HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 1962.05.07 - 19839Miscellaneous Resolution May 7, 1962
BY: Mr. Ewart
IN RE: MEMORIAL TO ALFRED G. WILSON
To the Oakland County Board of Supervisors
Mr. Chairman ; Ladies and Gentlemen:
The passing of Alfred G. Wilson Is being mourned by his many friends in this
County as well as in the State and the Nation. He was truly a citizen of Oakland
County, Although he held no public office, his long service and active participation
in the affairs of the community will always be remembered.
It was he and his beloved wife, Mrs. Matilda Wilson, who made possible the
beautiful site in Avon and Pontiac Townships for Michigan State University Oakland,
In 1957 they donated their 1400 acre estate Meadowbrook and made possible the
construction of Foundation Hall as the first unit of several buildings now located on the
campus site,
Mr. Wilson had a life long interest in young people. A graduate of Beloit College
in Wisconsin, he served on the Board of Trustees of that College for a number of years.
He was also active in the Boys Club of America, serving on the National Board and also
participating on the local level in Pontiac and Auburn Heights. He was also an active
supporter of the program which made Camp Oakland possible.
When news of his death on April 6, 1962, reached the campus of Michigan State
University Oakland, the students and faculty who had acquired a keen sense of attachment
and of affection and respect for him were saddened. One of them who was lust leaving a
class in Foundation Hall was overheard in the remark: "His interest has been in the
development of the finest qualities of young men and women -- through his work here and
his many other activities -- his own life personified these qualities -- we shall miss him."
Those of us who are members of the Board of Supervisors will always remember
him for his sterling character s his personal integrity, his deep sense of responsibility
and his loyalty to the County and the community where he lived.
Mr. Wilson was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, the son of Rev. and Mrs. Samuel N.
Wilson, a Presbyterian minister. He was a member of Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the
Detroit Club, the Paradise Valley Country Club near Scottsdale, Arizona, and a member
of the Board of Directors of the First Presbyterian Church of Detroit.
Surviving him besides Mrs. Wilson are two children, Richard S. Wilson and
Mrs. Thomas S. Eccles, both of Bloomfield Township.
Just as in the fullness of time, and inevitably as it must come to every man, death
came to one of Oakland County's distinguished citizens, Alfred G. Wilson. This Board
extends its deep and sincere sympathy and respect to the members of his family. May their
grief be assuaged in the knowledge that a husband and father had lived a full life of service
beyond man's usual allotted span of years. As was said by one of the students at Michigan
State University Oakland on the day that he died; "We will miss him", so it is that all
of us will "miss him."
MR. CHAIRMAN, on behalf of all of the members of this Board, I move that the
foregoing memorial be placed in the records of this Board of Supervisors for all time and that
a certified copy of this resolution be forwarded by the County Clerk to Mrs. MatiIclo Wilson
with the seal of the County of Oakland affixed thereto.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE
William A. Ewart, Chairman
R‘ C. Cummings Philip E.1To-v7flon