A tribute to founding ON member Laura Wilkerson

"We are braver and wiser because they existed, those strong women and strong men... We are who we are because they were who they were. It's wise to know where you come from, who called your name." - Maya Angelou

All of us at The Owen News were deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of one of our founding board members, Laura Wilkerson.

Laura's dedication and leadership in the early days of our not-for-profit organization were instrumental in shaping our mission and success.

Although Laura chose to step aside from the board a few months after The Owen News was created due to health reasons, she remained a strong supporter of our organization and a continued vocal champion of local news.

She touched countless lives both locally and across the country throughout her 28-year career at the Owen County Public Library, where she was employed as the library's Genealogy Specialist.

As the late poet Maya Angelou so elegantly wrote, Laura helped others better understand "where they came from" through her dedicated and caring research.

To say her presence at the library and in our community will be missed would be an understatement. Laura leaves behind a lasting legacy, both through her genealogical research and in her commitment to this newspaper's early existence and guiding principles.

Thank you, Laura, for your friendship and for lending your time and talents to this publication and its board of directors, even if only for a short time.

In tribute to Laura, we have chosen to publish her full obituary as prepared by West & Parrish & Pedigo Funeral Home and published online at www.legacy.com:

Laura Michele Wilkerson

Laura Michele Wilkerson (Hamilton) died on Saturday, November 9, 2024. In passing she is missed by her husband of 43 years, Jay; her sons, Max and Jaymes; her grandchildren, Audrey Jeffries, Jaycob, Samantha, and Joseph; and her cats, Nick, Mario, Tipper ManBearPig, and Poppy.

She was preceded in death by her daughter, Jamison Jeffries; her father, Thomas Hamilton; her mother, Caroline Webster (Whitacker); and her cats, Kilgore Trout, Nipper, Marley, Sting, Freak-A-Cat, and Buttons. She was born in 1963 and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky where she met and married Jay. They moved to Bloomington, Indiana in the eighties and to Spencer, Indiana in 1996.

Laura served the Owen County community for 28 years as the genealogy librarian at the public library. She also researched and wrote the Through the Years column for the Spencer Evening World for 15 or so years.

Laura received research scholarships for her work on the lives of women executed in the United States since colonial times. She also was invited to creative writing workshops at Stanford University and Notre Dame University. She published a few items in print and often online, with her work ranging from Michel Foucault and information theory, to local and national politics, culture, and beyond. Her research and organizational skills were incredible as was her ability to analyze and synthesize information.

Laura was a great listener and proved it by knowing exactly what to give people for birthdays, Christmas, and just-because gifts. Laura collected Archer cards, antique Valentines that featured children who looked like her grandkids Samantha and Joseph, and antique postcards of cats.

Laura's landscaping filled her yard with hundreds of daylilies, roses, hydrangeas, Hostas, a grape arbor, columnar apple trees, a Marian garden, and assorted bushes.

Laura didn't want a service, so close friends and family are celebrating her life and grieving her passing by telling stories in the living room, a process that we will continue during the rest of our lives. One thing we all agree on, Laura cared. She put her heart into everything she did and lived according to Matthew 5:10: "In the same way your light must shine in people's sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven."

If you would like to do something to pay tribute to Laura, adopt a cat or contribute to your local animal shelter. Shine on Laura, you were loved.