Mary Louise Yeager Wilson passed away peacefully on Tuesday, July 29, 2014 surrounded by her beloved family. Mrs. Wilson was preceded in death by her parents, Otis Milton Yeager and Lula Pearl Toone Yeager; her son, Philip T. Wilson, M.D. and her husband, Homer B. Wilson, Jr. Mrs. Wilson is survived by her sons, David G. Wilson, Stephen M. Wilson and wife, Pama Weaver Wilson, and Peter M. Wilson and wife, Sylvia Brown Wilson; and her daughter, Wendy S. Wilson and husband, Curtis M. Benzle (all in the Huntsville area). Mrs. Wilson had nine grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.
Mary was born November 29, 1925 in Birmingham, Alabama, one of seven children of a crew chief for ABC (Seaboard Coastline) Railroad, and grew up in Manchester, Georgia, a small switching junction between Atlanta and Birmingham in Meriweather County. She was an All-State basketball player for the Manchester Blue Devils (Angels), and valedictorian of the Class of 1942, and attended nursing school at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta. She moved to Huntsville in 1953 with her husband who was part of the Langley Field, VA team that joined Werner von Braun at the Army Ballistic Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal.
She united with First Baptist Church of Huntsville in June of 1953 and was a faithful and active member of the church all of her life. She taught the 15-16 year old girl’s Sunday school class for over four decades and shared her faith with many of the mothers and daughters in our community. Her grandfather, Rev. F. M. Yeager, was the first pastor of what is now known as Jackson Way Baptist Church.
She was a lifetime learner and traveler with the experience varying from tent camping trips with her family to travels throughout the world and around the world, visiting all continents. She rode a Russian ice breaker to Antarctica, crossed Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Railroad, saw the marvels of Egypt cruising down the Nile, watched the polar bear migration in Churchill, Canada, viewed the fjords of Norway and observed the current problems of the Ukraine on a river cruise from Kiev to Yalta in the Crimea in 2010. She was a fixture at the summer lectures of Christ Church, Oxford University, UK, for the past five years. She spent a summer counting salmon for the Alaskan Wildlife Commission as well as many mission trips with her church to improve the lives of those less fortunate and spread the gospel.
Mary was an avid Auburn football fan. On a trip to the Holy Land with a group from her church during this past Christmas holiday, she was able (with a little luck and a lot of prayer) to depart Tel Aviv and arrive in Los Angeles within forty-eight hours to attend Auburn’s national championship game. She arrived back in Huntsville just in time to catch a flight the same morning from Huntsville to Pasadena (the Holy Land of football). She rarely missed an Auburn home game and never missed a championship game. Because of her exemplary faith and strength of character she was considered a mother by many.
A celebration of her life will be held in the First Baptist Church on Governor’s Drive on Saturday, August 2nd, with visitation beginning at 9:30 a.m. and funeral service at 11:00 a.m., followed by interment in Maple Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the First Baptist Church Memorial Fund in Mary’s name, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL 35801.
