Eileen Marjorie Wilkins DuVries

Eileen Marjorie Wilkins DuVries, 91, passed away peacefully on Friday, June 16th, in Fort Collins, Colorado, following an extended illness. Eileen was born in Oakland, California on June 29, 1925. She was the loving daughter of Thomas J. Merry and Catherine (Hughes) Merry who emigrated from Keady, County Armagh, Ireland to San Francisco in 1911. She is preceded in death by her six siblings; James Merry, Clare Brodehl, Kathleen Gluck (all born in Ireland), and Barbara Bajuk, Thomas Merry, and Constance Merry. She is survived by her only child, John R. Wilkins Jr. (Wilkins-Wells) and granddaughter, Katherine Anne Durham. Eileen attended Hayward High School and Chabot College in Hayward, California where she followed courses in gerontology. She married John R. Wilkins of Oakland, California in 1943. They were divorced in 1947. Eileen subsequently remarried later in her life but her second husband, Henri L. DuVries, a noted foot surgeon, passed away shortly thereafter. Eileen was a medical secretary for many years in the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Area and completed her employment career at Eden Hospital, Castro Valley, California in 1990. Previously, she worked as both a medical secretary and medical transcriber in the pathology department of the University of California/San Francisco General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital of the East Bay, and for several family physicians and surgeons in Oakland, California. Several years after her retirement, Eileen moved to Fort Collins to live with her son, his now deceased wife, Patricia Wilkins-Wells, and granddaughter. Eileen was an excellent vocalist and a great beauty, two qualities that led to some important auditions, but that nevertheless always took second place to single parenthood. She traveled widely, often on her own, visiting Ireland several times, along with visits to England, France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. An early and avid reader all of her life, one of her most memorable childhood memories was obtaining her first library card at the age of 6. She will be greatly missed by her son and his in-laws, his current wife, Lisa Voelker; her granddaughter and husband’s family, all of her nephews and nieces and their spouses and children, and close friends she had from employment and while living in Fort Collins. Family and close friends are invited to a Mass celebrating her life at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fort Collins, followed by a small reception in the church’s Meredith Hall on Friday, June 23, 2017 at 2 p.m.

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Eileen Marjorie Wilkins DuVries

June 29, 1925 - June 16, 2017