Dr. John Howard Wilson Jr.

Dr. John Howard Wilson, Jr., age 53, passed away on Thursday, December 11th, 2014, in Erie, Pa., the son of the late John Howard Wilson, Sr. and Agnes Jackson Wilson.

John graduated with distinction from Strong Vincent High School, in Erie, in 1979, and served as president of the National Honor Society, editor of the school newspaper, a member of the school orchestra and a member of the cast of the senior class play. He was offered two academic scholarships, one to Yale University and the other to The University of Michigan. He chose The University of Michigan and never regretted his decision.

While a student at Michigan, he earned a B.A. degree in 1984, with highest distinction and honors in history, an M.A. in English in 1984, and a Ph.D. in English language and literature in 1988, and was tapped for Phi Beta Kappa, National Honor Fraternity. He was also awarded the five year Michigan English Teaching Assistant Fellowship at Rackham School of graduate studies, and he taught at Eastern Michigan University, The University of Michigan, Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., and Koka Women's College in Kyoto, Japan.

John had a deep love of British literature, and he planned and directed the Evelyn Waugh Centenary Conference in the fall of 2003, in Oxford, England. Waugh students and enthusiasts from 11 countries attended and stayed at Hereford College, the very same college Waugh attended in 1924. Academic papers were presented, followed by lively discussions, and the group had a walking tour of Waugh's Oxford and visited Castle Howard, where "Brideshead Revisited" was filmed. Until his retirement, John was associate professor of English at Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pa., and the editor of the Evelyn Waugh Newsletter and Studies. He was also the author of two volumes of a three-volume biography "Evelyn Waugh - A Literary Biography 1903-1924." He also published an edition of his father's diary from World War II entitled "Diary of an Army Baker, Quartermaster Corps, Southwest Pacific, 1942-1945," where John's father served in the U.S. Army, and kept a record of movements and activities through the war.

John has also edited and published "The Life of the Rev. Dr. James Renwick Jackson, 1905-1953," his grandfather, who served as minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Erie at Perry Square, from 1944-1953. At the time of John's passing, he was editing "A Little Learning," "The First Volume of an Autobiography," for inclusion in "The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh" to be published in 42 volumes by Oxford University Press.

John was a very caring person, and his students in their evaluations said he was a dynamic speaker, a wonderful counselor, a charismatic leader, and possessed a joyful presence.

He was also very active in his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and continued his support long after graduation.

One of John's favorite memories was his golf games with his father, at Culbertson Hills Golf Course, and his swims in the pool.

John is survived by his mother, Agnes Jackson Wilson and his three sisters, Dr. Sally Ashton and husband Doug of Australia, Cyndy Marks and husband Brady and Janet M. Wilson, at home, and a niece Erin Blashock and husband Adam.

There was a private funeral service at McBrier Chapel at The First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, conducted by Rev. Timm High, with interment at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to L S A College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-9901.

Arrangements were entrusted to Burton Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc., 602 West 10th Street.

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