The past year brought a milestone birthday for Ann Wilson Green ’83. Wanting to mark her 60th year in a significant fashion, her thoughts turned to both her father, Frank Wilson ’52, and her own years on Mount St. James. It didn’t take long for her to realize she wanted to establish the Francis M. Wilson, M.D., ’52 Scholarship.
“My father, Frank, has a deep reverence for Holy Cross,” Green explains. “He was admitted on a Naval ROTC scholarship and majored in Chemistry. Through Holy Cross, he found his two life-long friends, Tom Brennan and Jack Kenny. He met my mom, Ruth, the summer before his senior year, and the two of them started their relationship writing letters throughout my dad’s senior year. Apparently, my mom wowed him (and many others) wearing a purple dress to one of their first parties in honor of the College and loved joining my dad for his reunion trips. My mom and dad were married for 64 years until she passed in 2017. Holy Cross also provided my dad with the invaluable academic foundation that ultimately allowed him to attend the University of Michigan medical school. He spent his life caring for patients as an infectious disease physician, embodying the model of servant leadership, which is also at the core of Jesuit teachings.”
The powerful effect of the College appears to run in the family. Green feels her own time on the Hill influenced the course of her life.
“I was an English major,” Green says, “and I dove deeply into my English courses. Two professors stand out. Patrick Ireland introduced me to what has become a life-long love affair with literature. I distinctly remember having an aha moment reading Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon in his Contemporary Fiction class and realizing just how rewarding studying literature could be.”
“The second professor,” says Green, “was Ed Callahan and his James Joyce seminar. His teaching has had the most profound impact on me. I have now read Joyce’s Ulysses cover to cover eight times. I have studied it with four different professors — including currently as a doctoral candidate in English at Claremont Graduate University. I have written a master’s thesis on Ulysses, and published an article in the James Joyce Quarterly on the work. I also intend to write my dissertation on it. Despite detouring for 12 years as a lawyer, Ulysses has been the beacon to which I always return, and I have Professor Callahan to thank for that.”
Establishing a scholarship in her father’s name is Green’s way of helping deserving students receive the same Holy Cross education that shaped the lives of two generations in her family.
