Marie Wilson wanted to make sure her dog had its day.
Though she was in her 80s and the dog, Mr. Angel, died in the late 40s, Mrs. Wilson petitioned her alma mater to ensure her family's English Sour Mug bulldog was in the University of Georgia history books as a predecessor to the current Uga line of bulldogs.
According to the UGA Alumni Association website, Mr. Angel served as the Bulldogs’ mascot from 1944 until 1946. But Mr. Angel’s service wasn’t widely known until Mrs. Wilson started a letter-writing campaign in 2007, said Marcia Wilson Roberts, her daughter who lives in Lilburn.
“It took the better part of a year and she wrote everybody she could think of,” her daughter said. “But in 2008, Mr. Angel was formerly recognized [by the university] and she was so happy.”
Marie Edwards Coleman Wilson, of Lilburn, died March 16 at Embracing Hospice due to complications of congestive heart failure. She was 86.
Her body was cremated and a memorial service has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Tom M. Wages Snellville Chapel, which is also in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Wilson was born and raised in Eastman, 55 miles south of Macon. After graduating from high school, she entered UGA, where she earned a degree in speech. During her time in Athens, she also hosted a program on the campus radio station where she read poetry as classical music played in the background.
College friend Kathrine Littlejohn Foard, who lives in North Carolina, said Mrs. Wilson was a “delightful person who had a great personality and I can’t think of anyone who didn’t like her.”
Mrs. Wilson was also popular, in part, because she had a car on campus, her daughter said. Her access to an automobile may have also been a reason she was chosen to pick up a special guest who was visiting campus.
“One of her most cherished memories in college, I think, was picking up Robert Frost from the Atlanta airport and driving him to campus,” Mrs. Roberts said.
In 1946, the summer after graduation, a young Ms. Coleman met Naval Lt. Richard “Dick” Wilson. They were engaged after a whirlwind two-week courtship and married following a three-month separation, due to his Navy service. They were married for 63 years before Mr. Wilson died in 2009.
After graduation, Mrs. Wilson went on to Emory University where she earned a master’s in education and then began a a teaching career in DeKalb County. Mrs. Wilson taught third grade and later became a reading specialist for the DeKalb school system for 24 years, retiring in 1979, her daughter said.
Fellow teacher and friend Patricia Lunsford, of Decatur, said Mrs. Wilson was wonderful to work with because “she wanted to do her very best and bring out the best in her students.”
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Wilson is also survived by her grandson, Clifford Ashley Roberts, of Brewton, Ala.
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