Wilma Alice (Gemmrll) Kidd

Mrs. Wilma Alice Gemmell Kidd died June 24, 2023 at The Robert Lee Care Center in Robert Lee.

A private family graveside service was held at Fairmount Cemetery in San Angelo. A memorial service will be 10:00 AM Saturday, July 1, 2023 at the Chapel of Baptist Retirement Community, 902 N. Main, San Angelo under the direction of Robert Massie Funeral Home

Wilma Alice was born to Robert and Ellen Gemmell on January 26, 1922 in Winside, Nebraska. At the age of eleven, Wilma accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and was baptized in the Carroll Baptist Church. She was a 1939 graduate of Carroll High School. She attended State Teachers College in Wayne, Nebraska, and was awarded Bachelor of Arts by Howard Payne College (now University) in Brownwood, in 1946, and also was awarded Master of Religious Education by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth in 1949. She also studied at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Wilma taught rural school; was Educational Secretary at First Baptist Church, Stephenville; secretary at the national headquarters of the Woman's Missionary Union, Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama; and worked in sales of office systems.

Fulfilling a calling to foreign missions, Wilma arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 12, 1963 as Associate Missionary of the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) Southern Baptist Convention. She worked in the Board's financial office in Rio de Janeiro. She sang in church choirs, and in the Association for Singing of Choral Music.

Wilma met Rev. Jesse L. Kidd, a Southern Baptist missionary working in the Baptist School at Volta Redonda in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and they were married October 14, 1967 in St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He preceded her in death on September 24, 2020. On March 13, 1969 they were named Associate Missionaries of the Foreign Mission Board, and in July they returned to Brazil.

They served in the state of Santa Catarina in pioneer evangelism. In 1976, they moved to the state of Minas Gerais. There Jesse was Director of Missions of the North Association of Baptist Churches, in the geographical area centered by the city of Montes Claros. The couple lived in that city, the agricultural center for over one million people. Alongside her husband's ministry, she guided children's and adult choirs in the churches.

Missionary service in Brazil continued until 1989 when the Kidds retired to Baptist Retirement Community in San Angelo. They were members of Immanuel Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, where she was a member of the Mary/Martha Sunday School class. She taught Adult Sunday School classes and sang in Sanctuary choirs and in the San Angelo Symphony Chorale. At Baptist Retirement Community she sang in the Chapel services.

Mrs. Kidd was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; five brothers: Donald Gemmell, Allan Gemmell, John Gemmell, Ralph Gemmell, and Fred Gemmell; four sisters: Elsie Whitney, Jean Smith, Elizabeth Norris, and Jessie Back.

She is survived by nieces and nephews and their families. Her niece, Janel Howard and husband Larry Howard lovingly ministered to Wilma and Jesse. Blessed gratitude to those of Baptist Retirement Community, Robert Lee Care Center and dear friends.

The couple started a fund to aid Americans studying theology. Memorials may be made to the Wilma Alice Gemmell Kidd, and Jesse L. Kidd Endowed Scholarship, c/o Howard Payne University, PO Box 2369, Brownwood Texas, 76804; or to a ministry of your choice.