Gene R. Wilson ’78 was born on May 18, 1928, in Charleston, West Virginia, to Luther Lee and Hilda (Lawson) Wilson. The family later moved to Cleveland, where he was raised. He entered the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1950. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, and was ordained on May 28, 1960. After two years of parish ministry at St. Adalbert Church in Cleveland, Fr. Wilson attended Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he studied library science. A lifelong learner, Fr. Wilson later completed coursework at other institutions as well. In 1964, he was named librarian of Brunnerdale, the congregation’s high school seminary near Canton, Ohio. He later returned to parish ministry, once again at St. Adalbert where he served for many years, and at St. Anthony Church in Detroit; St. Francis of Assisi in Palo Alto; St. Agnes in Los Angeles; St. Barnabas in Alameda; and St. Edward Church, in Newark, California. Fr. Wilson was also a formation team member for the Province of the Pacific. In 2006, he returned to Ohio as a senior associate pastor of St. Mark Church in Cincinnati. Since 2009, he had been in ministry at the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue, Ohio, which is sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. At age 88, he died of heart failure on March 30, 2017, at Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky, Ohio. Fr. Wilson was the last of his immediate family. He was preceded in death by his parents and five siblings, Maude Harmon, Luther D. Wilson, Joan Glover, Sam C. Wilson, and Verona Wilson. Fr. Wilson is survived by his sisters-in-law, Alice Wilson of Cleveland and Clara Pryor of Dallas; ten nieces and one nephew; 11 great-nieces and five great-nephews; three great-great-nieces and three great-great-nephews; and a host of cousins and friends. Fr. Wilson was always cheerful, and always joyful in his service to the Lord and to the Church.