Miss Inez Wilson, died June 2, 2017, at the age of 106 at St. Paul Home in Belleville where she had lived since 2012. Miss Wilson was a life-long resident of East St. Louis and lived independently until she was 102. She was the oldest member of St. Augustine Catholic Church, East St. Louis.

Born September 2, 1910, at 1600 Tudor Ave., East St. Louis to Mary and William Wilson, she was the 14th child of that union and the 7th child to survive, Miss Wilson had one sister, Dorothy and five brothers: William E., Prescott, Andrew, Edward and Fred, all of whom preceded her in death.

She attended Dunbar School and graduated from a Catholic boarding high school in the Southeast. Miss Wilson was one of the earliest converts to the Catholic faith made by Father Peter Harrington, the pastor of the original St. Augustine Catholic Church on Broadway. She was very active at the church and later served for many years as sacristan at St. Regis Church in East St. Louis.

She was a very intelligent woman with a great sense of humor and well-honored social skills. If Miss Wilson had lived at a time when African Americans and women had more opportunity, she could have run a corporation. However she did domestic work and later worked for the St. Louis Post Office, retiring in 1978.

Miss Wilson is survived by no family members, but is survived by her church family, a special friend, Boni Mele of Prescott, AZ, and many other friends in the Metro-East St. Louis community.
Since she has given her body to St. Louis University for medical research, there will be no wake or funeral, but a Memorial Mass will be offered at St. Augustine Church, East St. Louis at a future date.