Lampasas resident Alma Louise Wilkinson died Sept. 10, 2008, at Rollins Brook Community Hospital. She was 71.

Graveside services are Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lampasas with Dr. Rick Willis officiating.

Mrs. Wilkinson was born Nov. 23, 1936, in Searcy, Ark., to Arthur D. and Mary Pasley Smith.

She graduated from Corpus Christi High School and earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Bethany Nazarene College in Oklahoma. She did graduate work and received her kindergarten certification from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Mrs. Wilkinson taught in the Rio Grande Valley at both Raymondville and Harlingen. She also taught at Wimberley, and retired from Hayes Independent School District in 1992 after having taught a total of 30 years.

In 1961, she married Leo Hert in Raymondville, and he preceded her in death in 1967. She then married Edwin Wilkinson in February 1969.

Survivors include her husband of Lampasas; three stepchildren, Bill Wilkinson and wife, Lynda, of Driftwood, Kenneth Wilkinson and wife, Annabel of Fredericksburg, and Sharon Wilkinson Harris of Killeen; two step-granddaughters, Carrie Beaird and husband, Justin, of Frisco, and Cristal Wilkinson of Austin; a brother, Kenneth Smith of Rusk; and two sisters, Lucille Smith Harris of Jacksonville, Ark., and Adele Long of Arvada, Colo.

She was preceded in death by three brothers, one sister and a stepson, Donald Wilkinson.

The family requested memorials be made to the church of one's choice, the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer's Association.