A memorial mass for Kathleen A. (Warmka) Wilder will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Theodore Catholic Church in Albert Lea. The Revs. Kurt Farrell and Brad Pelzel will officiate. A visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bonnerup Funeral Service in Albert Lea and again one hour prior to the service at the church.

Kathleen passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, at her home in Albert Lea. She was 75.

Kathleen Ann (Warmka) Wilder was born in Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea on Sept. 14, 1942.

She was the daughter of Louis and Kathryn Warmka of Easton. She attended grades one through nine at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Schools in Easton. She graduated from Wells High School in 1960. She attended St. Benedict College in St. Joseph. She taught her first year at St. Mary’s Junior High School in Albert Lea in 1963.

She married her high school sweetheart, Norbert Wilder, on June 24, 1964. They were blessed with four sons: Philip, Paul, Patrick and Jeff.

She continued to teach at St. Casimir’s Catholic School in Wells for the next five years. After her first three sons were born, she stayed at home to give them their first years of formation and opened a day care in 1973. She was employed by Albert Lea Independent School District 241 in 1983 and continued to work there until 2010.

Kathleen was a member of St. Theodore Catholic Church, a past president of the Knights of Columbus Auxiliary and a member of the Women of the Moose. She loved all children and served them by being a media clerk in school for 25 years, having a day care for 10 years, teaching religious education classes at St. Theodore, being a leader in Boy Scouts for 20 years and a foster parent for 101 children over a 35-year period.

Since her retirement, she was able to continue her hobbies of costume creation, quilting, flower arranging and writing books about her grandchildren. She volunteered for hospice. It gave her great peace and joy to help those in the wonderful hospice program walk their final journey. The highlight of her summers was always Cousin’s Camp, where she was camp director and her 15 grandkids and grand-nieces and nephews spent time together at Camp Wilder.

She is survived by the love of her life, her husband, Norbert Wilder, of Albert Lea; son, Philip (Saralyn) Wilder, of Austin and their children Zach (Mallory), Katie, Drew (Cassy), Natalie, Ellie (Tony), Mitchell and Eric; son, Paul (Ellie) Wilder, of Faribault and their children Louis, Sarah, Teresa, Emily and Monica; son, Patrick Wilder, of White Bear Lake and his children Jake and Tess; son, Jeff (Roxanne) Wilder, of Albert Lea and their children Anthony, Noah, Carlito and Mia; siblings James Warmka, Helen Botzet, Margaret Barrett, Rosemary Cavadini, Thomas (Cheryl) Warmka, John (Carol) Warmka and Daniel (Deb) Warmka; brothers and sisters in-law John Haley, Sherry Warmka, Jeri Warmka and Marvin Wilder of Albert Lea, Ann (Gene) Utzka of Albert Lea and Jeanette (Dennis) Wilder of Minneapolis; 66 nieces and nephews; and 31 grandnieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents Louis and Kathyrn Warmka; sisters Mary Ann Warmka and Rita Haley; brothers Ed Warmka and Ken Warmka; brothers-in-law Don Cavadini, Sylvester Botzet, Dave Wanous and Thomas Barrett; sisters-in-law Marian Warmka Mary Ann Wilder and Margaret Wanous; and a great-nephew, Jacob Botzet.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.