Sylvia Helen Wilson

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 29BF9ABBEBEB46B3B39EA0CE8AE58CC48A33

Notes:

Article in Winona, MN, Daily News dated 2-22-1955 indicates that she was an ex-communist. (Source: notes from Louis Wilson given to Larry Wilson refers to her as Helen Wood. Another place on note is the name, Helen Wood Birnie).

Larry Wilson Received the following on 11/3/01 in e-mail from Patrick Wilson:

As Helen Wood Birnie, Helen Wilson wrote the booklet "The Broken Wall" detailing her life as a Communist Party organizer in the 1930s and her subsequent abandonment of the Communist Party to become a civil rights activist and later a Christian activist. The book was published in July, 1954. Helen testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee to speak out against the Communist Party.

Helen used the name Helen DeMark in 1934 as an International Labor Defense Organizer for the Communist Party.

An excerpt from "The Broken Wall" (I added items in brackets):

I had polio when I was three years old. Now, obviously, I am not the only person in America who had polio, not the only person who suffered from it. It so happened, however, that I was the only individual in the village in Minnesota where I lived that had it at the time. And so I was marked as different. I felt the difference, and I did not appreciate it either. I did not like the idea that there were things that other children could do that I could not do. It made me unhappy because I could not romp up and down the hills with them or skate on the mill pond with them. I was always tagging way behind. These things began to stimulate bitterness and resentment in my heart. Of course, there were other reasons, too. We did not have a normal home life. My father [Wallace W. Wilson] was a man who suffered from bitterness because having married late in life and dearly loving my mother [Clara], he lost her when I was just three-and-a-half years old. I had two older sisters [Mildred and Melinda]. These girls, of course, were just as marked by this unfortunate circumstance as I ever was. But it shall be said that their reaction to it was different. We were scattered at the mercy of kindly neighbors and relatives who took us into their homes. My father remarried [Helen], but he was always a man who maintained a sober yet unhappy attitude. Everything that makes for a home was missing in the one in which I grew up. I do not say this because I want to cast reflection on anyone in my family or anyone in my community. But it is true that I did not have a positive understanding of Christian values as a child because they were not taught and presented to me in my home. Now it is easy for people to jump to a conclusion and say, "She's only making excuses." I can appreciate that, and I do not feel unkindly toward you if that is the way you feel. I am telling this story in the hope that people who are asking the question "Why do Americans take up with Communism?" will be honest enough to examine my life and see if, perhaps, it does not contain the answer.

My father died when I was twelve years old. I had the good fortune, however, of being reared close to a man who had a keen appreciation of human life [Clarence E. Wilson]. He was a country doctor, and my father's older brother. A fine and noble man as far as his convictions toward mankind were concerned, he was the kind of a country doctor that people were given to taking for granted, the kind you read about, the kind that folks would pay with pumpkins, rutabagas, cordwood and tomatoes in season and, not so often, money. My uncle was very near and dear to me because he was determined that I should not become one of those thwarted and unhappy individuals known as cripples. He did everything he could to make it possible for me to become a normal human being. He died a tragic death at his own hand when I was fifteen years old. This left an indelible mark upon my life. It caused me to be very bitter, because as I looked back across the years and remembered his faithfulness to his family, his community and to me in particular, I was made aware of the faithlessness of others to him in his hour of need. This led me to say in my heart: "I will not be as other women; I will not be a school-teacher; I will not be a nurse; I will not be a farmer's wife. I am going to be different, I am going to make my difference felt." I said something else in my heart, "You wait, I'll make you sorry you ever knew me. I'll make you hate me so you'll never mention my name." And that I did, for my name was one that was seldom ever spoken except in disrespect, for years and years in the lovely, beautiful community in Minnesota where I began my life.

Member:
John Birch Society

Member:
Communist Party

Family/Spouse: Charles Edward Dennison. Charles was born in 1907; died in 1942. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sylvia married Rev. Charles L. Wood between 1942 and 1945 in Southern California. Charles was born in Unknown; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sylvia married David Birnie about 1947. David (son of Johan Birnie) was born on 25 Jul 1903 in , , , Holland; died on 16 Jan 1986 in Bellview, King County, Washington, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: "chor-bishop" in the Assyrian Church of the East.
• _UID: D4EFBE121EB74660AC007E734C80C777B538

Notes:

Occupation:
This church is historically from Persia/Iraq and dates from the time of the earliest apostles.

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _STAT: Never Married
• _UID: 96933924D3E841558BBF52AC703E2A403739

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: C4605CC7E28549089CD6F571D5C1D4CE0F2E

Ruth married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 92A0A83E06264EE9BC02993657E7112178E3

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: E3EB4850FE33425C86B6CBFAD03B6535DB9C

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]