Coles, Lemons, Meekins, Williams, Winfree, Woodson Family
Cousins Cruise
© 2023 by Marla D. Woodson
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Emma Woodson Hill
Memorial Scholarship Award
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Our family members are delighted to name our scholarship award in the name of Emma Woodson Hill. Cousin Emma, a wise, warm, intelligent, and strong lady, was very instrumental in bringing our huge family together. She spent countless hours researching our heritage and traveling to Virginia to meet long lost family members. Even as she got older, she continued to do whatever she could to help establish and maintain our bi-annual family reunions. I know she was immensely proud to see her daughter become an outstanding attorney, and from heaven, she is smiling as she watches her granddaughters excel educationally and become contributing citizens in our society. They are carrying on their grandmother’s tradition of committing to and supporting our family reunion activities. For this reason and more, our award is named The Emma Woodson Hill Memorial Scholarship Award. We wish you the best in life and congratulations on your accomplishments so far.
Jimmy L. West, Jr. [son of Elsie Meekins West]
National Executive Committee Chairman
The Emma Woodson Hill Memorial Scholarship Award Committee
The Philadelphia Inquirer
January 17, 2003
Transcription: Social Worker, Emma Woodson Hill, age 76, a retired social worker, died Sunday of colon cancer at her daughter’s home in Rosemont. Mrs. Hill, who grew up in New Kent County, VA, was a longtime resident of Yeadon. Mrs. Hill became the first member of her family to graduate from college when she earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Union University in 1949, said her daughter, Rhonda Hill Wilson. She wanted to become a lawyer, but finances would not allow it, Wilson said. Instead, Mrs. Wilson turned to social work. In a career interrupted when she took time away to raise her children, Mrs. Hill worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare for about twenty-five years total. She retired in 1989 as a caseworker supervisor. Gregarious and outgoing, Mrs. Hill loved to play pinochle, travel, and cook. She was a member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, the Yeadon NAACP, and the African American Genealogy Committee of Philadelphia.
Emma Woodson Hill Memorial Scholarship Awardees for 2024 Have Been Identified and are being notified.
Past Award Recipients
DeWayne A. McKinnon, Jr.
Is the son of Ponise Shields and DeWayne A, McKinnon, Sr., grandson of George S. Shields, III, great grandson of George S. Shields, Jr. and Lavina M. Johnson, great-great grandson of Elliott J. Johnson and Mahalia Crump, and great-great-great grandson of Mastin Crump and Delilah Meekins
Lauren E. Watts
Graduated from high school in New York June 2024. As a twin, she is the daughter of Sean and Rodney Watts and granddaughters of Toni and
Ronald A. Meekins
Autayshia F. Jones-Meekins
Graduated from high school in Texas June 2024. She is the daughter of Aubrey T. Meekins, Sr., granddaughter of Arden and Andrew E. Meekins, Sr, and great granddaughter of
Pearl and James L. Meekins, Sr.
Blake A. Wilson
Is the son of Sheryl Meredith, grandson of Rena and Herbert R. Meredith, great grandson of Herbert L. Meredith, great-great grandson of Helen R. Meredith and Wilson Meredith, and great-great-great grandson of Washington Meekins and Phillis Twine.
Marley R. Watts
Graduated from high school in New York June 2024. As a twin, she is the daughter of Sean and Rodney Watts and granddaughters of Toni and​ Ronald A. Meekins
Amir E. Macklin
Is the son of Lakisha Davis, grandson of Cordell Chinn, and great grandson of Martha I. Meekins Chinn and Malachi F. Chinn, Sr.
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