Willa Charlene DeWitt Conklin

1929 - 2022

Willa Charlene DeWitt Conklin

July 10, 1929-September 3, 2022

Willa Charlene, 93, died Saturday, September 3, 2022 at Silver Cross in Rock Island, IL, surrounded by her loving family. She was born July 10, 1929 in Pottawattamie County, IA, the daughter of Charles Willard and Viola Gertrude (Turner) DeWitt. She earned a B.A. from Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) and an M.A. in speech and audiology from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa). On June 7, 1952 she married Dwight Emerson Conklin of Griswold, IA who became a family practice physician and anesthesiologist. They raised five children in Waterloo, IA after living in Manchester, CT, Frankfurt, Germany, Lake City, IA, Oakland, IA, Iowa City, IA and Bellevue, WA. After Dwight retired, they lived in Sanibel, FL and Galesburg, IL. Dwight died in Galesburg on January 30, 2003. In 2012, she moved to Rock Island where her son Bob and his wife Christina were librarians at the Moline Public Library. Always civically-minded, Willa Charlene was a Girl Scout and Cub Scout leader and an officer in many organizations including the Daughters of the American Revolution, PEO, and Altrusa.

In 1966, Willa Charlene was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives from Black Hawk County. In 1968, she was elected to the Iowa Senate where she served two terms, 1969-1972. She was the first woman to serve in both the Iowa House and Senate, and the first Republican woman to be elected to the Senate (not appointed after the death of a husband). In 1974, she ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the U.S. House of Representatives. She then served as President of the Terrace Hill Society to restore the historic Iowa Governor's Residence, as regional head of the Girl Scouts, and on the Board of the Iowa State Historical Society. While living on Sanibel Island in the 1980s, she helped spearhead construction of the Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.

Gardening, reading, and canning were just a few of Willa Charlene's many passions. Nicknamed "cyber-grandma" in her later years, she enjoyed emailing and texting her family and friends and doing genealogical research online. Descended from a long line of strong-minded women and kind-hearted men, she lived independently until just a few weeks before her death, a situation made possible by the devotion of her son Bob and his wife Christina. Preceded in death by her loving husband and their son, James Dwight Conklin in 1989, survivors include her children: Beth Ann Conklin of Liberty, TN, William Emerson DeWitt (Carol Jean) Conklin of Fayetteville, NC, Robert Charles (Christina Marie) Conklin of Rock Island, IL, Barbara Jeanne Anne Conklin (James) Gittins of Indianola, IA and grandchildren: Andrew Thomas Crawford (Samantha) Andreski of Des Moines, IA, Charles James DeWitt Andreski of Iowa City, IA, Alan James Pierson of Brooklyn, NY, and Grace Carol Bogan of Portsmouth, VA. Willa Charlene donated her body to the University of Iowa Medical School. Later she will come to rest at Whipple Cemetery in Pottawattamie County, IA next to her beloved husband and near their youngest child and many other cherished family members.

Donations in her memory may be sent to the Moline Public Library, the River Bend Food Bank (Davenport), and the Rock Island County Historical Society. Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island is assisting the family with arrangements.

Online condolences may be left to Willa's family at www.wheelanpressly.com.