This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: McWilliams, Claudius, Moriarty, Ortiz, Boessling, Ward, Rogers Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/plB.2ACI/3746 Message Board Post: Mrs. Milton McWilliams nee Gretchen Elizabeth Claudius May 24, 1914 - May 6, 2006 Mrs. Milton McWilliams died May 6, 2006 in Fredericksburg Nursing Home after eleven months courageous battle with brain hemorrhaging and surgeries. The family members will receive friends in the Schaetter Funeral Home from 7 until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, 2006. A Requiem Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on May 17, 2006, Fredericksburg, Texas. Interment follows at the St.Barnabas Columbarium. Mrs. McWilliams was born May 24, 1914 in Omaha, Nebraska, the only daughter of August H. Claudius, an immigrant from Germany and Constance Moriarty Claudius an immigrant from Ireland. She married Seminarian Milton McWilliams of Ardmore, Oklahoma on July 17, 1948, in St. John's Episcopal Church, Omaha, Nebraska. They celebrated their fifty seventh anniversary on July 17, 2005 in the Rehab Unit of Sid Peterson Hospital, Kerrville, Texas. Mrs. McWilliams graduated from Omaha North High School and worked for a number of years in the insurance industry. Then she entered and graduated in 1946 from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, with a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic fraternity and Zeta Tau Alpha social sorority. She was a Team Leader in Student Union activities. Gretchen also was a student at Columbia University, New York City. She graduated with a Master's Degree in Christian Education from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA. in 1948. Gretchen became Christian Education Director of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA, the largest Parish in the Diocese of California. In 1951, she became Chaplain of Episcopal Students at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. In the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma she was a Team Member of the initial Renewal Ministries such as Parish Life Conferences. She also was a Counselor for Episcopal Summer Youth Camps in the Diocese of Oklahoma. Moving to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in 1958 in Houston, she was involved in such renewal ministries as Cursillios, Marriage Encounter Weekends, Beginning Experience Weekends, and other conferences for adults. She also was a committed member of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston and starting in 1962 of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City. In both Houston and Bay City she assisted in the founding of hospital auxiliaries at Spring Branch Hospital, and Matagorda County Hospital respectively. In 1986 Gretchen moved to Fredericksburg, Texas. In addition to her parents, Gretchen was preceded in death by their son, David Milton McWilliams, a United States Navy Nuclear Plant Operator on the Cruiser Long Beach; by three brothers and two sisters-in-law. She is survived by: her husband, the Reverend Milton McWilliams, an Episcopal Church Priest; a daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Ortiz, Houston, Texas; two grand children and their spouses, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Wayne Boessling, Houston, Texas and Mr. and Mrs. Tom Ward, New Braunfels, Texas; a grand God-daughter and her spouse, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Higby, Tuscon, Arizona; three great grand children; a sister-in-law; and numerous nieces and nephews, including Mrs. Nancy Carlock Rogers and Mr. David Carlock, both of Dallas, Texas, who devotedly affirmed the Family for many years and in particular the past several months. Memorial Contributions may be made to St. Barnabas Parish Hall Fund, 601 West Creek Street, Fredericksburg, TX 78624; or the Hill Country Youth Ranch, P. O. Box 67, Ingram, TX 78025; or the charity of your choice. Arrangements are under the auspices of Schaetter Funeral Home, Fredericksburg, TX. Expressions of compassion may be sent to www.schaetter.com. Bay City Tribune Published May 14, 2006 Matagorda County, Texas