ESTATE SALE HELD FOR CRAIG WILSON AND WIFE ELIZABETH IN BARBERTON

 

Estate sale for Craig Wilson, wife Elizabeth

 

There was an estate sale in Barberton of former BJ Action Line chief Craig Wilson’s and wife Elizabeth Wilson’s things on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 28.

 

Craig’s behavior ruffled some feathers at the BJ but the Mensa member for people with high IQs was amazing at training reporters and finding answers to readers’ inquiries.

 

Betsy Lammerding went from Craig’s Action Line to the BJ Features desk when I was Television Editor with a desk next to the amazing Joan Rice, a fashion model in looks and my best friend for a shoulder to complain on about management stupidity, as I saw it, from time to time. 

Jane Snow, Nancy Peacock, Betsy Lammerding, Charlene Nevada, Connie Bloom, Jim Dettling and Mickey Porter spent time in Action Lion under Craig's tutelage.

There’s a luminaria at Barberton’s Lake Anna dedicated to Craig, who passed away in 2007. Craig’s first wife, Ella Mae Leonard, who he met through a Lonely Hearts Club, passed away in 1992. Elizabeth was Craig’s second wife. When Craig passed she wrote:

 

“Maybe he stepped on your toes (at the BJ) but I can assure you Craig Wilson is the finest man I have ever met. He had a pure heart and genuine concern for his fellow man and his surroundings.” 

 

The late Connie Bloom, a reporter on the Features Desk when I was TV editor, wrote Craig’s obituary. 

 

The late assistant State Desk editor Harry Liggett, who chose me to inherit this blog Harry created, posted on here about Craig:

“He was probably best known as editor of the old Action Line, but his true craft was referencing,” with tons of envelopes filled with information about a person.

Charlene Nevada, trained by Craig in Action Line before becoming a Metro Desk reporter, told this tale:

“Once (publisher) Ben Maidenburg found an Action Line item in Knight’s Detroit newspaper and told Craig to use it. It had to do with Edgar Allan Poe getting kicked out of military school. Craig just smiled at Maidenburg and explained that Jim Dettling (another Craig trainee) had written that item first and the Free Press stole it from the Beacon.”