Lillian Wilson Billings

BILLINGS (SCHILLING) Lillian Wilson Billings, died Thursday, December 4, 2008 at her home in the first Community Village, Columbus, at the age of 89. She was born on January 5, 1919, the only daughter of William and Ivy Wilson, of Lake Kushaqua, New York. She graduated from Tupper Lake High School with a Regents' diploma, entered nurse's training and graduated from St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in New York City in 1940. She enlisted in the U.S. Nurse Corps in 1942 and served as a nurse at the U.S. Army Hospital on Governor's Island until 1943, when she was sent overseas to serve with the 5th Army Hospital awaiting the invasion of Europe. Lt. Wilson was shipped to France as a part of the Operation Overload invasion force. She served as a surgical and orthopedic nurse in Europe until her release from active duty in January 1946, with four battle stars. Early in 1945, she was married to the late Lt. Lee Schilling of the U.S. Army. After returning to the United States, Mrs. Schilling became a nurse at the Toledo General Hospital, where her daughter, Lee Ellen, was born. Thereafter, she acted as a school nurse at a number of private schools and as a camp nurse. She then became a general duty nurse at the Sunmount VA Hospital in Tupper Lake, New York, where she met her future husband, Dr. Charles E. Billings, a resident in medicine at the VA Hospital. They were married in 1955 in Waterloo, New York and moved to England, where Dr. Billings was a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force. They returned to the U.S. in 1957, to Burlington, Vermont and then to Columbus, Ohio, where Dr. Billings joined the faculty of The Ohio State Unviersity. In 1973 Dr. Billings joined NASA and they moved to Los Altos Hills, California, living there for 19 years until their final move back to Columbus. Mrs. Billings was an active volunteer throughout her live, working for the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital in Great Britain, the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, and the El Camino Hospital in California, where she received an award for contributing 5,000 hours as a volunteer, The Ohio State University, where she was chief nurse in the Occupational Health Center at University Hospital, and later the Ohio Capital Area Humane Society, which awarded her and her husband its Will Rannells Service Award for her ten years of volunteer work. Mrs. Billings is survived by her husband, Dr. Charles Billings; her daughter, Lee Ellen Kreinbihl and her husband, Dean A. Kreinbihl, of New Philadelphia, Ohio; two grandsons, Keith and Kristofer; and a great grandson, Drew Kreinbihl. Memorial Service 10:30 a.m. Saturday, December 13, 2008 in the Chapel of First Community Village (call 486-9511 for directions). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Alzheimers Association, Central Ohio Chapter or The Capital Area Humane Society in Hilliard, OH. Condolences to www.rutherfordfuneralhomes.com