Cecilia Wilson

Cecilia Wilson came to Utah on an adventure with two friends shortly after they graduated from the University of Nebraska. They were on their way to Seattle or Portland but one of the girls had an aunt in Salt Lake City so they stopped, rented a house and got jobs. The other two have long since returned closer to their roots but Cecilia met and married Wayne in 1981and has been stuck here ever since.

Her childhood was somewhat nomadic, born in St. Louis, Missouri, and living in Flushing, New York, San Diego, California, and Omaha, Nebraska. In Nebraska she completed high school and completed a degree in Medical Technology in nearby Lincoln. She hated the weather, tornadoes, high humidity, and bone chilling cold, so she was anxious to leave after school.

After a couple of years in Salt Lake City she met Wayne while they both worked the graveyard shift at Holy Cross Hospital. He brought a house, complete with washer and dryer into the marriage; she had a Thoroughbred horse. The house was right next to the freeway, except for the railroad tracks between the house and the highway. When a large freight train rolled by you just had to stop talking; you could not be heard.

Wayne decided, when she was 3-months pregnant with their first daughter, that the environment wasn't very baby raising friendly. Cecilia still remembers that he made her move while she was pregnant. They didn't move too far, just a couple of miles east of the freeway to a house on a lot large enough to move her horse from the stables to the back yard. She frequently says that she worried all through her second pregnancy that Wayne would make her move again. As she has gotten older her moves have become less frequent and less distant. Six years ago they moved to their current house that is less than a mile from the horse property…the mare died and did not move with them.

Cecilia has worked for Intermountain Health Care for more than 20 years. Her first location was Primary Children's Medical Center where she first worked in and then supervised the Hematology department in the Clinical Laboratory. She then moved to Cottonwood Hospital in the Laboratory Quality Assurance department and then Transfusion Medicine QA. She then moved to LDS Hospital where she currently manages Laboratory Customer Service for LDSH, CWH, and Alta View Hospitals.

In 1999 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her treatment involved two surgeries and an aggressive course of chemotherapy. She currently spends a great deal of time talking to and supporting women discovering they are afflicted with this disease. When not working or mentoring she enjoys spending her time gardening, sewing, quilting, and other crafts.

--Wayne Wilson