Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson, of Annapolis, local newswoman and director of news and information at St. John’s College from 1973 to 1988, died October 13, 2020 in Fountain Hills, Arizona. She died of a natural death of unspecified causes seven weeks after a fall in her home, which resulted in a broken femur. She was 95 years old.

A native of Tyler County, West Virginia, Mrs. Wilson was born January 20, 1925, the daughter of Rumsey B. Marston and Willie Seddon Eubank Marston, of Silver Spring, Maryland. With the exception of ten years in the West, she lived in Annapolis from 1952 to 2018.

Her career in journalism began with a summer, high school job reporting for the old Huntington (W.Va.) Advertiser. Following her graduation from George Washington University in 1946, she joined The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia, serving there until 1951 when she left to edit The Alexandria and Arlington Journals, free distribution papers of that era.

In 1952, she joined The Capital-Gazette Press. During her time as news editor of The Maryland Gazette, it was judged the best Maryland weekly in the large circulation class. After her marriage to Curtis Wilson in 1954, she returned to reporting for The Capital. During her final year there she became the first woman employed by WTOP Radio, a CBS affiliate, a position in which she covered the Annapolis area. With the birth of her son in 1958, she ceased reporting.

In 1973 she joined the St. John’s public relations office when her husband who had been teaching at the University of California in San Diego, returned to Annapolis to accept a second term as dean of St. John’s Annapolis campus. During their California years, she acted for three years as publicity director of the San Dieguito High School District, helping pass a bond issue that led to the construction of a second high school in the district.

At St. John’s she launched The Reporter, a paper for alumni, parents and friends, since replaced by the magazine, The College. Following her retirement, she fulfilled a life-long interest in art by taking numerous classes at Anne Arundel Community College and at St. John’s, concentrating on oil painting.

Mrs. Wilson was a former member of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra board, for which she was founding editor of First String, a publication for concert subscribers. She also served on the board of the Maryland Federation of Art. She was a former president of the St. John’s Caritas Society and chaired its first book and author program.

Her husband preceded her in death in 2012. She is survived by two sons and their families, John Wilson, Julie Dunsmore, Lizzie and Nick of Houston, Texas, and Topper Wilson, Tonia Allen, Rory and Gavin of Fountain Hills, Arizona. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the St. John’s Caritas Society.