Chapter 1:  THE EARLY YEARS

She was born on a farm north of Tekamah in eastern Nebraska.  It was November 28, 1907, the day before Thanksgiving.
 
Naomi Johanne Gilbert was the fifth of seven children born to Axel and Magdalene Gilbert.  Axel had emigrated from Sweden in 1872 with his widowed mother, while Magdalene’s parents came from Denmark in 1880. 
 
Naomi Gilbert - Age 5
Little could Naomi’s parents – or anyone – have known the precious bounty she would bring not only to them, but especially to her own children in the years to come.  Her story is one of commitment, faith, and perseverance.

Theirs was not a wealthy family, but by all accounts the Gilberts did well.  Their farm home was on a timbered bluff about six miles north of Tekamah, and when she reached school age, Naomi was enrolled in the District 70 “Evergreen School,” where – she wrote some years later – “there were always at least four of us Gilberts in school at one time, so we had to toe the mark as someone would tell our father, who was president of the school board for thirty years.”

After graduating from Evergreen School, Naomi began a new chapter of her life at Riverside High School, often riding bareback on her favorite horse, Ruby.  She later wrote that she was intrigued by Latin and solid geometry, and they would become  her favorite subjects.  She was influenced not only by nurturing parents, but by the likes of Superintendent E. O. Lindberg and one of her teachers, Anna Brandt.  Naomi wrote that Brandt was “a beautiful lady and person whom we adored.  She greatly influenced our lives.”

Naomi’s joy of learning was likely a harbinger of the direction she would steer her life as an adult, focusing on education, and influencing her own children in a way that would find them all pursuing careers as teachers.

But her spiritual and social nurturing were equally important.  The family attended the Silver Creek Baptist Rural Church, where young Naomi may well have gained her first experience in front of a class, teaching Sunday School during all four years that she was in high school.

Naomi graduated from Riverside High
and enrolled at NU in Lincoln
In the spring of 1927, Naomi Gilbert graduated from Riverside High School and was named class salutatorian.  But there was little time for resting on her laurels – by fall she was enrolled as a freshman at the University of Nebraska.  In Lincoln, she continued to actively participate in church activities, sometimes leading the Baptist Young People’s Union devotional meetings at the First Baptist Church at 14th and K Streets.

It was in Lincoln that Naomi’s life would change considerably.  She met Curtis Wilson of Milford, Nebraska; he was also a student at the university, pursuing a degree in the sciences.

In 1929, after finishing two years at the university, Naomi married Curtis.  The ceremony was performed in the Gilbert home near Tekamah. They were both 21 years old.   The couple remained in Lincoln so Curtis could complete his degree, renting an apartment at 733 North 31st Street.  By 1930, the young couple had their first child.  The April 28th edition of the Lincoln Star reported a “baby boy” born to Curtis and Naomi Wilson of Lincoln on April 20.  They named him Larman. 
   
Just 15 months later, on July 16, 1931, another Wilson boy, Gilbert, came along. His arrival, too, was also duly noted in the Lincoln newspaper.

Naomi was quickly thrust from a college student to stay-at-home mom, taking care of her two boys and lending support to Curtis, who then graduated from NU in 1931.  The family moved to nearby Crete, Nebraska – about 15 miles southwest of Lincoln – where Curtis took a teaching job in the public schools. 

During their six years in Crete, the family attended the First Congregational Church. Curtis served as an usher and Naomi was involved with the Fireside and Altar Sunday School class.  In addition to his regular teaching chores for Crete Public Schools, Curtis also headed an adult manual training class. 

Both Larman and Gilbert completed their first few years of school in Crete; however, in the fall of 1937, their parents began a series of moves that would take the family across Nebraska and – briefly – to the Pacific northwest.

Naomi Wilson with Larman, Doug and Gilbert.  
Taken in Kearney, Nebraska in about 1938 
The first stop was Kearney, Nebraska, where – in November 1937 – the third Wilson boy, Douglas, was born.  Curtis Wilson had just joined the faculty at Kearney Normal.  He served as head of the geography department and also inaugurated a 28-day study tour for students that included the Black Hills, Homestake gold mine, Yellowstone National Park, Great Salt Lake, Grand Mesa, Pikes Peak, and the U.S. Mint in Denver, among other sites. 

After two years in Kearney, the family departed for Oregon State University in Corvallis, where Curtis enrolled in graduate courses and also taught some classes for just one semester – the fall of 1939.  In the spring semester of 1940, he taught school in Twin Falls, Idaho – but not for long.

A June 6, 1940, story in the Nebraska State Journal reported three former faculty members were “back in their departments this term” at the Normal School in Kearney, and that Curtis Wilson was among them, teaching social science.   Whether the story was incorrect, or perhaps there was a last minute change of plans, we don’t know.  In any event, by the fall 1940 the family was back in Lincoln, where Curtis was a graduate student at the University of Nebraska and subsequently teaching at Lincoln High School.

Naomi, while caring for her husband and three sons, still found time to be involved a bit with the Lincoln-Crete Club, a well-organized group of ladies who routinely gathered a few times each month for luncheon meetings and to enjoy short programs, sometimes including musical performances.
   
Summers would find the older Wilson boys, Larman and Gilbert, spending time on their uncle Bennett’s farm in Burt County, returning home in time for school in the fall.   At “Uncle Ben’s" they would learn a bit about farm work and rural living, which stood them in good stead as they grew older.

In February 1942, Curtis Wilson announced his resignation from the Lincoln public schools and accepted a faculty position with the Chadron Normal School.    When the Nebraska Council of Geography Teachers met in Lincoln that May, Curtis was elected vice-president – and his home was then reported as Chadron.  During the 1942-43 year, he was listed as the head of the geography department at “Nebraska State Normal School at Chadron,” and – along with Adelaide Miller – was in charge of a recreational program for summer school students. 

All three Wilson boys enrolled at the Chadron Prep “laboratory school” that fall, and the family rented a house at 827 Bordeaux Street.

"Wilson Acres" near Chadron
Curtis Wilson had always dreamed of a country acreage, so in 1943, he bought a 20 acre parcel of land on the south side of Chadron, just downhill west of the city water treatment plant.  A frame house that had stood on a lot east of Crites Men Hall on the Normal campus was being sold as the school began expanding to the east.  Curtis purchased the building and had it moved to their new home site, which he referred to as “Wilson Acres.” It was a big investment – one that the family would not be able to sustain as events unfolded.

By the following school year, 1943-44, Wilson was serving as “acting head” of the Department of Social Sciences at the Normal.
   
When school dismissed for the summer of 1944, the two older Wilson boys, Larman and Gilbert, both had jobs.

Gilbert went to work for William and Esther Smoke at their small truck farm southwest of Chadron — only about a mile or so west of Wilson Acres.   Smokes raised chickens and grew a variety of vegetables, including asparagus, carrots, radishes and more.

"Smoke had a small walking plow," remembered Gilbert.  "He drove the team of horses and I handled the plow.  We'd haul produce and vegetables to the Red and White Grocery on Main Street in town."

Larman worked at the Benton Marshall Hereford ranch on the “Table” south of Chadron.  As perhaps the youngest of their hired hands, Larman remembered having a room on the second floor of the Marshall house and helping with all kinds of work.

“I ran a team of horses and wagon for feeding bundles into the threshing machine, along with other usual chores.”

None of that was nearly as tough as the news facing him one late summer day when he returned to Chadron to prepare for school in the fall of 1944.