Jennifer Lee Wilson

A native of San Augustine, Texas, Wilson was born March 11, 1947, to Willie Burl and Nodie Clara Burch Cobb. She was the youngest of four siblings. A 1965 graduate of San Augustine High School, she exuded elegance, grace and a sense of purpose, drawing the admiration of Johnny Dale Wilson, a young man from nearby Jasper. The couple were married April 16, 1968; settled in the Beech Grove community; and became parents to a daughter, Laura Elizabeth, on April 23, 1969.

Called to pursue a career in nursing, Wilson graduated from the Jasper Memorial School of Nursing and earned her certification as a licensed vocational nurse in 1974. She practiced for four decades, providing exemplary patient care at Jasper Memorial Hospital, the former Mary E. Dickerson Memorial Hospital, in private medical practices and in home health. She also provided loving care to her mother-in-law, Nannie Wilson, who lived with the family in her final years.

Above all, Wilson was a devoted mother and grandmother who valued God and family above all else. She enthusiastically supported her daughter’s wide-ranging passions, whether competing in horseback riding events or rising before sunrise on Saturdays to hunt and fish with her dad. Taking her mother’s lead, Laura was inspired to become a registered nurse.

When Laura and her husband, Tommy Phillips, settled in Ben Wheeler in 2004, their parents followed them there. The Wilsons spent the rest of their days nearby, with Johnny passing away in 2007. Jennifer doted on her grandchildren and treasured every moment they spent together.

Wilson was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her brother, Robert Earl Cobb; and two sisters, Lydia Ann Cobb Long and Rosa Lanell Cobb Botts.

Those left to cherish her memory include her daughter and son-in-law, Laura Beth Phillips and Tommy Phillips; two grandsons, Roan and Stran Phillips; a granddaughter, Sloan Phillips; and a host of nieces, nephews and friends.