Obituaries

Miriam (Mim) Frances Willand, age 89, of Newton, Alabama, died Saturday at Extendicare in Dothan, AL. She was preceded in death in 1985 by her husband, Louis (Lou) Allen Willand.
Born in Berwick, Maine, on August 4, 1928, she was the daughter of the late Thedore, a Congregational minister, and Helen Guptil Poelman. She attended Plymouth Teachers’ College before meeting and marrying her beloved husband. After briefly living in the New England area, she and her family moved to New Guinea for three years where Mim and Lou helped to establish a school for missionary children.
Ill health on the part of Miriam’s husband brought the young family to Honolulu, Hawaii on their return from New Guinea. At Honolulu Community College, Lou taught while Mim would teach English as a second language to the local community. While still in Hawaii, Mim became active in Child Evangelism Fellowship, even serving as the area director for C.E.F. upon her husband’s passing. She then moved to Scranton where she lived with her brother Connie for a time, before joining her daughter and son-in-law in Alabama in 1996. She had lived with them until moving to Extendicare in 2017.
She loved people and knew no strangers. She had a lifelong passion for missions, dicipleship and her faith. She went from her family’s loving arms into the arms of her Lord and Savior on Saturday evening. She will forever be missed.
She is survived by her daughter, Helen Tomlinson and husband Scott of Newton, AL.; her son, Michael Willand and wife Sandi of Lexington, Kentucky; her brother, James Poelman of Mount Joy; two grandchildren; her sister-in-law, Darleen Poelman of Moscow; and nieces and nephews.
A grandson, Samuel (Scott) Tomlinson, IV; and siblings, Conrad (Connie), Theodore, John Henry, Carolyn, Grace and Lucille, also preceded her in death.
A memorial service took place Thursday in Alabama. Private local services are under the care of the Thomas P. Kearney Funeral Home, Inc., 517 North Main Street, Old Forge, with burial at Blair Cemetery in Campton, New Hampshire.