Mildred Wiedeman

WIEDEMAN
Mildred L., known to her friends and family as Timmy, died earlier this year at age 93 in Kenwood, California in the company of her two daughters, Kari Vigeland and Kristina Ashton. She is also survived by her son, Peter Vigeland, six grandchildren, Braden Kimball, Toril Ashton, Siri Ashton, Gunnar Ashton, Emma Vigeland, and Sophie Vigeland, and three great-grandchildren, Svea, Lucy, and Finn.
Timmy was a beloved mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, relishing her extended family. For the vast majority of her life, she enjoyed great health and was vital and active. Always ready to laugh, often smiling, and always thinking of others, she was the center of the family until her health began to fail in the last few years. She saw herself as a teacher of physical education and elementary school, even long after she retired, and freely dispensed advice about your posture, table manners, and grammar, regardless of whether it was solicited.
Born in 1920 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Timmy graduated Bouve-Boston School of Physical Education, affiliated with Simmons College, in Boston, Massachusetts, after which she taught school. She married Paul Beardslee in 1944, who died as part of the Marine landing on Okinawa beach in 1945. In 1947, Timmy married Arthur Vigeland, with whom she had her three children. After Arthur Vigeland died in 1965, Timmy raised her children on her own in Haworth, New Jersey. While living in Haworth, where she was known as Timmy Vigeland, she worked for many years as a teacher ofphysical education and young children. She was an active member of the community and sang in the St. Luke's Church choir.
In 1973, when her youngest child was about to enter college, Timmy married Frank Wiedeman, who had also been widowed. After he retired from US Trust where he worked as a trust officer, the couple moved up to Chatham, Massachusetts in 1980. Timmy again sang in a church choir at Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans. The two traveled extensively, loved to entertain, and enjoyed a long, active marriage until Frank Wiedeman's death in 2005.
Timmy will be missed, but her many lessons will be remembered: make the most of every day, face tragedy with strength and perseverance, laugh at yourself, and think of others.