Gary E. Wilson Fund
TYPE OF FUND: Scholarship DATE ESTABLISHED: September 1991
PURPOSE: To provide an annual scholarship to a Tucker County resident who is a student at a Christian elementary, middle or high school, or being home schooled employing Christian educational principles and values. (added at the request of the Fund Advisor, and approved by the TCF Executive Committee 1/19/11).
DISTRIBUTION: To be determined by the Scholarship Committee of TCF with approval of the Board of Directors.
VARIANCE POWER: If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund. TCF has exclusive legal control over any contributed assets.
FUNDING: Initiated by members of Tucker Community Chorus of which Mr. Wilson and his fiancé Marie Grafton were members.
BACKGROUND: Gary Ellis Wilson was born Feb. 3, 1948 in Cumberland, a son of Dorothy Ann Grim Wilson of Frostburg, MD, and the late Fern Wilson.
He was a 1966 graduate of Fort Hill High School, Cumberland, and a 1970 graduate of Alderson Broaddus College, Philippi. He had been a school teacher, assistant principal and was principal at Circleville High School before coming to Tucker County to teach English at Davis Correctional Center for juvenile offenders.
In the three years he lived in Parsons, Gary was elected a trustee and lay speaker for St. John’s United Methodist Church and was a member of its choir. He was active as a 4-H leader, a member of Tucker Community Chorus, and was a beekeeper.
Gary died a the age of 43 on September 7, 1991 as the result of an accident while fishing on the Cheat River near the Tucker/Preston county line.
In addition to his mother, he was survived by a son, David Snyder Wilson, II; four daughters, Taysa Middleton, Angela Wilson, Betty Jo Feverhelm and Sandra Smith; two brothers, Warfield and Stanley Wilson; four grandchildren; and by his friend Marie Grafton of Parsons.