Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: July 2002 Volume 39 Number 3, Page 104

In Memoriam: David Wilson

Page 104

David Wilson was born February 8, 1902 at Wilson Farm on Swedesford Road in Paoli, to Coffin Colket and Emily Rambo Anderson Wilson. At that time, the extended Wilson family owned a series of farms stretching through the Great Chester Valley. He attended a one-room school on Swedesford Road about half a mile west of the farm through sixth grade. From there he went to the Haverford School. Inspired by Wharton Esherick's work, he studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

After leaving the Academy, he returned to run the family farm. In ad­dition to crops, he maintained a herd of Guernsey cows, and horses for hunting and riding. In 1937, after a seven-year courtship, he married Virginia Atmore, a Bryn Mawr cum laude graduate and gifted teacher of English and Latin. They had four children: Virginia (1938), David jr (1941 -1972), Jonathan (1944) and Penny (1948).

In 1955, Dave and Ginny accepted a challenge to start a dairy farm at Dothan, Alabama. They retired in 1965, returned to Paoli and en­joyed traveling. Even after Ginny's death in 1994, Dave was an active docent for the Esherick Museum, averaging more than 150 tours each year. He was a valued member of the History Club.

We lost Dave on May 19, 2001 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. He was a passenger, on the way home in tuxedo from the Radnor Hunt annual banquet. He had planned to spend his 100th birthday in Bora Bora.