Iona was born in Pennsylvania on August 16, 1928 to Frank and Lucinda Bryner. Her dad, one of 13 children, had a heart attack and couldn't work so she went to work out of high school to help support her parents.
During the war in 1945 she worked in the Anchor Hocking glass factory and worked rotating shifts (Connellsville, Pennsylvania). She was only 16, underage but she lied about her age to get the job. It was in the summer. She inspected beer and whisky bottles. There's a certain way you flip them, you had to wear gloves because it was hot. She used to work various shifts. The war ended the last week she worked there.
Iona worked for JC Penney in Monroeville, PA, and Indianapolis, IN as an office manager. She retired from JC Penney at age 47 so she could spend more time with her mother whom she took to Hawaii for a week -- Honolulo and 2 other islands, among the three places her mother said she'd like to go. They went to the Grand Old Opry and she loved it but they didn't make it to the Holy Land.
Iona married the widower Ben Wilson, who had been her manager at JC Pennys, in Indianapolis in 1977. Tragically, he suffered a stroke and died two years later. She lived in their Sun City, AZ home, where she volunteered to keep the books for her church, until moving to Chesapeake, Virginia her last five years close to her beloved niece.
Iona is survived by her niece, Claudia and children, and her nephew's children. Her nephew Drew predeceased her in 2010 and her brother Andy in 2012.
Her ashes rest next to her parents' in the state of her birth.
During the war in 1945 she worked in the Anchor Hocking glass factory and worked rotating shifts (Connellsville, Pennsylvania). She was only 16, underage but she lied about her age to get the job. It was in the summer. She inspected beer and whisky bottles. There's a certain way you flip them, you had to wear gloves because it was hot. She used to work various shifts. The war ended the last week she worked there.
Iona worked for JC Penney in Monroeville, PA, and Indianapolis, IN as an office manager. She retired from JC Penney at age 47 so she could spend more time with her mother whom she took to Hawaii for a week -- Honolulo and 2 other islands, among the three places her mother said she'd like to go. They went to the Grand Old Opry and she loved it but they didn't make it to the Holy Land.
Iona married the widower Ben Wilson, who had been her manager at JC Pennys, in Indianapolis in 1977. Tragically, he suffered a stroke and died two years later. She lived in their Sun City, AZ home, where she volunteered to keep the books for her church, until moving to Chesapeake, Virginia her last five years close to her beloved niece.
Iona is survived by her niece, Claudia and children, and her nephew's children. Her nephew Drew predeceased her in 2010 and her brother Andy in 2012.
Her ashes rest next to her parents' in the state of her birth.
Iona was born in Pennsylvania on August 16, 1928 to Frank and Lucinda Bryner. Her dad, one of 13 children, had a heart attack and couldn't work so she went to work out of high school to help support her parents.
During the war in 1945 she worked in the Anchor Hocking glass factory and worked rotating shifts (Connellsville, Pennsylvania). She was only 16, underage but she lied about her age to get the job. It was in the summer. She inspected beer and whisky bottles. There's a certain way you flip them, you had to wear gloves because it was hot. She used to work various shifts. The war ended the last week she worked there.
Iona worked for JC Penney in Monroeville, PA, and Indianapolis, IN as an office manager. She retired from JC Penney at age 47 so she could spend more time with her mother whom she took to Hawaii for a week -- Honolulo and 2 other islands, among the three places her mother said she'd like to go. They went to the Grand Old Opry and she loved it but they didn't make it to the Holy Land.
Iona married the widower Ben Wilson, who had been her manager at JC Pennys, in Indianapolis in 1977. Tragically, he suffered a stroke and died two years later. She lived in their Sun City, AZ home, where she volunteered to keep the books for her church, until moving to Chesapeake, Virginia her last five years close to her beloved niece.
Iona is survived by her niece, Claudia and children, and her nephew's children. Her nephew Drew predeceased her in 2010 and her brother Andy in 2012.
Her ashes rest next to her parents' in the state of her birth.
During the war in 1945 she worked in the Anchor Hocking glass factory and worked rotating shifts (Connellsville, Pennsylvania). She was only 16, underage but she lied about her age to get the job. It was in the summer. She inspected beer and whisky bottles. There's a certain way you flip them, you had to wear gloves because it was hot. She used to work various shifts. The war ended the last week she worked there.
Iona worked for JC Penney in Monroeville, PA, and Indianapolis, IN as an office manager. She retired from JC Penney at age 47 so she could spend more time with her mother whom she took to Hawaii for a week -- Honolulo and 2 other islands, among the three places her mother said she'd like to go. They went to the Grand Old Opry and she loved it but they didn't make it to the Holy Land.
Iona married the widower Ben Wilson, who had been her manager at JC Pennys, in Indianapolis in 1977. Tragically, he suffered a stroke and died two years later. She lived in their Sun City, AZ home, where she volunteered to keep the books for her church, until moving to Chesapeake, Virginia her last five years close to her beloved niece.
Iona is survived by her niece, Claudia and children, and her nephew's children. Her nephew Drew predeceased her in 2010 and her brother Andy in 2012.
Her ashes rest next to her parents' in the state of her birth.
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