Thomas L Wilson

Rev. Thomas Lee Wilson, Jr., 79, resident of Union Place, died Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at NHC Hillview. A graveside service will be conducted at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Due West Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Due West, South Carolina. Harris Funeral Home, 302 N. Main St., Abbeville, South Carolina, 29620 is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be made to Pearl Wilson Missionary Fund, First Presbyterian Church, 1621 East Garrison Blvd., Gastonia, North Carolina, 28054. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Gastonia, NC native was the son of the late Thomas Lee Wilson, Sr. and Nellie Rose Sloan Wilson. He was baptized in the First Presbyterian Church of Gastonia on July 1, 1928 and joined the church on June 4, 1939. Following graduation from Erskine College in 1954 with a bachelor of arts degree and in 1957 from the Erskine Theological Seminary with a bachelor of divinity degree, Rev. Wilson began a long and fruitful career as a minister in the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was licensed and ordained in the Tennessee-Alabama Presbytery on October 26, 1957 at the Prosperity Church in Alabama and served pastorates at Hopewell Church in Culleoka and Union Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He retired from service in 1988. Rev. Wilson served on many denominational boards and committees, including the Erskine College Board of Trustees. Without seeking any public recognition, Rev. Wilson supported a wide variety of philanthropic interests including theological studies, the arts and literature. Survivors include his sister, Eleanor Rose Wilson (Bob) Lawing of Gastonia, NC; two nephews Robert Wilson (Lynn) Lawing of Troy, NC, David Lee (Amy) Lawing of Gastonia, NC; great-nephew, Joseph Robert Lawing of Troy, NC; great-niece, Christine Rose Lawing of Troy, NC; and cousins, Dr. William Danford Wilson, Dorothy Wilson McKenzie both of Gastonia, NC, Virginia Wilson Campbell of Hilton Head, SC, Carolyn Wilson Holzgrap of Southern Pines, NC, Elizabeth Wilson Luther of Midlothian, VA, Dr. James Marshall Sloan III, of Asheville, NC and Samuel Robinson Sloan of Charlotte, NC.