A cancer survivor for 18 years, Wilda "Billie" Fae Gesaman Bloomquist passed away peacefully on Friday August 10, 2012, in Rochester, N.Y., at the age of 94.
She was the youngest of five children born on April 12, 1918, to George and Fae Gesaman of the James-town area. Billie, married to the late Bert C. Bloomquist for 59 years, felt her life be-gan when she met Bert, a Swedish immigrant.
Billie is survived by her daughters: Brenda Lee Far-rell (William) of Rochester, and Barbara Sue Ferraro (Charles) of Westfield. She enjoyed a close relation-ship with her grandchil-dren: Kimberly Farrell Ew-ing (David) of Raleigh, N.C., Christina Farrell Ingerson (Nathan) of Ro-chester, Katherine Farrell Lane (Steve) of Rochester, and Abraham Ferraro of Al-bany. Her great-grandchil-dren are: Kaela Nichole Ewing of Raleigh, and Chloe Marie Lane of Ro-chester. Billie leaves may close friends as well as nieces and nephews: Donna Isaacson, Nancy Lewis, Clarine Hans, George Bernhardt and her godson, Marvin Bernhardt.
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Billie was a talented seamstress with an eye for color. Her crafts included sewing clothes, fabric painting, embroidery, counted cross-stitch, plastic grid, draperies, wall paper-ing and dry flower arrange-ments.
Through her husband, Billie adopted the Swedish culture with the music, cooking, language and traditions. She became the first non-Swedish member of Thule Lodge 127, Vasa Order of America in 1941. Billie participated in many activities including Thule Folk Dance Team, Thule Drill Team and Ladies Club.
Billie was an active volunteer for Chautauqua County Red Cross, Grey Ladies of Jamestown Gen-eral Hospital, Brownie leader, AARP, Lutheran So-cial Services and Roger Tory Peterson Institute. She was also a committed member of Eastern Star of New York State. Billie and Bert served as a matron and patron of the Mount Sinai Chapter 132 in 1973. She was chairman of the Coun-ty Past Matrons in 1983 and participated in the Ma-sonic Widows Society and Shrine's Ladies Club. Over the years, Billie belonged to the Marvin House, Juliet Rosch Society and Chau-tauqua Blind Association. She was a member of First Lutheran Church.
A memorial service cele-brating Billie's life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday Sept. 1, 2012, in Memorial Chapel of First Lutheran Church. The Rev. Daniel Nagle will officiate.
Burial will be held at the family's convenience in Lake View Cemetery.
A sincere thank you to everyone at Hultquist Place in Jamestown and hospice at the Shepard Home in the Rochester area for their lov-ing care of Billie and her family.
Memorials may be made to Shepherd Home, Inc., PO Box 33, Penfield, NY 14526 to continue their care for those in need.
You may light a candle in remembrance of Billie at www.lindfuneralhome.com.