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making her way to 100, living day by day

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Describing Inez Wilson as unpretentious seems almost an overstatement. A quiet woman with a twinkle in her eyes and a ready smile, she was born and raised in East St. Louis.

Ms. Wilson will celebrate her 100th birthday Sept. 2, and the faculty, staff and students at Sister Thea Bowman in East St. Louis decided to begin the party a little early, as the school celebrated its 100th day.

This also seemed fitting, Sister Janet McCann, ASC said since Ms. Wilson is a strong supporter of the school.

Ms. Wilson received the gift of music from some of the school’s violinists, cards from students and a special blessing from all. Then, she presented the school with a book entitled “Lest We Forget” about the lives of slaves in American History.
Not a cradle Catholic, Ms. Wilson became interested in the Catholic church when she met SMA Father Peter Harrington, a member of the Society of African Missions.

Bishop Henry Althoff gave Father Harrington permission in 1921 to establish a mission for black Catholics, “but they would be on their own (financially),” she said.

The SMA fathers knew black Catholics had to walk from all over town to Sacred Heart, the one parish at the time that would accept black Catholics.

At the beginning a second priest, Father Claude Taylor “walked all over town inviting people” to the mission, Ms. Wilson said. “We still had to walk, but I was glad to be there; it was a good place to be,” she added.

Ms. Wilson said she went to a public school through the sixth grade, and finished at St. Elizabeth’s, a Catholic school in St. Louis operated by Blessed Sacrament sisters with Jesuit priests from St. Louis University visiting every day.
Through her experience with the sisters and the Jesuits, she was given a scholarship to a Catholic boarding school in Virginia where she attended high school.

She and two other girls began their journey south in the 1920s on a train.

“Yes,” she said when asked if she had been frightened. “I was the only one in my family that went south.”
The girls rode the train all day, but had to get off that evening and wait for another that would leave the next day.
The priest had told the girls to go to the Catholic church if they needed help. It proved to be good advice because they went to the church and were sent to the parish housekeeper’s home to spend the night.

They caught the train the following day to their school in Virginia where Ms. Wilson eventually graduated.
After graduation, she returned to East St. Louis to live and work and eventually joined St. Regis Parish where she remained a member until it closed in 2006.

Ms. Wilson said throughout the years she had a variety of jobs and has been a constant supporter of Sister Thea Bowman, Catholic Urban Programs and the Griffin Center.

“If I’m here on my 100th birthday, I guess I’ll have a party,” she said.