A Lake City native and retired circuit court judge has been appointed as a member of the board of advisors of Duke University’s Institute on Care at the End of Life.
Judge Joseph A. Wilson, who resides in Columbia, was appointed to the board in September and attended his first meeting as a member about three weeks ago.
The institute is part of the Duke University Divinity School and is purposed to gather information about the needs of the seriously ill, dying people and their families.
“(The institute addresses) issues related to the quality of one’s life at the end of one’s life,” Wilson said.
The board is charged with creating a curriculum of information about hospice care, spirituality and decision making concerning the end of life, he said.
These issues are important to him because they are important to members of his generation—the baby boomers, the 62-year-old said.
“There is a growing demand for information because people are living longer and are interested in the quality of life toward the end of life,” he said.
Wilson said he became acquainted with the institute while taking divinity courses at Duke University.
As pastor of I. D. Newman United Methodist Church in Columbia, Wilson said he’d help his congregants deal with trying issues associated with illness and death.
“I’ve had some experiences in the pastoral area dealing with people in hospice and their families,” he said. “They had questions about having sufficient government support, having dignity at the end of life, pain management and, most important, theological issues at the end of life.”
Before becoming a pastor and a member of the board, Wilson practiced law for more than 30 years and was the first black assistant solicitor in the 12th Circuit which includes Marion and Florence counties.
But his experience in his hometown of Lake City are what started him down a road of success, he said.
“Lake City, I suppose, was always a nurturing center for my dreams,” Wilson said. “I was encouraged by persons there, I was supported by persons there.”
Working on his grandfather’s farm about 13 miles from Lake City taught him discipline, Wilson said.
He enjoys going back to visit Lake City because he loves the people there, he said.
Wilson still has a host of relatives in and around Lake City.
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