Overview:
Clarissa “Cris” Hurley Wilkinson, remembered for her love, religion, and devotion to household, dies at 84.
Clarissa “Cris” Hurley Wilkinson, a longtime resident of Crawfordsville and Lafayette, handed away on Monday, December 2, 2024, after a brief battle with most cancers. She was 84.
Born in Indianapolis on September 4, 1940, Clarissa moved to Crawfordsville in 1965 after assembly Donald Wilkinson, the love of her life. She labored for Indiana Bell, which she fondly known as “the cellphone firm.” Regardless of incomes greater than Don, who additionally labored at Indiana Bell, she left her place to turn out to be a stay-at-home mom, elevating their 5 kids. This choice mirrored the period’s social norms when ladies usually had to decide on between careers and household life—an injustice Clarissa incessantly mirrored upon. She would comment how ladies of her era confronted systemic limitations that usually curtailed their ambitions.
Clarissa’s time in Crawfordsville spanned 35 years. Through the Nineteen Sixties, this small Indiana city was a tight-knit neighborhood marked by the optimism of post-war America but in addition deeply influenced by the social and cultural modifications sweeping the nation. Crawfordsville was recognized for its historic downtown, blue-collar work ethic, and conservative values. Whereas the city supplied security and a way of belonging, it was additionally a spot the place conventional roles for girls had been firmly entrenched. Clarissa discovered pleasure in her household and religion as an lively member of St. Bernard’s parish but in addition longed for a world the place ladies might have all of it—household {and professional} success.
“Clarissa’s open-mindedness and embrace of variety had been amongst her best legacies.”
The Nineteen Sixties in Crawfordsville had been a time of relative isolation from the tumult of city America, but the nationwide dialog about civil rights, ladies’s liberation, and Vietnam started to penetrate even this Midwestern enclave. Clarissa, a staunch Democrat in a predominantly Republican city, was deeply empathetic and believed in equality for all. Her views usually set her aside, however she stood agency in her convictions, encouraging her kids to embrace variety and progress.
In 2001, Clarissa moved to Lafayette, the place she lived for 21 years, earlier than fulfilling a decades-long dream of returning to her hometown, Indianapolis, two years in the past. She by no means attended school however was clever and a voracious reader. As her eyesight declined with age, she struggled with the lack to get pleasure from books as she as soon as had, describing it as feeling “trapped in silence.”
Clarissa took immense delight in her household’s multicultural id. She was delighted however discovered it pointless that her daughter Donna sought her approval via her brother up to now and finally marry me, a Haitian American Peace Corps volunteer she had met in Togo, West Africa, fearing that she wouldn’t approve. In spite of everything, Clarissa’s open-mindedness and embrace of variety had been amongst her best legacies.
She was ecstatic when she discovered that her son-in-law had been a part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning crew at The New York Occasions for its protection of the 1993 World Commerce Heart bombing. It was a second of immense delight, reflecting her lifelong perception within the energy of storytelling to light up fact and encourage change. She was additionally proud that her son-in-law had reached the apex of his career.
“She usually mirrored on the period’s social norms, calling out the systemic limitations ladies of her era confronted.”
Clarissa is survived by her husband Don, her 5 kids, Donna Pierre-Pierre, Robert Wilkinson, Joe Wilkinson, Susan Parker, Anne Manion; 12 grandchildren, Cameron Pierre-Pierre, Marissa (Jordan) Brandenburg, Mina Pierre-Pierre, Joshua Wilkinson, Jacob Wilkinson, Sidney Manion, Adrian “Gigi” Manion, Abigail (Tyler) Wilson, Raegan Gentry-Wilkinson, Julius Gentry-Wilkinson, Antoine Gentry-Wilkinson, and Madeline Parker. Her children-in-law and bonus household, Garry Pierre-Pierre, George Parker, Lisa Wilkinson, Rosemiere Wilkinson, Devon Chamberlain, Georgia Pierre-Pierre, Khristy Negrão Pereira, Christyne Negrao Pereira, Paula Negrao Pereira and 5 great-grandchildren Atreus Wilson, Gatlin Wilson, Eloise Wilson, James Morgan and Joshua Pierre-Pierre. She additionally leaves many mates and different relations who will miss her sage recommendation and fast wit.
In lieu of flowers, the household is requesting donations to St. Jude Kids’s Hospital, one in all her causes.