Charlie Wilson's roots: Trinity County residents remember him as a youngster growing up

TRINITY — To many, Charlie Wilson may have been an enigma, but to the people of Trinity — those that remember him, anyway — he was simply "Charles" or "Skinny."

Christine S. Diamond/The Lufkin Daily News (enlarge photo) Trinity may not have made it into the biographical movie, ''Charlie Wilson's War,'' but the politician never forgot his hometown, said Trinity Mayor Lyle Stubbs while waiting on customers, including Roy Cude, at Stubb's Chemical and Feed. Through the years, Wilson has frequently helped the small town at the cross roads of Highways 19 and 94 where he grew up, Stubbs said.

The tall, charismatic man portrayed in ''Charlie Wilson's War'' by Tom Hanks came into politics naturally, learning it from his mom and dad, according to Ginger Thornton and Ruth Tullos who attended First United Methodist Church with the Wilson family.

Wilmuth Wilson, a florist, worked out of the Wilson's frame home across from the hospital, and down the road from the funeral home. At one point she ran for and was elected to the school board.

"One time, I was sick," recalled Tullos. "I lived six miles out of town and she drove out with a Coke bottle that had a golden raintree blossom in it. She was a politician, so he got it naturally."

Wilson Sr. was an accountant and always took care of the books for the Thorntons, who ran LifeCheck Drugs.

At church the ladies said, while visiting at the drugstore, Wilson Jr. was a "little busybody."

Always "refined" and "high class," yet a "busybody" all the same, they said, laughing.

"He never sat still, and he smiled a lot," Tullos said. "I don't know anything bad about Charlie."

"He was a politician way back then," agreed Thornton.

Long after Wilson left home, these women continued to share in his successes and his challenges through his mother, who was by then their good friend.

"Everything that happened to Willmuth — the whole church knew about," Tullos said.

When asked, most living and working around the small town, located at the crossroads of Highway 94 and Highway 19, say they have never heard of Charlie Wilson.

"Is he a country singer?" asked the barber, Eric Vaugh, at No Doubts Beauty and Barber Shop.

Others who remembered him quite well, having played with him in the high school band or sang with him in the choir, refrained from commenting — other than to say that "Charles" was never "as fat as" the actor portraying him in the movie. In fact, one former acquaintance recalled how Wilson ate bananas in order to qualify for the military.

"We called him 'Skinny,'" agreed Cecil Webb, who was in grade school when Wilson attended "The Old Red Schoolhouse." "He was a nice guy; he did some boxing."

Wilson was a "character" who was "just a lot of fun," said Roy Cude while shopping at Stubbs Chemical and Feed.

Wilson's handwriting was so illegible the teachers sought to make an example of him, by making him type all his papers, Cude recalled.

However, "he pretty much calls Lufkin home now, after he went to work for Temple-Inland," Webb said, echoing the sentiment of many other townsfolk — including a few who refused to comment.

"He never forgot about Trinity," said Mayor Lyle Stubbs. "People forget, but he helped a lot of people around here. He helped the Trinity people a lot."

Trinity County Judge Mark Evans remembers election night 1971 when his father had run for sheriff and Wilson stopped at his family home in Groveton on his journey from Lufkin to Trinity to see how his friend had done.

"One of my prized possessions," Evans said, "is my copy of 'Charlie Wilson's War,' which he signed, '(To) A man worthy in his own right, but whose daddy outshone us all.'"

"I always thought he had a Lyndon Johnson mentality," Cude said.