Nancy Wilhelm, who steadfastly supported her family’s business from its basement founding 60 years ago by her husband to growth and leadership by the next generation, died Thursday in her Springfield Township home. She was 99.
The cause was heart failure, said her son Don Wilhelm, Jr. The family had gathered in June for a 99th birthday celebration, during which she offered her all-purpose good-natured answer to compliments, whether for longevity or appearance: “Oh, go on with you.”
“We all gave a cheer on that day,” son Don, Jr., said.
Son Michael added: “She had that Irish smile, that twinkle in the eye. She was always upbeat.”
Mrs. Wilhelm, a mother of eight, was a longtime vice president and corporate secretary of Helm Instrument Co., Maumee, which has become an international leader in designing and making process-control systems for industry. Son Michael is president and son Rick is chief executive, while her children Mary Lynn Tice, Joyce Phillips, and Tom Wilhelm are vice presidents. Other family members, including the third generation, have roles.
Her husband, Don, was an Owens-Illinois engineer when in 1962 he perfected a solid-state temperature controller in the basement. One of his early inventions had been a stress-measuring device for stamping presses that could automatically shut presses down when load exceeded specifications, The Blade reported.
By 1969, Mr. Wilhelm left his 27-year O-I career to lead Helm Instrument. Mrs. Wilhelm, still caring for children at home, offered full support.
“She had a way of not pushing you into something, but being so much behind you, such an encourager, that you succeeded,” son Don, Jr., said. “It was quite an adventure for him to start the company.
“She was the pillar. She was the strength and the rock,” he said. “You’d go into that company and it’s all brothers and sisters and all in terrific harmony. That was her gift as well.”
Mrs. Tice said: “She trusted him and knew he could make it.”
A devout Catholic, “everything came from that faith,” son Don, Jr., said. Mrs. Tice said: “She inspired all of us with her faith and devotion.”
Nancy Joyce Layden was born June 15, 1923, to Mary and William Layden, both Irish immigrants who met in Toledo. She was a 1941 graduate of Central Catholic High School, where she wrote for the student newspaper and met her husband.
She was proud of her Irish heritage and with her husband visited her mother’s family homestead in County Mayo, where she met cousins who still lived there.
A horseback rider in younger days, Mrs. Wilhelm liked to golf and swam daily at the Wolf Creek YMCA for 20 years.
She and Donald Wilhelm married May 12, 1945. He died Dec. 7, 2006.
Surviving are sons, Donald Wilhelm, Jr., and Richard, Michael, and Tom Wilhelm; daughters, Mary Lynn Tice, Elizabeth Tracy, Joyce Phillips, and Teresa Weiss; 27 grandchildren, and 33 great grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Coyle Funeral Home, with a recitation of the Rosary at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joan of Arc Church, of which she was a member.
The family suggests tributes to Children's Outreach Ministries based in the Toledo area, or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis.
First Published September 18, 2022, 4:00 a.m.
