Beverly Wilson

Beverly J. Wilson passed away at the age of 93 in Kerrville, Texas where she had lived for the last 20 years. She was born in Kansas City, Kansas on August 12, 1921 and moved to El Monte, California at an early age with her parents, Steve and Minnie Morgan.\r\n\r\nThe Morgans lived on 5-acres and raised corn and berries and had a milk cow to help them through the Depression. Beverly had a bedroom in her parent's house, while her three younger brothers slept in an outside "bunkhouse." The siblings attended El Monte High School where Beverly met and dated her future husband, Giles Wilson. Giles was a star athlete, and it was a good thing because the two youngest Morgan brothers were also excellent athletes, best-known for their baseball talent. In fact, when a road was eventually put down the middle of the 5 acres, the Morgans named it Baseball Avenue. Beverly played catch with her brothers until Dick had to buy a catcher's glove to handle brother Tom's fastballs.\r\n\r\nDick Morgan eventually signed with the Dodger organization and worked his way up to AAA as a catcher behind Roy Campanella, but Dick's career was cut short by an arm injury after 7 seasons and a lifetime batting average of .280. Tom Morgan signed with the Yankees and was brought up to the big leagues in 1951 along with Mickey Mantle and Gil MacDougald. That was Joe Dimaggio's last year. Tom played for the Yankees for 5 seasons during which they were world champions 3 times. He also played for Kansas City, Detroit, Washington, and the Angels. His pitching record was 67 wins, 47 losses, 64 saves, and an ERA of 3.61. He also hit 5 home runs and was 1 for 1 in the World Series. Later, he was a pitching coach for the Angels for 6 years plus for the Yankees and Padres.\r\n\r\nBeverly's husband, Giles, was an aeronautical engineer for Northrop Aircraft, but his passion was skiing. After sons Ken and Bob graduated from Arcadia High School, Giles took an early retirement so that he and Beverly could move to Mammoth Lakes, California where they both were able to ski throughout the seasons, in addition to Giles' work as a building designer and Beverly's work with the U.S. Forest Service. Later they moved to Lake Tahoe in order to have the choice of numerous nearby ski resorts. In 1994, both Giles and Beverly moved to Kerrville, where Giles died in 2001. Beverly was also preceded in death by brothers Tom and Jack (a life-long Ford mechanic and restorer).\r\n\r\nBeverly is survived by her sons, Ken Wilson of Kerrville, Texas, and Bob Wilson of Portland, Oregon and their families as well as by Dick Morgan and family of Minnesota, and Tom's wife, Wanda Morgan and family of California. Private services will be conducted by the family at a later date. As was her wish, her ashes will be spread along with those of her husband of 60 years, Giles Wilson.\r\n\r\n[contact-form-7 id="73" title="Send Condolences"]