From retirement center to church to concert hall, if it's the holiday season, John and Mary K. Wilson are likely singing at a venue near you. On Saturday they bring their music to Largo.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 20, 2002

LARGO -- If it's the holidays, John and Mary K. Wilson are probably singing at a hall, church or retirement center near you.

At this time of year, the couple seems to be everywhere, he looking festive in his red bow tie, she in her red silk jacket.

"We're going to take you to a place somewhere between your heart and your soul," John Wilson told a crowd of people last week at a show at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center.

Besides the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, the longtime newscaster and his wife have sung at Ruth Eckerd Hall and will perform again at the Largo Cultural Center Saturday.

They've been doing this for 18 years.

"We've performed at every retirement center in (the area)," said John Wilson, laughing.

This year, the couple scheduled 15 dates in the days leading up to Christmas, performing a program of medelys, solos and duets.

During the Saturday show, they will share the stage with their son, Paul, 35, who owns a local advertising agency.

All the Wilsons stay busy. Mary K. Wilson teaches music lessons to children, and every weekday evening you can see John Wilson on WTVT-Ch. 13 co-anchoring the 6 and 10 p.m. news with Kelly Ring.

But performing -- especially together -- is the couple's passion and their pleasure.

"I've been doing TV for 35-plus years, and I've been singing all that time. Performing live is more exhilarating, more satisfying," John Wilson said. "Channel 13 has been very supportive of what Mary K. and I do. They let me schedule vacation (time) to accommodate these performances."

The couple met when they were students at Virginia Commonwealth University, he a theater major and she a music major. One night, after she performed in the play Amahl and the Night Visitors (the same opera she acted in at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center Dec. 14 before she and John began their concert), she asked him to accompany her to a cast party. He said yes, and they've been together ever since.

Their three children are also well known in the community, and leading successful lives by anyone's standards.

Besides Paul, they have two other sons, Mark, 33, an anchor/reporter at the same TV station where his father works, and Patrick, 29, who was nominated for a Tony Award for The Full Monty in 2001 and for Oklahoma! in 2002.

A rising star, he also recently acted in an HBO version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep.

Although it's difficult for John Wilson to walk into a Publix around here without being recognized, in Manhattan, it's a far different story.

"I'm known only as Patrick's dad," said John with a laugh.

But the Wilsons make a point of staying home for the holidays so they can perform for the local crowds who often sing along.

"Christmas brings out the best in everybody," John Wilson said.

-- Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.

If you go

John and Mary K. Wilson will sing holiday favorites at 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Largo Cultural Center, 105 Central Park Drive. Tickets are $10 general (discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, and there is no service charge). For information, call (727) 587-6793.

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