LA MESA RESIDENT EVELINE WILSON HAS A FAMILY OF 71

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

By Ray Bello 

Photo: Eveline’s 80th Birthday Party 2011 (partial family photo)

February 3, 2022 (La Mesa) - Imagine having 71 birthdays to remember. Impossible! Eveline Wilson, age 90, has this impossible mission handled. Her son Chuck prepares a calendar for her with each name and birthday. She addresses the envelopes using her Rolodex, personalizes each card and uses lots of x’s and o’s.

 

Eveline is a life-long resident of San Diego County. She was born at Mercy Hospital in 1931 and attended Sacred Heart Elementary School and Cathedral High School for Girls. She remembers that during World War II when there was a city-wide blackout, she would go in a closet that had a light to do her homework. She resides in La Mesa now.

 
In 1951 she met Charles Durwood Wilson, who was in the Navy. He was from Alabama, but after he fell in love and married Eveline, they made San Diego their home. How you gonna keep them in Alabama after they’ve seen San Diego? In 1953, Deborah was born, the start of a family that grew and grew. They had ten children, six boys and four girls.
 
Photo, right:  Eveline's 10 children. 1st row:  John Wilson, Maryann Jenson, Margie McLellan, Bill Wilson. 2nd row:  Cheryl Tremble, Chuck Wilson, Debbie Harper.  3rd row:  David Wilson, Glen Wilson, Robert Wilson. (Eveline knitted all her boys’ sweaters.  She knitted the girls’ after photo taken.)
 
According to Cheryl, their fifth child, family life at the Wilson home was busy. At dinner time the whole family sat at the table and each child, according to their age, had a job to do. As the family grew, so did the dinner table and the chores. Some helped set the table, some helped serving the food and some were the cleanup crew.
 
One can only imagine the discussions that went on around the table. The tradition of the whole family coming together for the family dinner was extended to Sunday breakfasts.  Eveline remembers baking a big batch of biscuits. She’d bake ‘em and husband Charlie would split ‘em and butter ‘em and the kids would eat ‘em up.
 
Another Wilson family tradition was at Christmas time, the nativity story was read aloud and acted out. One of the boys would reverently place a replica of the baby Jesus using one of the girls’ baby dolls in a made up manger.  Santa always made a magical appearance.
 
Photo, left:   Eveline’s 90th Birthday  2021

 
Charlie was a construction manager for Pre-Mixed Concrete and took pride in pointing out buildings around town that his company poured the concrete for their foundation. He also was an expert auto mechanic. On weekends, he’d teach the boys how to fix cars.
 
Sadly he passed away in 2002. But family life carried on and more offspring continued to spring forth.  The children began to leave home for various reasons. The most common reason was to get married and start a family of their own.
 
This is when more offspring started to spring up! Her children, to use a biblical word, begot 23 grandchildren.  This brought much joy and much more activity to family life. As the years went by her children’s children began raising families and added 36 great grandchildren to the family.
 
And as of 2022, she has two great-great grandchildren with one due to be born this year. Currently the Wilson family offspring has sprung to 71.
 
Eveline enjoys playing card games with her circle of friends. They play canasta and Shanghai rummy and non-card games, Mexican train dominoes and occasionally get together to play Bunko.  She is also an avid Sudoku puzzle solver.
 
Eveline likes to read in her spare time! She recently read “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah. “Texas, 1934. A massive drought forced millions to go west to California seeking a better life. It’s a portrait of America and the American Dream as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman...” sounds like an inspirational story she enjoyed.
 
About three years ago she fell and broke her leg. After getting all the medical treatment to heal her leg, a rehabilitation plan was established.  Her family got together to provide round the clock loving care for her. Eveline feels blessed and is truly proud of her extended family of 71, soon to be 72.

Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.