Wilma Harkins
Longtime KUUF Member Wilma Harkins died on January 31, 2025. Wilma was smart and fierce, from her early years as a child of Croatian immigrants, learning English when she entered school, to her years working as a nursing care consultant and then survey nurse for the Washington State Bureau of Nursing Home Affairs, to most recently, at the age of 90, as a self-advocate and incisive questioner of all family members. Wilma was a top scholar, overcoming many challenges including a stutter. She attended nurse’s training, earned a bachelor’s in nursing, and much later a master’s degree from the University of Washington.
Wilma was devoted to her family: three children, eight grandchildren, and three great grandbabies. For the last eight years she missed the companionship of her late husband, Hugh. Before Wilma’s stroke and later significant vision loss, she loved gardening, traveling around the country with Hugh in their Roadtrec, a succession of loveable dachshunds, and the knowledge that her efforts at KUUF over the years were meaningful and significant. For the past few years the Washington Talking Book and Braille library was a lifeline for Wilma’s active brain, and she was fiercely devoted to the regular PT and OT workouts that helped to maintain balance, strength and endurance until she drew her last breath in the early morning on January 31, 2025.
Wilma was devoted to the Kitsap Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Her most significant roles over time were liaison to architects and builders during the construction phase, finance committee, author of a history of the Fellowship which can be found in the Fellowship library, and the creation and maintenance of the Memorial Garden for many years. Wilma believed fiercely in the Endowment Fund and was instrumental in its creation, both financially and through her vision. With the matching fund donations given anonymously by Wilma and Hugh, the endowment fund was able to reach the goal of $100,000 very quickly. Aside from her children, Wilma was most proud that her efforts at KUUF helped to build a solid foundation that would sustain liberal religion in Kitsap County well into the future.
Gifts in Wilma’s honor can be made to the KUUF Endowment. Please contact endowment@kuuf.org.
To honor both of their lives and bring closure, the family would be grateful if folks who knew Hugh and Wilma would share a thought or memory about one or both of them. The family plans to gather in one year, near the anniversary of Wilma's passing, to share stories and memories and to distribute their ashes. If you would like to contribute to these shared memories you can share with admin@kuuf.org