Mary Ailene Glidewell (Ailene, Mur, Nana, GG) passed away January 28, 2021 at the age of 101 years.
She was born on the evening of December 12, 1919 in Milan Missouri, the 10th of 11 children born to James and Dora Glidewell. Ailene grew up during the Great Depression on the family farm with her 5 brothers and 5 sisters. After graduating Milan High School, she left the farm for Chicago Illinois. In Chicago she worked for the American Can Company, in those days making ammo boxes for the war effort. She married Jack Holland in April,1944 just before he shipped out to the European theatre. Ailene told of spending anxious days by the radio in June 1944 when she learned that Jack had landed at Normandy. In the years following the war, the family grew by Jackie in 1946, John in 1949, and Wayne in 1952. Jack passed away in 1952 after the family had moved to Hot Springs Arkansas. It was in Hot Springs that Ailene met her second husband, Robert (Bob) Coons. She and Bob married in 1956, and after relocating to Illinois, the family grew by Robin (1957) and Steven (1960). Ailene returned to work when her youngest started school and she started college when she was 54 years old. She studied computer programming in the early days of DOS and COBAL, eventually holding top secret clearance before she retired from the Department of Defense. After Bob passed away in 1979, Ailene retired and moved to Scottsdale Arizona where she met and married Ted Lewandowski in 1986.
Ailene is survived by four of her children, John (Anne) Holland, Wayne Holland, Robin (John) West, and Steve (Diann) Coons, as well as 12 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. She is preceded by her husbands, Jack Holland, Robert Coons, and Ted Lewandowski, her beloved daughter Jacqueline S Schimpf, her five brothers and her five sisters.
Ailene was gifted with the ability to find good in everyone she knew and developed countless lifetime friendships over the century.
A Visitation will be held from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM, Saturday, October 2, 2021 at Schoene-Ruschmeier Funeral Home in Milan. Burial will follow at Deep Springs Cemetery.