Hilda Lee Rosenbusch Rylander

Hilda Lee Rosenbusch Rylander, 96 of Waco, passed away peacefully Sunday, April 26 at Residency at Ridgewood. Visitation will be Thursday, April 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home. A private graveside service will follow at 1:00 p.m. at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco.

Hilda was born on December 18, 1929 to Alfred Carl and Emma Louise Gerstmann Rosenbusch in Mud, Texas. She grew up in a small community in Travis County with three brothers and three sisters. She was the youngest sibling and the last living.

She graduated from Leander High School in Leander, Texas. After graduating, she worked in a bank in Austin, Texas where she met her husband, Richard Douglas Rylander. They were married April 28, 1951.

Hilda devoted herself to raising their family. She was active as a Camp Fire leader for her girls and in a Ladies Tuesday golf group at Lake Waco Country Club. Hilda loved to sew, quilt and make porcelain dolls. She was a longtime volunteer for the Hillcrest Hospital Auxiliary and was known for her strawberry nut bread which she baked every year to be sold at the hospital fundraiser.

Later in life, she led a ladies exercise class twice a week. “The Health Shapers” as they were called met at First Methodist Church Waco for over a decade. She led the group in exercise, devotionals and prayer.

Hilda was a long-time member of First United Methodist Church Waco and served many years as an officer in the Weslyn Workers Sunday school class. She was also active for many years in The Potpourri Study Club, Birthday Club and The Luna Terra Garden Club.

Hilda was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and her brothers; Walter Carl, Raymond and Edwin Rosenbusch and sisters Alma Naumann, Clara McInnis and Freida Hinson.

Hilda is survived by her daughters, Deborah Trippet and husband Russell and Robin Lankford all of Waco. She is the grandmother of four grandchildren; Wynne Elder and husband Stephen, Rachel Morkovsky and husband John, Mary Helen Klemencic and husband Brian and Kade (Kaitlyn) Lankford. She is the great grandmother of seven; Camp Elder, Asher Elder, Rivers Elder, Ever Joy Elder, Helen Morkovsky, Harman Morkovsky and Fletcher Klemencic.

We will greatly miss Hilda’s beautiful smile and her ability to reach out to people and invite them to church and to exercise with her.

Special thanks to the staff and nurses at Residency at Ridgewood and Halcyon Hospice for all of their support.

Memorials may be made to First Methodist Church Waco, 4901 Cobbs Drive, Waco, Texas 76710.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Hilda on our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.