It All Began by the Ferris Wheel...

The year it all began was 1950 in downtown Waxahachie. The Optimist Club's main fundraiser was hosting their annual carnival around the Ellis County Courthouse. This was back in the day when two 14 year old girls could walk downtown and enjoy the activities without chaperones! My friend and I were standing by the big ferris wheel when two guys came up and started talking. My friend knew them, but all I knew was that one of them was the best looking guy I had ever seen!

He had just graduated from Waxahachie High School and was much older than me...17!! His name was Charley Wilson, better known at that time as “Balky.” His grandmother tagged him with that name (I wonder why?) After 68 years of marriage I don’t wonder why anymore! At that initial moment, our love story began. Charley worked at C. A. Wilson Plumbing Co, which his family had owned since 1934. The next week I began my four years at WHS. We dated off and on for three years. He said he didn’t want to go steady because he wanted some other guy :( to take me to all the banquets & proms. In May 1953, he was drafted into the US Army and was stationed in California for two years. Before he left for basic training, we talked about getting married when he planned to return in 1955.

I graduated WHS on May 31, 1954, and went to work at Texas Power & Light Co. on June 1, 1954. I received a scholarship to Mary Hardin Baylor, but all I wanted to do was get married that next year! Charley came home in December 1954, and (without any big celebration like couples have today) we became officially engaged! Our wedding was the first one in the new sanctuary of Waxahachie First Methodist Church on July 8, 1955.

Our family grew from two to six by adding four sons in just 16 short years. When anyone had asked me what I wanted to be when I “grew up”, I always said “a good wife and mother.” This wife and mother also became a mother-in-law to four “daughters”. In 1983 the extra blessings started coming! In 15 years we had eight granddaughters and three grandsons. Now, by adding more grands by marriage we have 23 and even more blessings with 19 great-grands!! Our Wilson family now numbers 51 with more to come next year! Charley retired as one of the family business owners of C. A. Wilson Co. in 2016. We closed our Trend Development Real Estate Partnership in 2022. Our son Justin and his wife, Denise, continue the family business in a new location on N. Hwy 77 in Waxahachie.

On our 60th wedding anniversary, our family totally surprised us with a big celebration at The Harbor on Possum Kingdom Lake. It was an amazing place owned by our oldest son, Darrell. We enjoyed many fun family celebrations there, and Charley and I always danced to the song, “Sweet Pea.” All of these special times can be summed up with a sign that hangs in our home breezeway...