Pauline “Polly” McGinnis Wilson, 96, passed from this life into the next on April 17, 2020 with her daughters by her side. Polly was born on May 24, 1923 in Dexter, Minnesota to Paul Kenneth McGinnis and Adella Kathryn Kramer McGinnis. She is preceded in death by her parents and her husband of 74 years, Douglas Wilson.
Polly graduated from Phillips High School in Birmingham, Alabama and received a BS degree in Laboratory Technology from Auburn University (then Alabama Polytechnic Institute). While there she became a member of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-medical fraternity.
Polly’s goal of becoming a doctor was put aside during World War II. She worked as a medical laboratory technician in a Veteran’s Administration hospital and then as a laboratory technician under Jonas Salk at the University of Michigan. She said she was too early for the exciting years of developing the polio vaccine, and instead analyzed pond scum.
Polly met the love of her life at a dance for military officers in Montgomery, Alabama. She was attracted immediately to the young pilot in uniform. As Doug would write later, “She never met a stranger, and she had an instant rapport with almost everybody.” That included him, and they were engaged in a few weeks and married less than a year later.
Polly and Doug moved frequently for education and work but settled long enough to raise a family in Gary, Indiana. Polly created a basement wonderland for her two daughters, part playroom with kitchen equipment and a dollhouse constructed by her with Doug’s help, part school room, music room and sewing room with a bathroom that doubled as a chemistry lab and planetarium. The coveted space by the single window was set aside for science experiments.
Polly and Doug’s love of travel began with annual summer camping trips to the Rocky Mountains. The family would load up the van with a 3-room tent, a camp kitchen and cook tent and head out for multi-week adventures. As they developed an interest in rockhounding, trips included hunts for fossils and crystals and stops at rock shops until the van was full. Volumes of picture albums chronicle their travels to Europe, Australia and New Zealand, South American, Alaska and Canada. Both were avid genealogists and made many visits to the genealogical library in Salt Lake City.
Polly belonged to the Girl Scouts, Daughters of the American Revolution, American Legion Auxiliary, Clear Lake Gem and Mineral Society and the Bay Area Genealogical Society. Most important among her connections were the various churches of which she was a member, Marquette Park United Methodist Church in Gary Indiana, St. Paul’s United Methodist in Wilmington Delaware and since 1970 Seabrook United Methodist in Seabrook, Texas. You could find her in Sunday School and Bible studies, and often in a back office acting as church treasurer and treasurer for the United Methodist Women.
Polly once said that there had never been a day in her life when she didn’t feel loved. It was also true that she spent each day of her life sharing that love with others. Her spirit lives on in her daughters and their husbands, Paula and William Stites and Patricia and Robert Barnum, beloved grandchildren Robert and Taylor Barnum, Christopher and Sarah Barnum, Matthew Stites and Marley Antolin-Muniz and great grandchildren David Barnum, Jackson Barnum and baby-to-be Harper Barnum.
Polly will be buried with Doug at the Houston National Cemetery. Arrangements for a celebration of her life will be made as circumstances permit.