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WILSON, MARY FRANCES MEEKER (1913 - 2014) Mary Meeker Wilson was born on Christmas Day, 1913, at home, upstairs, in American Fork, Utah. Mary's father John Scudder Meeker was a Presbyterian National Missions minister who with his wife Georgia Poage Meeker and four children served churches in Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado and Kansas. Mary graduated from high school in Emporia, Kansas and attended the College of Emporia along with Chase Altman Wilson whom she married in 1938 in Del Norte, Colorado on the front porch of her parents' home. Mary graduated from The Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha, Oklahoma and then studied art education at Emporia State Teachers College and enjoyed a short career teaching in the early grades. In 1953, Chase and Mary moved with their only child, Quentin Chase Wilson, to the South Valley of Albuquerque. Mary was active in the First Presbyterian Church, notably sponsoring the high school fellowship group for several years along with Chase. Mary was active in the Parent Teachers Associations at Five Points School, Ernie Pyle Junior High and Rio Grande High School serving as president at each level. In 1961 Mary ran for and was elected to the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education. In 1965, she was elected to the New Mexico State Board of Education and was proud to be involved in the 1968 effort to authorize what is now San Juan College. In 1970, Mary and Chase moved to Colorado for fourteen years and then returned to New Mexico, living in Espanola for ten years to provide an extra household for their grandchildren who commuted to McCurdy Schools from Ojo Caliente. Mary loved drawing, oil painting, watercolors, sewing and storytelling and was very good at everything she did. She and Chase loved to travel and made memorable trips to Europe, South America, Hawaii, Alaska and Australia. Mary and Chase moved into El Castillo Retirement Residences, Santa Fe, in 1992 where she spent twenty-one years of her life. Chase died July 27, 2009 and Mary lived on to celebrate her 100th birthday on Christmas Day, 2013. She died March 10, 2014, the 100th anniversary of her husband's birth. She is survived by her son Quentin Wilson and his wife Maria Vergara Wilson; her grandchildren Damian, Andrea and Martin; and great-grandchildren Natalie, Alejandra, Eva and Jakob.
        Published on: Wed March 19, 2014