Marie Wiza Wilcox

Longtime Hammond resident Marie Wiza Wilcox,age 99, died in Arden, NC on January 4, 2019. Born in Milwaukee, Marie was an accomplished musician, winning first in a Wisconsin state oboe competition when she was a teenager during the Great Depression. She was a member of the Milwaukee Young People's Orchestra, where she met her husband, James H. Wilcox.Following World War II, Marie moved to Louisiana with her husband, who became Dean of Humanities at SLU. There she played in the Baton Rouge Symphony, attended musical and cultural events often hosting receptions for visiting artists,welcomed SLU students to her home, and delighted in her friends of the Round Table, Les Madames, and a book club that met for over five decades. The celebrated British pianist Gerald Moore and his wife Enid were once impromptu guests in her home on College Drive. Moore, who had accompanied such world-famous artists as Pablo Casals, enjoyed Marie's pancakes, and quick wit.She played tennis until she was 80. Marie loved children, her own, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and she also taught at the migrant farm workers' school and read children's stories on the radio. She was a faithful member of Holy Ghost Catholic Church and St. Albert's.

She is survived by her children, Joan Tidwell,Arden, NC, James Wilcox, Baton Rouge, John Wilcox, Canfield, OH, and Laurie Wilcox-Meyer, Asheville, NC; her grandchildren, John Viana, Caroline Sandstedt,Colleen Heidenreich, Julia Wilcox, James T. Wilcox, Kit Baley, and John Meyer;and nine great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James H. Wilcox and her daughter Patricia Faith Wilcox.

A memorial visitation for Marie will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2019 from 9:00 am until 11:00 am at Harry McKneely & Son Funeral Home in Hammond. A Memorial Service Celebrating Marie’s Life will immediately follow visitation at 11:00 am in the funeral home chapel. Inurnment will follow at Rose Memorial Cemetery in Hammond where she will be buried beside her husband.

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