Jordan K. Wilson Sr., educator and civic leader, dies at 86

Educator and civic leader Jordan K. Wilson Sr. was first and foremost "a man of God," said his namesake son. So it was fitting that his father spent most of his life in Babylon, a town with a biblical name.

"He believed in faith," said Jordan K. Wilson Jr., also of Babylon, noting that his father’s alma mater, North Carolina’s Livingstone College, "is intertwined with the African Methodist Episcopal Church," having been founded as an institute to train ministers. Wilson Sr. would go on to become treasurer of the board of trustees of Shaw Temple AME Zion Church in Amityville, and deputy superintendent of its Sunday school, where he taught children computer skills.

Wilson Sr. died on Nov. 19 at St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage at age 86 following a heart attack.

Until his death, Wilson kept one hand in the spiritual realm and the other in the earthly: He was president of the Central Long Island branch of the NAACP and of his local Kiwanis; contract negotiator with the Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers; cofounder of the Suffolk County Caucus of Black Democrats; and two-time candidate in the 1980s for what was then the 13th District of the Suffolk County Legislature.

"There wasn't a civic group that he did not lend his assistance to, or his leadership, and the community is much better off because of his involvement and because of how he viewed his responsibility as a resident of the town," said Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer, a longtime family friend.

"As a father, he was extremely kind, caring and present — just a very loving individual," said daughter Janene Hawkins, of Trumbull, Connecticut, the youngest of his and wife Dot Wilson’s three children. "He was always there for everyone. He helped to raise several of his nieces and nephews" in the family’s five-bedroom home. Her father could be "a disciplinarian, direct and up front, but also nurturing and caring."

Jordan Kermit Emerson Wilson — known professionally as Jordan K. Wilson and as Kermit by family and friends — was born on March 20, 1938, in Carthage, North Carolina, the third of 10 children of Claude Patrick Wilson and Sophia Ritter Wilson. After his mother died when he was 13, Kermit and his siblings were scattered to relatives’ households, he to his maternal grandparents. His father’s second marriage produced a new half brother, making 11 children in all.

After attending Pinckney High School in his hometown, Wilson graduated from Livingstone College in 1958 with a bachelor of science in mathematics. He began teaching math in Lumberton, North Carolina, and married Dorothy Lee Greene on Aug. 20, 1960, losing her to pancreatic cancer in 1983.

Learning of better pay for teachers on Long Island, Wilson moved first to Amityville in 1966 and the following year purchased the family’s longtime home in Babylon. He taught mathematics at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School until retiring.

In addition to his church and political efforts, Wilson coached Little League Baseball and youth basketball.

A portion of Centerwood Street in Babylon, near his home, will be renamed for him, said Schaffer. A vote specifying the exact name is scheduled for Wednesday.

Other survivors include another son, Jeffrey Kendrick Wilson of Wheatley Heights; sister Joan Haskins of Durham, North Carolina; brother Lawrence Wilson of Omaha; and four grandchildren.

A celebration of life was held Nov. 26 at Shaw Temple AME Zion Church. Following interment that day at Pinelawn Memorial Park, a repast was held at VFW Post 2912 in Wheatley Heights. The family asks for donations in his name to Livingstone College, Office of Alumni Affairs.