Wilson, Cynthia E., 1940-

Birth date for Cynthia E. Wilson: July 10, 1940.

Cynthia E. Wilson was born on July 10, 1940. She went to work for the White House Social Correspondence Office in January 1965, and was with that office at least until December 1968. She worked with the First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, as a correspondence aide and later as a staff member of the First Lady's White House Beautification Project. After leaving the White House, she worked with Stewart Udall and Governor Castro of New Mexico, and she worked for the National Audubon Society in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. In 1977 she joined the Department of the Interior as special assistant to Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus, where she was involved with Alaska lands legislation.

"I grew up in Syracuse, New York. I went for undergraduate work to St. Lawrence University...majored in English...I graduated in 1962..."

"Then I went on to the University of Texas...I spent two years there in graduate work in journalism...Anyway, I finished in June of 1964 and worked that summer on the Waco newspaper, which is the Waco [Times Herald]..."

"...I took a job that I got through family connections really, working for Columbia Record."

"...one day in the mail I got a letter from out of the blue, a letter from Liz Carpenter..."

"Then she said that I had been recommended by Dr. [Dewitt C.] Reddick who was the head of the journalism school."

"I started in answering letters...And fairly soon I began to get kind of bored with answering letters, and wanting to do other things...So I made that known, and it seems to me about in March, or somewhere along in the spring, is when the beautification thing first sort of started percolating."

"Then I sort of just shomehow gravitated toward handling the mail, and over time somehow it just kind of evolved that I kind of handled most of the mail, and she [Sharon Francis] would do some of it, but the majority of it I would do..."