Hundreds Come Out to Remember 108-Year-Old Midlands Woman
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)- One of the oldest members of the community was celebrated by hundreds in Columbia, Friday.
Donella Brown Wilson’s 108 years of life in the Midlands was celebrated in a ceremony at Union Baptist Church on Germany Street.
The church where Mrs. Wilson was a lifelong member was packed with so many people, each of them remembering her as powerful force who shaped the lives of so many in and around Columbia.
“There are Coretta Scotts, Mary McLeods, but we have Donella Wilson here at Union Baptist Church,” said Union Baptist pastor Reverend Heny L. Edmonds Jr.
The longtime educator originally from Fort Motte taught herself how to read by using old catalogs. She went on to teach generations of others after graduating from Allen University in the 1930s.
Wilson’s husband of 66 years was a reverend at Union Baptist before he died in 1998. Mayor Steve Benjamin said he wears her husband’s cuff links a reminder of the Wilson legacy.
“I wore them to the White House yesterday. Big meetings, big events, I wear these. They give us a sense of power, understanding, the strength, that we come from, the authority we carry with us of men and women who paved the way for us to have the opportunity to serve in these public offices,” Benjamin said.
Before her death, Wilson was was well known in the midlands for voting in every election since 1947. Serving as a champion for voting rights and living to elect the nation’s first Black president.
