Naomi Elizabeth Wichert

Naomi Elizabeth (nee Kraft) Wichert of Pigeon, age 91, passed away on May 3, 2025, at Scheurer Hospital. She was born in Pigeon on August 5, 1933, and baptized August 27, 1933. Naomi attended Pigeon Grade School, St. John's Lutheran School, was confirmed on August 20, 1947, and graduated from Pigeon High School in 1951. She was the first employee of Pigeon Manufacturing until she married Gilbert Wichert in 1954. They moved to Chicago and while there, she worked in a real estate office. They returned to Pigeon and opened a radio and television store. In 1979 Naomi started working for Michigan Directory Company and retired as Vice-President of Operations in 1996.

She was a member of Scenic Golf and Country Club serving three terms as president of the Ladies Division. Naomi was a founding member of St. John's Women Society and the Pigeon Historical Association. She was a dedicated member of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church her entire life. Naomi served on the board at Scheurer Hospital for eleven years and was Chairperson of Long Range Planning. She enjoyed golfing, sewing, crocheting and knitting. Naomi was an avid reader and a member of the Pigeon District Library and the Polk County Library Association in Lakeland, Florida while she and Gil lived in Florida for nineteen winters. They traveled extensively in the United States and countries overseas.

Naomi is survived by her husband Gilbert; her children, Susan (James) Weir and Dean (Zenny) Wichert; her grandchildren, Jared (Crystal) Weir, Alec (Sydney) Weir and Sean Wichert Sr; her great-grandchildren, Christian, Hudson, Elizabeth, Eleanor and Jack Weir, Sean Wichert Jr, Dawn Wichert, Dylan McCrory and Finn Ruther; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Erich and Anna (Ruthig) Kraft; stepmother, Mildred Kraft; her brother, Lowell and his wife Nancy, and her granddaughter, Julie McCrory.

Services will be at St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church, Berne on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 11:00am. Rev. Steve Neuman will officiate with burial at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery. The family will be present to receive visitors on Thursday, May 15, 2025, from 2:00pm until 7:00pm at the Champagne Funeral Chapel in Pigeon and again at church on Friday from 10:00am until 11:00am.

Memorials may be given to the Sola Gratia Endowed Scholarship Fund established by Gil and Naomi Wichert for the junior and senior students at Michigan Lutheran Seminary or St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Berne or the Pigeon District Library.