Wilson, Winslow

Winslow Wilson (1912-1997), Methodist Episcopal Church minister, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 6, 1912. His parents were devoted members of the Dayton's Bluff Methodist Episcopal Church. He lived in St. Paul through college where he attended Hamline University and served as a member of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. He then attended the Boston School of Theology, where he graduated in 1936 and was subsequently ordained into the Minnesota Conference. Wilson served as pastor at churches in Kellogg and Brownsdale, Minnesota, as well as Cumberland, Superior, Black Falls, and La Crosse, Wisconsin. He served as a District Superintendent in 1960-66 and again in 1972-75. Wilson also served on the Wisconsin Annual Conference Program Staff from 1968-72, along with The United Methodist General Board of Social Concerns. Wilson helped establish the Pine Lake Methodist Church Camp, a spiritual retreat in Wisconsin. As a conscientious objector, Wilson served a year and one day in the Federal Correctional Institution of Sandstone, Minnesota after he refused to register for the draft. Following his release he remained an active pacifist, participating in numerous protests against the Vietnam War. Wilson belonged to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation for more than sixty years and attained the level of 32nd degree Mason. Wilson died on May 17, 1997 at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin after a brief illness.