Edith D. Wilhelm

Edith D. Wilhelm, 92, of Granby, beloved wife for 57 years of the late Frederick Oscar Wilhelm, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 25, 2018, surrounded by her family at her home. Born in Essen, Germany on May 26, 1925, daughter of the late William and Margarete (Herz) Aschaffenburg, Edith and her family immigrated to New York City in 1938 and started a new life in the United States. They ultimately settled in West Hartford, and Edith enrolled in school at William H. Hall High School. She quickly learned English and adapted to life in America and graduated as the Salutatorian of her class. Edith continued her education at Connecticut College in New London and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Spanish. Prior to her marriage in 1956, Edith worked for the Phoenix Mutual Insurance Company and served as a First Lieutenant in the US Air Force. She and Fred moved to Granby in 1959. Edith was a longtime member of the First Congregational Church of Granby where she sang in the choir for 50 years. While growing up in West Hartford she was active in Girl Scouts and served on the Girl Scout Camp Committee. This love of nature and the outdoors that started in her youth became a central part of her life while raising her five children on their farm in Granby. Edith served as a 4-H leader in Granby for many years, sharing her knowledge of German cooking with a generation of cooks. When her children were in high school Edith went to work for the US Postal Service in Granby. She was also a longtime member of the Salmon Brook Historical Society and the Granby Land Trust. As a refugee, Edith was grateful to be a United States citizen, and she and Fred were active members of the Granby Interfaith Refugee Sponsorship committee. For many years she was invited to speak with students in the Granby school system about her memories of growing up in a Jewish family in Nazi Germany. Following Fred’s death in 2014, Edith established a scholarship at the University of Connecticut for first-generation students, in gratitude for the scholarships that both she and Fred had received to attend their respective colleges. She leaves her five children, Margaret Pulicare and her husband Joseph of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Katherine Powell and her husband David of Rome, GA, Ann Wilhelm and her husband William Bentley of North Granby, Carolyn L. Wilhelm and her husband Timothy Lynn of Glen Gardner, NJ, and Frederick O. Wilhelm, Jr. and his wife Lindsay Kee of Brentwood, TN; 11 grandchildren, Christen Cermele and her husband Joseph of Yardley, PA, Melissa Pulicare and her fiancé Jonathan Gaskell of Jersey City, NJ, Sarah Pulicare of Doylestown, PA, Daniel Powell of Brooklyn, NY, Nicholas Powell of Rome, GA, Russell Bentley of Santa Cruz, CA, Frederick Bentley of Portland, OR, Robin Lynn of Atlanta, GA, Lauren Lynn of El Cerrito, CA, and Oscar and August Wilhelm both of Brentwood, TN; a great granddaughter, Charlotte Cermele; and many nieces and nephews. Besides her husband, she was predeceased by a brother, Walter Aschaffenburg and a sister, Renate Christensen. Her family will receive friends on Wednesday, May 30, 4-7 p.m., at the Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home, 364 Salmon Brook St., Granby. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, May 31, 11:00 a.m., at the First Congregational Church of Granby, 219 North Granby Rd., Granby. Memorial donations may be made to the First Congregational Church of Granby, 219 North Granby Rd., Granby, CT 06035 or to The University of Connecticut Foundation, Inc. Attn: Frederick and Edith Wilhelm Family Scholarship, Account #31496, 2390 Alumni Dr., Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06269-3206.