Wilkerson and Scott inducted into the Trenton Hall of Fame

By Carrie A. Mizell

Longtime Trenton residents Shirley Boyd Wilkerson and Dave Lang Scott were inducted into the city’s Hall of Fame on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Trenton City Commissioners voted unanimously last week to pass Resolution 2011-09 and Resolution 2011-10 inducting Wilkerson and Scott into the Hall of Fame, citing their “significant and substantial contributions to the City of Trenton.”

Mayor Glen Thigpen is shown with Hall of Fame inductee Mrs. Shirley Wilkerson and
Carolyn Scott Osteen, daughter of Hall of Fame inductee Dave Lang Scott.

At age 88, Shirley Boyd Wilkerson attended the Trenton City Commission meeting to accept her plaque and thank the commissioners for inducting her into the Hall of Fame.
Mrs. Shirley has been a resident of Trenton for 71 years, calling her neighborhood on Fifth Avenue home since she married her late husband J.K. (Jake) Wilkerson in 1940.
Four years after they were married, Jake was drafted into the Army and served in World War II. A young bride with a 16-month-old daughter, Shirley was left behind in Trenton while her husband was serving the country.
To make ends meet, because the $80 wife benefit was not enough, Mrs. Shirley went to work at a local daycare run by Mrs. Lula Buchanan. Working as Mrs. Buchanan’s assistant, Mrs. Shirley tended 20 children, ages 2 to 5. The job allowed Mrs. Shirley and her daughter to be together while Jake was overseas. Mrs. Shirley recalls working 40 hours a week at the daycare for $12 pay.
In 1950, Mrs. Shirley stopped working at the daycare and in 1951 she and Jake welcomed their second child, a boy. Three years later, they completed their family with the birth of another little girl. With three small children and a husband who worked full time, Mrs. Shirley thought her place was at home raising the children and helping her husband with the family farm.
After many years as a homemaker, Mrs. Shirley returned to the work force in 1973, taking a job at the Trenton Post Office under Doug Beach, who was the postmaster at the time. With a heavy heart, Mrs. Shirley retired from the post office in 1986. Mrs. Shirley loves people and especially helping people so she missed interacting with the public on a daily basis like she had while working at the post office.
On her days off work, many residents recall Mrs. Shirley taking people to Gainesville to doctor’s appointments, visiting shut-ins and jumping in where she was needed be it washing dishing, cooking or just starting a load of laundry for someone in need.
From a neighborhood seamstress, that many people throughout the community love, who is always willing to make last minute alterations, to a helpful hand when a family lost a loved one, Mrs. Shirley.
A Godly-woman, Mrs. Shirley is an active member of Trenton Church of Christ. Due to failing health, Mrs. Shirley is not able to be as physically active as she has been in years past, but she still checks on the sick and elderly.
Mrs. Shirley lives by the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Trenton City Commissioners also honored the late Dave Lang Scott.
A Trenton High School graduate, who was raised by his aunt Lizzie Lang and William Bell, Dave Lang Scott worked on the railroad and eventually became a farmer.
Though he initially farmed in Gilchrist County, Dave Lang Scott soon began growing watermelons in South Florida, from Indiantown on the east coast of Florida, to Engelwood, on the west coast of Florida. The farm spanned 400 acres.
In 1956, Dave Lang Scott gave up farming to spend more time with his family. Later that year, he went to work at Farmers and Merchants Bank. When the bank was established, his aunt and uncle bought stock for him, making him one of the first stockholders. He served as a director of the bank for many years and continued working there until 1964, when he died suddenly of a heart attack on December 6.
Survivors included wife, Helen Deen Scott; daughters, Carolyn Scott Osteen and Elizabeth Lang Scott; one grandson, Harry Eugene Osteen, Jr.
Dave Lang Scott is remembered as a very generous man who helped many people during his life. While farming in South Florida, he would take his crew of workers from Trenton, to provide jobs for them during the winter months.
Carolyn Scott Osteen recalls riding in a Jeep with her daddy, Dave Lang Scott, on a Saturday night to Mr. Odell Mikell’s grocery store to pick up bones and stray dogs to cook for and feed.
“He used to tell me he walked five miles to school and I believed him, until momma told me it was only two blocks from their house to school,” Osteen recalls.
Plaques honoring Dave Lang Scott and Shirley Boyd Wilkerson as inductees into the Hall of Fame will hang in the Trenton Community Center.