In 2022, Barbara Keck Wilson ’64 reflected on her time growing up on a farm in Wayne County, West Virginia. It was a hard life milking cows, feeding hogs and felling trees for firewood. In school, she excelled in math and English. She discovered Berea College and enrolled, against her father’s wishes.
At Berea, she met a tall, talented science student—Carl Wilson from Mingo County, West Virginia, and, as juniors, they eloped. They left Berea to work—he at a plastic company in Parkersburg, West Virginia, that eventually became GE Plastics and she as a teacher whose math ability was so needed, the superintendent hired her without a credential. The rest is history. They enjoyed prosperous lives thanks to Berea.
After Carl’s death in 2022, she created the Carl E. and Barbara (Keck) Wilson Educational Scholarship at Berea for students from Mingo and Wayne counties. However, students were not taking advantage of this impor-
tant scholarship.
So, she called the counties’ high schools and asked to speak to their seniors—all of them. Her persistence paid off, and she took two trips from North Carolina to West Virginia to give impassioned talks to seniors, telling them Berea College was built for them, just as it was for her and Carl.
Barbara introduced hundreds of students to Berea and met a Berea alumna at Mingo County High School. Berea needs alumni, especially from the Mountains, to do as Barbara did: Call local principals and guidance counselors and ask to talk to juniors and seniors about the opportunities Berea College offers.
