Nixon A. Wilson, 81, of Cedar Falls, died Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at Cedar Valley Hospice Home, Waterloo. He was born May 20, 1930, in Litchfield, Illinois, son of Benezette and Adrian Barnes Wilson. He married Nell Hines on June 15, 1963, in Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Wilson served in the US Army during the Korean conflict. He earned his AB degree from Earlham College in 1952, his master's degree in wilderness management in 1954 from the University of Michigan, and his doctorate from Purdue University in 1961. He was an ecologist with the Hawaii State Department of Health in the Plague Research Unit from 1961 to 1962, acarologist at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu from 1962 to 1969, and then employed as a professor with the University of Northern Iowa from 1969 to 1997, where he received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 1991, McKay Award in 1992 and the Regent's Award for Faculty Excellence in 1993. Survived by: his wife; two sons, Stephen (Sarah) of Eagle River, Alaska, and David (Katy) of Kansas City, Missouri; three grandchildren, Helen Rachel, Claudia Renee, and Stewart Shelby Wilson; and a sister, Marianne Hocker of Jacksonville, Florida.
Memorial Services: 11 a.m. Saturday at Cedar Heights Baptist Church, Cedar Falls, with burial at a later date in Clear Creek Cemetery Richmond, Indiana. There will be no public visitation. Memorials: may be directed to the church or Cedar Valley Hospice. Condolences may be left at the Richardson Funeral Service website.
Copyright Waterloo Courier on-line edition; downloaded December 8, 2011.