Donald Wilson Obituary

The Wilson family came from Sweden to Illinois when Donald's Uncle August (a wagon maker) was asked to participate as a tradesman at the Swedish Pavilion in the Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) in Chicago in 1893. After the Exposition ended, he settled in Geneva with a group of other Swedes, and he wrote Donald's father (Oscar) in Sweden and encouraged him to join August in America. Oscar joined his brother in Geneva in in 1899 and they soon started a building business, known as Wilson Brothers, which was responsible for designing and building a significant number of homes in Geneva and Batavia and also many buildings still standing on Main Street in Geneva. Two of their first residential houses (the Hoyt house in Geneva and the Gridley-Snow house in Batavia) were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and they also worked on other Wright projects including the Unity Temple in Oak Park and the Avery Coonley house in Riverside. Donald was the youngest of six children. His siblings included, Marion, Kenneth, Norman, George and Leonard. They were born to Oscar and Frida Wilson (Frida also being a Swedish immigrant). Donald was born in 1919, he attended Geneva public schools and was the quarterback on the Geneva High School football team. Lucille Wilson, his widow, also went to Geneva High School and they began dating while they were both there. After high school, Donald worked for two years before starting at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, but his college experience was interrupted when the war broke out in 1941. He enlisted in the Navy and became a Pilot and Section Leader in Bombing Squadron Three in the USS Yorktown. He piloted an SBD Dauntless Divebomber on numerous carrier-based missions over the Philippines, Formosa, French Indo-China, Chichi Jim, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, and he participated in the first Navy carrier-based plane strikes against Tokyo. For his service, he was awarded the Navy Air Medal and four Navy Gold Stars. He sent an engagement ring to his future wife, Lucille Stokes, by mail while he was aboard an aircraft carrier, and they were married on August 30, 1943 while he was on leave. After the war, he graduated from Cornell College and left business school in 1947 to enter the management training program at Bell Telephone, where he worked for approximately 35 years. Bell Telephone's practice was to move their management people among different offices, so he worked in Chicago, Elgin, Rockford, Chicago (again), Joliet and then Chicago one more time during during his career. In Joliet, he was active in the United Way and served as President of the West Side Kiwanis Club of Joliet. He also sang as a baritone in two barbershop quartets that competed in state-wide competitions. After retiring in 1981, he participated as a volunteer in several community activities, including teaching English as a second language to immigrants from over 30 countries in the Downers Grove area. He was also an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove. In 2006 he was diagnosed with Alzheimers' disease, which he did not disclose to his family for several months while he researched the disease and made preparations for what he knew would follow. He died on April 10, 2008. He is survived by his wife (Lucille) of over 64 years, two daughters, Louise Wilson and Mary Ambrose, both of Dallas, Texas; a son, John Wilson, of San Francisco, California; and five grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Friday, May 9, 2008, 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1032 Maple, Downers Grove. Arrangements by: Toon Funeral Home, Downers Grove, IL 630-968-0408