Willison, George and Toni

George and Toni Willison were long-time residents of Malta, a small village near Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, where they enjoyed country living and were respected members of the community. They came to Malta in 1946 at the invitation of Katherine Anne Porter to determine if they would like living in South Hill, the house Porter purchased and renovated in 1941. Their subsequent agreement to buy the house from her began a long friendship and correspondence. George Willison lived at South Hill until his death in 1972. Toni Willison remained there until 1997.

George Findlay Willison was born in Denver, Colorado, on July 24, 1896, the son of Robert and Anna Brunton Willison. He received an A.B. from the University of Colorado in 1918. After brief Army service in World War I, he won a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University where he studied English history, economics, and political science from 1920 to 1923. In 1924, he studied French literature at the Sorbonne. After his return to the United States, he worked on newspapers in Denver and New York City between 1925 and 1927.

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