Celebrating 100 Years of Wilda Wickliff-Carrier

AMES— Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church was the place to be in celebration of Wilda Wickliff-Carrier, with friends and family clad in red to honor one of the community’s most beloved residents. 

On Nov. 23, friends and family of Wickliff-Carrier wore red, Wickliff-Carrier's favorite color, in celebration of her 100th birthday. 

“She’s a staple of this community,” said Wanda Carrier, daughter of Wickliff-Carrier. 

A line of guests wrapped around the community room in anticipation of visiting with Wickliff-Carrier. She greeted each with a smile and kind words. 

When asked what the city means to her, she responded, “Everything. I did for them and they did for me.” 

Liberty County Judge Jay Knight signed a proclamation naming Nov. 23 Mrs. Wilda Wickliff-Carrier Day to honor her unwavering service and dedication to Liberty County and the community within. 

The proclamation states, “Mrs. Wilda Wickliff-Carrier's life is a beautiful tapestry woven with love, resilience and an enduring spirit that inspires everyone fortunate enough to know her.” 

Ames Mayor Barbara Domain gifted Wickliff-Carrier with a plaque engraved with the words “The Oldest Citizen in the City of Ames.” 

During her presentation, Domain said, “Thank you so much for being an amazing pillar of the community.” 

Wickliff-Carrier previously received The Yellow Rose of Texas Award, given by the governor, for her unwavering dedication to serving the community. She was one of about 20 women throughout Texas to receive the award, according to Carrier. 

“Almost the whole community went,” Carrier said. “She had at least 50 people here from Ames.” 

As owner and operator of Wickliff’s Gas and Grocery, many have gotten to know Wickliff-Carrier. 

“She is truly an icon of Ames, Texas,” said Tonya Hebert-Donatto, Ames local and guest at the party. “If you say Mrs. Wilda, everyone would know her.” 

Hebert-Donatto shared a fond childhood memory of Wickliff-Carrier. When she would go to the store to purchase candy, she was only allowed one, but Wickliff-Carrier would always say, “And what else?” 

“It was just a beautiful thing and she looks good for 100 years old,” Hebert-Donatto said. “She really, really does.” 

When Carrier visits Walmart, she is often stopped by women asking about Wickliff-Carrier. She said one woman always recounts the same story. 

“‘I never saw a woman who could pick up a 50-pound sack of feed, throw it across her shoulder and keep right on rolling.’ She was a tough little cookie,” Carrier said. 

Even those who didn’t personally know Wickliff-Carrier expressed a fondness for the store. 

“I worked for the railroad and everywhere I went, railroaders always said they stopped here and she had the coldest soda water in the world,” said Dianne McGowan-Brown, niece of Wickliff-Carrier. 

The store has a long history, originally opened by Edward Wickliff, Wickliff-Carrier's father. According to McGowan-Brown, Wickliff-Carrier worked in the store from a young age with her siblings. She maintained the store until the age of 92. 

“The only reason she left is because we made her,” Carrier said with a laugh. 

For a time, the family store was the only stop between Houston and Beaumont where Black travelers could safely get gas or use the restroom, according to McGowan-Brown. 

Although she spent much of her time running the store, Wickliff-Carrier made sure to care for her nine children. 

“She did everything. She made our clothes. She cooked every day, didn’t allow her girls to do any washing or anything,” Carrier said. 

The family didn’t have to go to the store for too much as Edward Wickliff raised and butchered his own cattle and grew crops from vegetables to fruits. 

“I can’t think of a fruit tree we didn’t have at my grandfather’s,” Carrier said. 

“She did some amazing things for such a little bit of income. She kept food on the table and kept clothes on our backs,” said Craig Carrier, the youngest of the bunch. “Absolutely loving mother. She just did a lot of things for me to help me get myself together.” 

In 2014, Craig Carrier found out he had cancer and after nine months of chemo, he is in remission. 

“I found out I had CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and I told her. She did a little cross on my neck and on my head and she said ‘this cancer is gone out of you,’” Craig Carrier said. 

As a devout Catholic, Wickliff-Carrier was very active in the church’s community. 

“She was in the church her whole life. She’s like a nun,” Craig Carrier said. “For years as we were coming up, she went to church every day.” 

In Wickliff-Carrier's words, “All these years I was right there with Father doing everything.” 

Wickliff-Carrier's lineage was important for the development of not only Ames, but the church in which the party was held. 

Sylvester Wickliff, grandfather of Wickliff-Carrier, donated the land and funds to build Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church. 

According to a 1917 article of The Vindicator, four families contributed to the founding of Ames including Wickliff, Trahan, Cormier and Albreaux. Primary contributors were Wickliff and Trahan. 

Each family was originally from Louisiana but moved to what is now Ames to purchase land for farming. Sylvester Wickliff did so after fighting in the Mexican-American War. 

“My great-grandfather [Sylvester] went to Mexico to fight the Mexican war, and he got over there and realized that was not his fight. He came back this way and he stopped in Dayton and asked if he could buy some land there. They told him no. If he went 12 miles further down the road he could buy land there,” McGowan-Brown said. 

Wickliff-Carrier was happy with the turnout at her birthday celebration. 

When asked about it, she responded with, “Beautiful. Real happy.”