WHM: Cape May County NAACP Honors Smith, Wilson
Photo of Lois Smith courtesy of Cape May County NAACP
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
CAPE MAY — The Cape May County NAACP on Saturday, March 15, will honor late gospel and jazz singing great Lois Smith by giving an award named after her to a local influential community leader at its Freedom Fund Gala at the Wildwood Convention Center.
Shirley Rebecca “Becki” Wilson, will be the inaugural winner of the Lois Smtih Tribute Award at the gala. Smith, who traveled nationally as a gospel and jazz entertainer while living in Cape May, died last November.
According to her obituary, Smith started as a young singer in the 1940s and sang in various choirs while earning her license as a cosmetologist. She traveled and sang in Gospel Caravans in the 1950s and performed with the famed Wings Over Jordan choir.
She continued to teach at various schools like continuing her singing career. She played in front of crowds at Cape May’s famed Congress Hall, where she once worked as a waitress in her early years, inspiring many who knew of her story.
Wilson, the Smith honoree, graduated from Lower Cape May Regional High School as valedictorian and earned a bachelor’s in sociology from Temple University.
She returned to Cape May in 1971 and worked for the Department of Youth and Family Services in Cape May and Atlantic counties for four years before earning her certification as a school social worker from Glassboro.
The majority of Wilson’s professional career was spent at the LCMR School District, where she retired in 2004. She continued working as a school social worker throughout the county for many years. In 2008, she earned her real estate license, working with three local offices.
She partnered with a friend, Harriet Walcott, in The Creative Touch, a home staging company but ended that profession when she was declared legally blind in 2020.
Wilson’s leadership and dedication to justice have earned her numerous prestigious appointments.
Wilson also served on the New Jersey Superior Court of Atlantic and Cape May Counties’ MLK Commission and the Minority Concerns Commission (now DICE – Diversity, Inclusion, Community, and Equity).
Since 2012, she has been one of six commissioners representing New Jersey on the Delaware River Bay Authority (DRBA), where she has chaired the budget and finance committee. She also worked as the audit and governance committee.
These voluntary positions reflect her unwavering commitment to advocating for equitable services and opportunities for all, particularly minorities in the region.
Others Being Honored
At the gala, Lifetime Awards will be given to Bernard Blanks, Sr., Donald Hamer Sr. and Dr. Charles Payne.
Other awardees include Chase Jackson, for the arts; Burgess Hamer, for humanitarian work; Hope Harris and Mary Helen Perez for community service; Kiana Bryan for business; Radzieta Funeral Home, for business; and Cape Assist, for health. Clyde Hughes, of Front Runner New Jersey.com, will receive a special recognition award.
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