![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.old.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Mary-Bilimek-obit-photo-3-2020.jpg\")
She was born October 20, 1935, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a daughter of James Edward and Mae (Keating) Murphy, who both preceded her in death. She married James A. Bilimek on October 23, 1950, and he died August 26, 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is survived by her children, Barbara Thompson of Van Wert, Rick (Victoria) Bilimek of Middle Point, Ginny (Darryl) Ricketts of Rockford, Mike (Dorothy) Bilimek of Rockford, De De (Rick) Runyon of Ohio City, and Joe (Connie) Bilimek of Van Wert; 32 grandchildren; 62 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. Also surviving are a son-in-law, Gene Allmandinger; one sister, Christina Kelley of Plant City, Florida; and two brothers, Carl Townsend of Plant City and Thomas Townsend of Tennessee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was preceded in death by a son, C. James Bilimek; one daughter, Christina Maria Allmandinger; a daughter-in-law, Cindy Bilimek; one brother, Joey Townsend; and a brother-in-law, Charles Kelley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was a dedicated mother and treasured her family, especially her role as “Grandma Betty”. She loved reading and education and was a teacher\u2019s aide for several years at Horace Mann Elementary School. She also volunteered as a tutor for the GED program at Ohio City-Liberty School. She was a great cook and had a huge garden to match her huge heart. Her life was an example of someone who devoted her whole life to her family and helping others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was a member of St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Van Wert. Early in her life, she had been active in Van Wert Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 14, at Brickner Funeral Home in Van Wert, with Father Stanley Syzbka officiating. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery in Ohio City.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Visitation is from 2-8 p.m. Friday, March 13, and an hour prior to services Saturday at the funeral home. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Preferred memorials: Funeral Meal Fund at St. Mary of the Assumption Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Condolences may be expressed at www.bricknerfuneralhome.com<\/a> or emailed to bricknerfuneralhome@bright.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mary E. Bilimek, 84, passed away Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at her Van Wert residence, surrounded by her loving family. She was born October 20, 1935, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a daughter of James Edward and Mae (Keating) Murphy, who both preceded her in death. She married James A. Bilimek on October 23, 1950, and he died […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 02:43:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}