ANNIE LAURIE (CAFFEE) WILSON

Annie Laurie Wilson (née Caffee) was born to Charley Rayfield Caffee and Ophelia Janie Winston in Amherstdale, West Virginia on May 22, 1925.  She was the eldest of six children. She grew up in West Virginia with her three sisters, Billie, Ruth and Marguerite, and two brothers Charles and Winston.

Annie was beautiful inside and out. She loved her family, and all of whom, except for Marguerite, have predeceased her. Annie was a quiet child who shared a deep love with her father. Her brothers and sisters would frequently say that Annie was, “The apple of her father’s eye.”

Annie attended cosmetology school in Pennsylvania, but never worked as a hairdresser. After attending Cosmetology School, she returned to West Virginia, married and divorced young.  She later moved to Ohio, where she met and married Samuel Wilson. In the 1960’s, when Chrysler was shutting down plants in Ohio, she and Sam moved to Detroit, Michigan, so that Sam could continue his work at Chrysler. Following their divorce, Annie remained in Detroit, her adopted home, for most of her adult life.

Annie loved clothes and was a very stylish dresser.  She had an exquisite eye for fashion.  While in Detroit, she worked at Margaret Rice’s, an upscale clothing boutique in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.  Annie worked there as a seamstress, window designer and sales associate. She retired from Margaret Rice’s in 2005. She moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in 2015 at the age of 90, joining her niece and sister, Marguerite Lee.   Annie was fiercely independent and lived proudly on her own until she was 95 years of age.

Annie had a wise, loving and generous spirit.  Although she was a quiet person, Annie loved to laugh, eat, drink, and have fun.  She liked listening to music and, during their younger years, hanging out with her sisters. She was a skillful bid whist player and spent many holidays trash talking while playing cards. While Annie never had children of her own, she loved being the favorite “Auntie” to her many nieces and nephews. She shared her love in countless ways and planted seeds of hope into many lives.

Annie Laurie Wilson (née Caffee) passed quietly in her sleep on April 23, 2022, at home in Carmel, Indiana with her family and loved ones. She is now at peace.

She leaves to mourn her passing and treasure her memory her sister, Marguerite Lee; a host of nieces, great nieces, nephews, great nephews, cousins and friends.

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