Jane H. Wiswall
COLUMBIA —Jane H. Wiswall of Columbia died Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011, at Parkside Manor. She was 100.
She was born April 24, 1911, in Rocheport to Henry and Jenny Huntington Wiswall.
Ms. Wiswall was the type of woman who, when challenged to do a somersault by her great-nephew at his birthday party, instead did him one better and did a cartwheel, nephew Jim Wiswall said.
"She was literally filled with life," Jim Wiswall said. "She walked on water."
Ms. Wiswall worked as a postal clerk for Stephens College. Her hobbies included playing the piano and organ, cooking, sewing and gardening.
She and her sister, Grace Gentry, moved in together after the death of Grace's husband when both were in their 70s. They traveled all over — to Hawaii and Mackinac Island. They also went to the World's Fair in New Orleans in 1984.
"The two of them really became what I called 'the girls,'" Jim Wiswall said. "I always thought that someone wound them up like the Energizer bunny."
He remembers his aunt was a "phenomenal seamstress" and made all of her own clothing — but the one time she went to the mall to get a new blouse, he went with her and could barely keep up.
Ms. Wiswall was like that in all aspects of her life, her nephew said. There was little she did not enjoy doing, and she even fixed dinner for the students that lived by her house.
"I don't think she'd ever met a person she didn't like," Jim Wiswall said. Her neighbors would come over and just "cook up a storm." Whenever he stayed with his aunt, she would fix him the most delicious pancakes that "floated out of the pan and onto your plate."
Her nephew remembers Ms. Wiswall as a spirited woman who was passionate about life.
"She was never quite rooted in one age," Jim Wiswall said. "She was always a growing person."
Ms. Wiswall is survived by her nephew, Jim Wiswall of St. Louis; great-nephew John Wiswall and his son, Edward, of Seattle; and great-nephew Steve Wiswall of Chicago.
Her brother, Henry Wiswall Jr.; and her sisters, Grace Gentry and Mary Lloyd, died earlier.
Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Parker Funeral Service & Crematory, 22 N. Tenth St. Services will follow at 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be after the service at Memorial Park Cemetery, 1217 Business Loop 70 W.
Condolences may be left online at www.parkerfuneralservice.com
