Earl Joseph Wilson Jr.'s Obituary
Earl Joseph Wilson, Jr., awakened to eternal life at 2:45 a.m. on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Earl came into this world on Dec. 14, 1938, the first-born of Col. Earl Joseph Wilson, Sr., and Isabella Breaux Wilson. Although born in New Orleans, his father’s Army commitments meant that Earl grew up in New Orleans, Panama, Hawaii, Arkansas and Taiwan before settling down in Covington at his dad’s retirement. Earl attended LSU where he walked on to the LSU baseball team for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army for three years of active duty. With a mind for technology and engineering, Earl dedicated himself to technical writing for Michoud Space Center and then graduated to a position with Dow Chemical at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Marrying a young Madisonville beauty, Helen Motichek Wilson, the newlyweds made their home in Titusville, FL, and then moved to Opelika, AL where he worked for Ampex Corporation, before Earl’s dad convinced them to come home to Covington and open up a camera & stereo center. That store, PhotoSonics was the first of five area businesses: Photosonics on Claiborne Hill, Colonel & Son Restaurant in Covington’s old Southern Hotel, Picture This Art Gallery & Framing Studio in Covington and Slidell, and The Emporium, another camera and stereo shop in Old Town, Slidell. Like his dad, Earl also led an active political life. He served as president of the Covington Chamber of Commerce, held a seat for years on the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission, led the Republican Party in St. Tammany Parish for a season, served on several other Parish and State planning committees, and ran for the St. Tammany Parish Assessor’s office once and the state legislature two times. As a lobbyist for the Louisiana and Mississippi Associations for the Deaf, Earl was an active fundraiser and instrumental in the successful passage of a Bill of Rights for Deaf Citizens in both states. Far above his business, politics, golf, Saints’ games, family poker games, Christmas and donuts, Earl was an intensely devoted husband to Helen for 56 years, and an active and loving father to their daughter Brandy Leigh Wilson and son Earl Joseph “Joe” Wilson, III. A committed Christian, Earl first came to know Christ through the Christian Businessmen’s Committee and local evangelist/teachers Rudy Adkins and Kirk Triplett. Earl is survived by Helen, Brandy, Joe, his sister Debra Ann Wilson Diamond (David), brother James Patrick Wilson (Pam), nieces Terry Ann Glockner, Jamie Wilson Watters and nephews Samuel Diamond and Luke Diamond, Casey Wilson and Jeremy Wilson. Earl is preceded in death by his parents and beloved sister Sylvia Lea Wilson Glockner (Harold).
Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Funeral Service on Saturday, August 3, 2024 at 11:00 am from the E J Fielding Funeral Home, 2260 W. 21st Avenue, Covington, LA and the visitation will begin at 9:00 am until service time. Interment will follow in Theodore-Dendinger Cemetery in Madisonville, LA.
The family would like to acknowledge the faithful prayers and care of these and other relatives and friends, most notably Vol Holden, as well as the service of St. Tammany Home Health and, finally, St. Tammany Hospice.
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