Gary E. Wilson Fund
Established to honor the memory of educator and community leader Gary Ellis Wilson, this scholarship supports Tucker County students attending Christian schools or homeschooling programs rooted in Christian values.
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 February 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 and a 1970 graduate of Alderson Broaddus College. He worked as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal at Circleville High School before coming to Tucker County to teach English at Davis Correctional Center for juvenile offenders.
In his three years in Parsons, he became a trustee and lay speaker at St. John’s United Methodist Church and participated in its choir, 4-H, the Tucker Community Chorus, and beekeeping. Gary died on September 7, 1991 at the age of 43 as a result of a fishing accident on the Cheat River near the Tucker/Preston county line. He was survived by his mother, son David Snyder Wilson II, daughters Taysa Middleton, Angela Wilson, Betty Jo Feverhelm, Sandra Smith, two brothers, four grandchildren, and his friend Marie Grafton of Parsons.
