Passings: Thomas Wilson
Wilson formed Capitol Marble and Granite in 1962. Capitol discovered and opened several new major granite quarries in Texas and Oklahoma.
Under Wilson’s direction, Capitol brought the southwest’s granite to greater visibility in the United States, with its stone used in projects such as the Everett Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, New York’s Battery Park and the Capital Center in Indianapolis.
Wilson retired from Capitol in 1978. Ten years later, the company was acquired by Cold Spring, Minn.-based Cold Spring Granite Co. – the company that introduced Wilson to the natural-stone trade in the 1950s, when then-company president John Alexander recruited Wilson to go to work for Texas Granite Co. (a Cold Spring division) as sales manager.
Wilson was born on a cotton farm near Yazoo City, Miss., on May 12, 1918, into a family that eventually included four sons and five daughters. He became the first in his family to go to college (other siblings followed) and graduated from Louisiana Polytechnic Institute (now Louisiana Tech University) in Ruston, La.
He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel; trained in fighter planes, including the British Spitfire, he flew escort missions for bombings runs over Germany and other European countries for two-and-a-half years.
Wilson attended graduate school at the University of Texas after the war; he then worked as an engineer for Westinghouse Corp. in Pittsburgh and as an engineer in the bridge division of the Texas Department of Highways before entering the stone trade.
Wilson met his wife of 67 years, the former Elizabeth Belk, on a date to a U.S.O. dance, during his flight training at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. They married in New Orleans in 1943, shortly before he shipped out to England and front-line service.
The couple traveled worldwide for two decades after Wilson’s retirement from Capitol Marble and Granite, and resided in the Austin area. They spent the last few years at The Summit at Lakeway, an assisted-living center in Lakeway, Texas; Elizabeth Wilson passed away last Oct. 6.
Wilson’s family included two sons, Tommy and Kelly; a daughter, Peggy (Seiders); seven grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren. Several family members, including Kelly, Peggy, son-in-law Jack Seiders and grandson Chad Seiders own and operate Architectural Granite & Marble (AG&M)Inc., headquartered in Austin.
A celebration of Wilson’s life begins on Jan 10 at 1 p.m. with a “Mama’s” fried-chicken lunch in the Hospitality Room at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home in Lakeway. Funeral services will follow at 2 p.m. at the chapel; entombment will follow at Forest Oaks Mausoleum in Oak Hill, Texas. The obituary and guestbook are available here.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Wilson Memorial Fund, The Summit at Lakeway, 1917 Lohman’s Crossing, Lakeway, TX 78734.
Sources: WC Fish Funeral Home, Marble Institute of America