‘Chick’ Wilson To Celebrate 90 Years

Monticello native James Smith “Chick” Wilson, Jr, will celebrate his 90th birthday this Saturday, Sept. 12.

Born to the late J.S. Wilson, Sr. (son of Charles Tate Wilson and Mittie Veronica Thompson Wilson) and Ethel Persons Wilson (daughter of J.B. Persons and Ella Phillips Persons), Chick attended the Monticello Public School in the building now occupied by as the Historic Center’s Thomas Persons Hall and after 11 years there he graduated in the same building.

He loved the outdoors and every afternoon after school he headed to the woods to hunt squirrels. Boy Scout Troop 57 was very active and with lots of outdoor camping.

“Forsyth Street had a lot of young people and there was some fun things going on all the time,” said Mr. Wilson. “‘Wash Holes’ were very popular too and they visited nearly every one around town.

“Entering the eighth grade all boys had to run through the ‘Belt Line’ on the street above the football field. This was no fun to look forward too but a very necessary initiation to High School and all boys had to run it,” said Mr. Wilson.

He played football, his greatest sports love, from 1940 to 1943.

After graduating from high school in June 1943 he attended Georgia Tech one quarter until being inducted in the U.S. Army in December of the same year,1943 at age 18. He completed Tank Destroyer basic training at Ft. Hood, Texas in March of 1944 and was then transferred to a Sherman Tank Training Unit at Ft, Jackson, S.C. His unit was preparing for the South Pacific in 1946 until President Truman probably saved all their lives by dropping the atomic bomb. He was discharged from the Army from Ft. Bragg, N.C, on April 26, 1946, his mother’s birthday.

He attended the University of Georgia on the Veterans GI Bill and graduated with hundreds of fellow veterans in 1949. He graduated with a degree in business administration and was in the ATO Fraternity while there and a true Bulldog Fan. He recalls four years of great fun at the dear old University. An avid sports fan and Bulldog supporter, he and his wife have attended most all Georgia home football games for some 60 plus years.

Upon returning to Monticello in 1949 he traveled as a salesman for his father’s wholesale grocery firm in 1949 at age 25. He always said this work which he loved was a valuable experience at this age. He commented on how he was referred to as a “Drummer” in the country stores he called on, a new label for him. He later helped close down the company and then operated their cotton gin in season until it later burned.

Later he met and married Mary Ellen Porter, the local Home Economics teacher. They married on Sept. 23, 1951 in Cochran, Ga. and they have been married 64 years. When they married he didn’t have a good job or income because he had closed down the company. He said her father, Mr. Porter, must have had some doubts.

In 1953 he purchased his grandfather’s, C. T. Wilson, farm with a loan from Farmers Home Administration and remodeled the old home place for a place to raise their family, started a dairy operation along with being a local freight agent with Benton Rapid Express. They had five children during this time and money was pretty tight paying on the loan and raising a family on the small dairy farm income.

However, they survived and he was quite proud that somehow they all grew up well, attending Jasper County public schools and Piedmont Academy, an organization he was a Charter Parent and instrumental in organizing. All later entered the University of Georgia and received degrees in various majors and all later were gainfully employed. They produced nine grandchildren whom he worships.

Sadly, his son Jim died at age 35 from colon cancer. He left a wife, Missy, and two small children.

Of their children, Beth is a UGA grad in Consumer Sciences and is now in her 40th year with Campus Crusade in Raleigh and is an Area Representative. Julie is a Journalism Major and has her own company in Athens, Bel-Jean, an office products and services company. She married John Mcleod a local building contractor and a UGA Grad. They have two children, Emma and Porter. Connie is a UGA graduate in religion and also has her own company in Athens, Educational Assessments, and is married to Mike Friedline, also a UGA Graduate with a PHD who works in health care at the University and they have two children, Mary Leah and Maggie.

Jim Wilson, a UGA graduate in Engineering (deceased and was an area representative with Ga. Power Co in Lawrenceville) married Missy Carlsen also a UGA graduate and they had two children, Nicole and Trevor. Carl is a UGA graduate and an Engineering Graduate from Georgia Tech and is now an engineer with Ricoh in Lawrenceville, married Dawn Mobley, they have three children, Camille, Alyssa and Elizabeth. They all produced nine grandchildren who have plans for college.

After 10 years of running a struggling dairy farm, Chick was hired by Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance Co. in Macon as a part time insurance agent. Upon being licensed he joined the Jasper County Farm Bureau as its first insurance agent. He immediately established a Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance Company record for the sale of life insurance in a single month and was soon elevated to District Sales Manager for NE Georgia.

In 1964 he opened J. S. Wilson Co in Monticello and with the help of his wife, also licensed, they built this into a successful local insurance, real estate, building, land leasing and auction business. In 1967 he built their present home in town.

During this time he was also active in organizing certain personal businesses including a hunting land lease company, a building supply co, a pecan processing business, a building business and a garden store. Chick was also active in civic endeavors including organizing and serving as president for most, in the Piedmont Real Estate Board, Monticello Businessmen’s Association, Monticello Jaycees, Hunter Pope Country Club, and Piedmont Academy, the Hurricane Club and later the Cougar Club. (He did the public address for Monticello football for 15 years and then Piedmont Academy football for 10 more years). He is a 50 year American Legion Post 110 member, Ga. Bulldog Club, the Masons and Shrine, and also is a 50 year Deacon in the Monticello Baptist Church and a 74 year church member.

He created the local Museum of Jasper County Heritage and wrote two books, Volume I and II, “Museum Notes” on local history for the museum.

He was very instrumental in the formation of Piedmont Academy in 1970 and a Charter Parent. He served as Board of Trustee Chairman for 10 years. Four of his children are graduates of Piedmont Academy as are two grandchildren. He is proud to see the school advance from one school building on 12 acres in 1970 to the present eight beautiful buildings on 25 acres in 45 years.

Chick loves people and has many friends in the community and also statewide. He loves and enjoys his family and their annual family Thanksgiving celebration at the Farm House and the Christmas celebration at the Wilson home all usually attended by 20 or more of the scattered family.

He has always loved to organize businesses and civic groups throughout his life. He loves his wife, his Lord, his church, his family, his country and his flag. He is proud that he has never worked for a salary (excluding the Army time), and he always said, “Hard work has never hurt anyone, and success is a direct result of good hard work and visions.”