Community members in Lula will honor the lives and legacy of a well-known couple with a memorial celebration Saturday afternoon.
Mordecai and Mary Wilson were beloved in the Lula community. While living in the city, Mordecai served as a city council member for nearly 20 years while Mary was involved in several community projects. Mordecai died in December 224, while Mary died in 2014.
However, the couple’s legacy extends far beyond Lula’s City limits.
Mary was born in Lula in 1922 and moved to Boston, Mass. in 1949. She married Mordecai that year. Mordecai was originally from Bidwell, Oh. The couple lived in Boston for 47 years and became the first African-American people to open a community group home for mentally ill men and women. They also served as foster parents to over 30 girls for a number of years. Their services earned them recognition by the U.S. President George Bush.
While the couple lived in Boston, Mordecai also worked part-time as a security guard at Harvard University. After becoming well-liked by faculty and staff, Mordecai and Mary were given the opportunity to study social services and mental health part-time at Harvard.
The couple retired and returned to Lula in 1996.
Once the couple moved to Lula, Mordecai, a World War II Veteran, ran for the Lula City Council, and served in that role for 20 years. He passed away in December 2024.
Paul Haible, who had a strong connection to the Wilsons, recently spoke on WDUN’s The Drive at 5 to discuss the couple’s legacy. Haible said the memorial at the Lula Depot will take place on what would have been Mordecai’s 100th birthday.
“ [He] was 99 and three quarters,” Haible recalled. “He was on his way to making March, 15th his 100th birthday. He had already hired the hall, and he already had the menu planned and had money put away to feed everybody.”
After his passing, the community decided to still have the party Mordecai had planned in his honor. The celebration will take place from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and will honor the couple. Light h’orderves and dessert will be offered.
