Funeral Director Wayne Wheat estimated the crowd at the House of Wheat Funeral Home at an “unusually large” 400-500. They packed the funeral chapel, standing along the walls, and filled an overflow room and the lobby.
Wilson, 40, a fraud investigator for the Ohio Department of Insurance, wedding photographer and Trotwood-Madison schools volleyball coach, died after being shot in the neck as she was moving her belongings from her home at 825 Audrey Place. Three of her children witnessed the shooting, and a fourth arrived moments later. Their father and Wilson’s husband of 17 years, Keith Wilson, is in the Montgomery County Jail on a charge of murder.
Wilson filed for divorce on May 10 and had sought two protection orders against her husband, but police say he ducked more than a dozen attempts to serve him with the paperwork. In late July, Wilson told the court her husband had threatened her with a gun.
The service was sometimes emotionally charged. Young soloist Kayla Combs was overcome with tears as she tried to sing a hymn, but the congregation joined in and helped her finish.
The Rev. Norman C. Bradfield of Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church had a message of hope.
“Like most people here, my heart aches for you,” he told the family. “I don’t know how you feel, I’m going to be honest. The only thing I can tell you is God is still able.”
Wilson’s death was the second time her family has been ripped by homicide: In June 2001, her brother, Jerome Marcus Sanders, 29, was shot to death outside Dayton’s Majestic Lounge. Marny Wilson was buried in Woodland Cemetery next to her brother.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDaily News.com.
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