Obituary – Brenda L. Wilson

Brenda Lynn (Walker) Wilson was born on March 31,1966, to Bill Dean Walker and Ida Louise (Bates) Walker in Melrose Park, Chicago, Illinois, and died at Mercy Hospital St. Louis on February 1, 2026, due to cancer.

At the age of 13, she and her parents moved to Tucson, Arizona. After she graduated there from high school, she went to community college to study nursing and got her LPN. She met her childhood sweetheart the day they moved to Tucson. She married Mickey Ray Wilson on October 12th, 1996, at the Reid Park Zoo in front of the tiger cage. Tigers were her favorite animal. She, along with her husband Mickey, worked with the youth groups at Westside Missionary Baptist Church in Tucson and at Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in Safford, Arizona. She was camp nurse for several church camps for the BMA of Arizona. Brenda and Mickey, along with their son Jesse, moved to Missouri to live with her parents to help take care of her mother.

Brenda was preceded in death by her father Billy, mother Louise, and her sister Mary Louise Gilbert.

She was survived by her husband Mickey, from Licking, Mo.; her brother and sister-in-law, Billy Ray and Maria Walker, of Tucson, Ariz.; her son and daughter-in-law, Jesse James Dean and Lydia Wilson, from Licking, Mo., son and daughter-in-law, Christopher Ray and Lacey  Wilson, from Honea Path, S.C., and her daughter and son-in-law, Leona Darlene and Joe Morris, of Safford, Ariz.; ten grandchildren, five nieces and nephews, and two adopted children, Edward Michael Martinez, of Columbus, Texas, and Cole Wilson, of Ft. Riley Army Base, Kansas. She is and will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

Visitation for Brenda will be held on Friday, February 6, 2026, from 12 to 1 p.m. with a funeral service beginning at 1 p.m. Burial will follow the service at Ellis Prairie Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care and direction of Evans Funeral Home of Houston, Mo. Online condolences may be left at www.evansfh.com.