Callie Mae Coe Wilson died at home on July 30, 2016, at the age of 99. She was born on April 8, 1917, in Pitkin, Louisiana, to Burrell and Ida Herring Coe, the only one of their children to be born outside of Texas. As the only surviving member of her generation, she never tired of telling about life with her two sisters and two brothers. As a quite precocious child, she was spoiled by the whole family with the exception of her clever older brother, Herring who delighted in teasing her. From an early age, her passion was reading. Read the classics by her mother on a regular basis, she developed a lifelong interest in books, authors and writing. Although she was formally educated in the Beaumont Public Schools, Lamar Junior College and Stanford University, her deep understanding of literature was cultivated independently by simply reading – all the time.
During her working life, she was first an assistant at Szafir’s Booksellers and Stationers but, during World War II, her career with books was briefly interrupted by a stint in the Engineering Department at the Magnolia Refinery of Southeast Texas. She was then hired as manager of Taylor’s Bookstore where she was able to mold and influence the reading tastes of much of Beaumont’s youth. She published a short story of her own in Redbook Magazine followed by a book of family lore, A Pride of Kin, co-written with her cousin Ellen Rienstra.
On February 21, 1958, she was married to Waldo Wilson and acquired a stepdaughter, Nancy, who was 14. Two years later, she gave birth to a son, William Waldo Wilson, Jr. who was known as Pasq. The family enjoyed many happy times together at their beach house in Caplen.
Callie was preceded in death by her four siblings, her husband, Waldo, and her son, Pasq.
She is survived by her daughter, Nancy Wilson Scanlan; her granddaughter, Laura Scanlan Cho and her husband, Ken; great- granddaughters, Callie and Eliza Cho; grandson, Wilson McAllen Scanlan and his wife, Jenna; great-grandsons, Jack and Hank Scanlan; and great- granddaughter, Lida Scanlan. She is also survived by her beloved sister Pat’s daughter, Diane Hare and her husband, Sherman; her great-niece, Patricia Hardy and her husband, Bill; her great-great grandson, Joe Kirby and his wife Bridget; great-great-great nephew, Kanon; her great- nephew, Sherman Hare and his wife, Cassie; and great- great-niece, Victoria. She is also survived by her wonderful employees and friends, Roy and Jenny Lewis.
A graveside memorial service will be held at Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas at a date to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, Texas 78713-7458; or to The Symphony of Southeast Texas, 4345 Phelan Blvd, Suite 105, Beaumont, Texas 77707.
