Everyday Heroes J. and Lorraine Wilson have taught many about water safety

Editor's note: This is the final in a holiday series called Everyday Heroes, which recognizes those in the community who do good things out of the spotlight. Each was nominated to be recognized. Featured Dec. 26 was Trevor Allen; Dec. 27 was Burtis Williams; Wednesday was Ritchie Rud; Thursday was Terry St. Pierre; Friday was Terry St. Pierre; Saturday was Ricky Bishop; Sunday was Pete Wheeler; Monday was Dave Nickell.

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The aquatics world, both locally and abroad, will forever be indebted to J. and Lorraine Wilson, “Everyday Heroes" for 2022.

“It is amazing to look back at the thousands of people we taught,” J. Wilson said.

Whether they taught at The Dive Spot, which the couple owned for 30 years, the Abilene school system, Abilene Christian University or even in Uganda, the Wilsons left a lasting impact.

“Over the years they have amassed too many achievements to list,” wrote Betty Casteel, who nominated them for “Everyday Hero."

J. Wilson graduated from Abilene Christian High School in 1971 and Lorraine graduated from Clawson High School in Clawson, Mich., in 1972.

Both earned bachelor’s degrees from Abilene Christian University in 1976. She then got a master’s degree in 1977 from ACU and followed that with a doctorate in education in 1992 from Texas Tech University.

He was an educator for 21 years – two years as an industrial education teacher at Lincoln Middle School and 19 years as a vocational construction teacher at Jefferson Middle School – before retiring in 2001.

She taught seventh grade reading at Jefferson for eight years and then was an instructor from 1985-2018 at ACU.

She was an instructor for several years in ACU’s Department of Health, P.E. and Recreation and later taught in the Department of Education. She then returned to the Department of Health, P.E. and Recreation full time.

The couple opened The Dive Spot in 1988 and was contracted to teach scuba diving from 1988-2016 at ACU. They retired from The Dive Spot in 2018.

As a member of the Christian Society for Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, an international group, Lorraine learned about the need for water safety instructors in Uganda. She said drowning is the leading cause of death of children in the country because they don’t know how to swim.

She said families rely on the youngsters to go get water out of streets and the rivers so it can be used for drinking, cooking and other necessities.

“Basically, they fall and drown because they weren’t taught water safety,” Lorraine said.

Starting in 2010, she and J. then made short-term trips to Uganda for five years.

“We wanted them to respect the water and know that something can happen,” she said.

The children were taught how to use a stick to measure the water’s depth before entering the water.

In addition to teaching children about water safety, Lorraine taught adults how to be swim or lifeguard instructors.

As those people learned, the hope was they would teach others, thus creating a “ripple effect,” she said.

The initial idea of teaching water safety classes for children and adults eventually mushroomed into a larger project that included building basketball courts, classrooms for sewing and teaching Vacation Bible School.

On one trip, J. said he met the general secretary of the Uganda Olympic committee, who also happened to be the president of the Uganda Swim Federation. Told the Uganda Olympic Swim Team members were responsible for buying their own stuff, such as swimsuits, caps and goggles, J. contacted aquatic companies for donations after he and Lorraine returned to Abilene.

“Everything in the African countries is underfunded,” J. said. “It is so hard to get anything, and they don’t have the money to get anything.”

Casteel wrote that the couple, upon becoming aware that sanitary drinking water was needed in a Ugandan city, raised money so a deep well could be dug to provide fresh water to over 600 village homes.

Another venture was paying for the roofing of a village school.

Aside from their Uganda trips, the Wilsons mentored many students while allowing some to live in their home, Casteel said. They also hired students to work in their business and helped them financially with college expenses.

“Whatever the need has been, they have risen to the task,” Casteel wrote. “Much of what they do is anonymous.”

Casteel also said the couple helped her while she recuperated from recent knee surgery by taking her to therapy, doctor appointments and providing food.

As swimming instructors, the Wilsons worked with students ranging from 6 months old to 68 years old.

“The scuba diving was fun but teaching the kids and adults how to swim was more rewarding,” J. Wilson said. “We would teach anyone willing to learn.”

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Everyday Heroes J. and Lorraine Wilson taught many about water safety