel Thomas Kilcrease. After her father’s death, her mother married Roy W. Morris and they moved to Little Rock where Edith Attended Forest Park Elementary and Pulaski Heights Junior High and graduated from Little Rock High School in 1936. She was faithful member of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church throughout her life.

She met Hugh R. Wilbourn, Jr. while he was organizing a coed church softball team for Pulaski Heights Baptist Church. The two married at the church on June 14, 1936. The young couple lived in Forest City and Ft. Smith while Hugh Wilbourn worked for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

In 1943, the Wilbourns moved to Little Rock with their three young daughters. Hugh Wilbourn and his brother-in-law, C.B. Miller, started a telephone business called Communications Repair Service. In 1945 the name was changed to Allied Telephone and Electric Company. Allied went on to become a founding part of ALLTEL Corporation, which continues to be headquartered in Little Rock.

Edith and Hugh Wilbourn lived in Sheridan and Conway before returning to Little Rock in 1962. Edith was always active in her community, supporting Boy Scouts, many school activities and her church. She volunteered for the March of Dimes and worked for their Crippled Children’s Program for many years. She was a member of the Conway Garden Club and the Twentieth Century Club. She and Hugh were members of The Country Club of Little Rock.

Edith and Hugh especially enjoyed sharing their love for travel and boating with their family. They took each of their grandchildren to Washington. D.C. to see her two favorite museums, the Smithsonian and the Natural History Museum and other area sites.

Other lifelong passions for Edith were music and drawing. A love of music was instilled in her at an early age by her parents, who were both musicians. Her sketches of children and nature studies in charcoal, watercolor and oil are held with love by her family. An avid athlete, she played tennis, volleyball, and softball in her youth and golf later in life. When she and Hugh retired to Florida, they enjoyed boating in the Florida waters. Their interest in boating fed her fascination in finding seashells, which fit in with her uncanny knack for spotting Indian arrowheads and four-leaf clovers.

Edith Wilbourn is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Jo Ellen and Joe T. Ford of Little Rock; daughter and son-in-law Beverly and Phillip Pascoe of Quitman, AR; son and daughter-in-law Hugh R. Wilbourn III and Judy of Little Rock; grandsons Scott Ford and his wife Dede, of Little Rock, Jonathan Pascoe and his wife, Lori of Rogers, AR, Jeff Pascoe and his wife Cindy of Conway, Dr. Steven Pascoe and his wife Mandy of Conway, Rob Moore of Arkansas City, AR, and Lee Moore and his wife, Amy of Little Rock; Granddaughters Rebecca Thompson and her husband Bruce, of Quitman, Allison Crawford and her husband Brad of Dallas, Susan Shaw of Norman, OK, Marguerite Tyson and her husband Terry of Lipscomb, TX, Sancy Thomas and her husband Al of Little Rock, Hayden Wilbourn of Little Rock; and 35 great grandchildren, and sister-in-law Marion Wilbourn Lovett.

She was preceded in death by her husband and a daughter, Mary Nell Shaw, and two brothers, William Morris and Russell Morris.

The family would like to express special appreciation to Edith’s longtime caregiver, Kathy Woods, Rosemary Beavers, Minnie Conley and Diane Foley. Special thanks to Dr. Pham Liem and the staff of the Donald W. Reynolds Center on aging, UAMS and to Marsha Cunningham and the staff of Parkway Village, who cared for her during a 17-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Tuesday at the Pulaski Heights Baptist Church with Rev. Jim Munns officiating. Interment will follow at Roselawn Memorial park.

Memorials may be made to the Donald W. Reynolds Center, UAMS, the Quapaw Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, or the Wilbourn Center at Parkway Village.

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