Alan Wilson; had farmstand, helped youths become farmers

Alan Wilson had been co-owner of Wilson Farms in Lexington since the mid-1950's. His Irish immigrant forebears started the farm in 1884. (file/1989)

Outside the landmark Wilson Farms in Lexington on Nov. 1, about 100 employees and customers stood silently in respect, many with tears streaming down their cheeks, as the hearse carrying the body of "the boss," the farm's co-owner Alan B. Wilson, passed by for a last farewell.

Mr. Wilson devoted his life to the farm started by his Irish immigrant forebears who cultivated the first dozen acres on Pleasant Street in 1884. Started as a wholesale truck farm, it grew with each new generation of Wilsons to its present 38 acres, rich with fruits, vegetables, farm-fresh eggs, and flowers, sold at markets and farm stands.

Since the founding of the farm, it was understood that each generation would carry on the family business, said Don Wilson of Lexington, Alan Wilson's cousin and a partner in the farm since 1954.

"It was one of those things we just grew into," Don Wilson said. "As children, we worked in the field picking tomatoes. We did any job that kids could do."

Later, as co-owners, he said, "Alan handled retail and sales, and I did the farming. Neither Alan nor I ever had another job in our lives."

Alan Wilson, who was noted for his support of young people who wanted to farm and for his promotion of New England agriculture, died of colon cancer Oct. 28 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The Lexington resident was 73.

August Schumacher of Washington, former Massachusetts commissioner of agriculture, recalled that as students in the mid-1950s, he and his brother, John, had sold Mr. Wilson "varnished baskets of ornamental gourds to build up our college savings. Alan Wilson continued this longtime support of young people, holding fund-raisers at his home for scholarships for Lexington High School graduates," for whatever career they planned.

In the 1970s, he said, Mr. Wilson worked with then-Bay State agriculture commissioner Fred Winthrop to promote local produce in the "Massachusetts Grown and Fresher" program; and when Michael S. Dukakis was governor, Mr. Wilson was a leading member of thegovernor's State Agricultural Board.

When agriculturists in other countries heard of his expertise and his farm, visitors from overseas came to see for themselves. From his friendships with farmers in Holland and Israel, Schumacher said, Mr. Wilson was able to supply his farm patrons with red peppers and tomatoes from those countries in New England's mid-winter.

A perfectionist, Mr. Wilson expected excellence from his employees, who now number several hundred. "Alan made a difference in the lives of a lot of young people by demanding their best," Don Wilson said. "He hired many boys and girls who were going down the wrong path who came back years later and thanked him."

Mr. Wilson was born in Lexington and was working on the farm with Don by the time they were in the sixth grade. He went to work there full time after graduating from Lexington High School in 1953.

In the early 1960s, they built their first farm stand in Lexington. The family has since constructed a larger farm in Litchfield, N.H.

In 1959, he married Carolyn (Culler) of Lexington. "Alan was a very smart man," she said. He never fully retired, she said, and even when they were wintering in Florida, he felt he had to be at the farm for major flower-selling holidays.

Their son, Scott, now one of the farm's four co-owners, recalls going to the produce market, then at Faneuil Hall, with his father to sell their produce.

Mr. Wilson took his work seriously, friends said, and some may have mistakenly taken his intensity for crustiness.

"Dad scared the daylights out of all these kids, but he was like a prickly pear, sweet and nice inside," his son said.

Keith Hutchins, who has a flower business in Townsend, worked for Mr. Wilson for 36 years, starting in high school in the early 1960s. "Alan was the most important man in my life," Hutchins said. "Thousands of kids worked for him and learned the work ethic from him. My brother, my wife, my son worked for him. Alan was a rock. The first computer used in the business was in his brain. I would never dispute his memory," Hutchins said.

Mr. Wilson did many kind deeds with no fanfare. For years, he provided the Christmas tree and flowers for other holidays to the Italian Home for Children in Jamaica Plain. Franciscan Sister Margaret Yennock, spiritual enrichment director at the home, knew him for 20 years and said he had a "heart of marshmallow.

"With Al, it wasn't the outer appearance that mattered. More importantly, it was God's spirit within that makes us who we are. With Al, I would share touching stories about our children, and in all humility, Al would tell me how something he did gave a person a new start in life," Sister Margaret said.

Mr. Wilson came to know the Italian home through his friend of 40 years, Mario Pallotta of Winthrop, a produce broker, who said he was "brought up at the Italian Home from the age of 10 months" and later served on its boards. He recalled accompanying Mr. Wilson to the produce markets where the buying and selling goes on. "Al fighting for every nickel, not for himself but for his customers," Pallotta said.

In 1990, Mr. Wilson told the Globe, "The customer is the boss. . . . The consumer determines what we raise; what we sell. If the customer doesn't pick it off the shelf, the prices will come down. And that's the way it should be."

David Williams of Lexington, a longtime friend who worked with Mr. Wilson on the Lexington High School Scholarships, said the town will establish a memorial scholarship fund in his name.

Besides his wife and his son, Mr. Wilson leaves a daughter, Lesley E. of South Hadley; a sister, Barbara Fuery of Lexington; and three grandchildren. Services have been held.