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Rebecca L. Willson

January 4, 1983 - March 3, 2022

Rebecca Lynn Willson, 39, ran away from sickness and pain and into the loving arms of the Father on March 3, 2022, with her husband, Andy, and daughter, Lyla, by her side who loved her fiercely and walked her all the way to the end.

Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at Memorial Services of Iowa (4208 N Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, IA 50023). A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 10, 2022, at Lutheran Church of Hope (925 Jordan Creek Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50266) with burial immediately following the funeral at Ankeny Memorial Gardens. The funeral will be livestreamed at the following link: https://hopeonline.tv/specialevents

Becca requested everyone wear a ‘She will Prevail’ or ‘Just put a Heart on it’ shirt to the services.

Becca loved life and one of her greatest joys was helping others. She knew from an early age that nursing was her calling. She became a neonatal nurse practitioner in 2009.  She loved caring for the sickest of infants and being able to help them grow and thrive. In recent years, she was able to share this love by providing education to surrounding hospitals. This was never work to her and she had a passion for sharing her love and education for babies with nurses and doctors across the state.

Becca loved people. Of course, Andy and Lyla were at the top of that list. Everything she did was with Andy and Lyla in mind. Being a wife and mother will always be her greatest accomplishment. Becca often joked that she didn’t have any hobbies and to a degree that was true (besides shopping at Target), but in reality her hobbies were being Lyla’s teacher, Team Mom at Lyla’s cheer, volunteering as the nurse at VBS, coaching GOTR and creating events for people to gather together and love on each other. She often said if being an NNP didn’t work out, she would be a party planner. The last (and possibly greatest) party she planned is her service and what a gift it will be to all who loved her.

Per Becca’s request, please do not send flowers. Instead, please consider donating to Lyla’s future education, Inheritance of Hope (www.inheritanceofhope.org) – an organization that has greatly impacted the Willson Family as they navigated terminal illness, or consider sending lunch or snacks to Dr. Buroker’s care team and the infusion nurses at Mission Cancer and Blood as they deserve way more credit and recognition for the care they provided to Becca and her family over the last few years.