Marieke Justine Wilson "MJ"

May 22, 1982 - November 6, 2021

The Family invite friends to call at Charles L. Stevens Funeral Home, Inc. 1501 E. Fort Avenue Locust Point, MD 21230 on Sunday, November 21st from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Celebration of Life service will be held directly following the visiting hours at 4:00 pm. Due to COVID-19 restrictions everyone entering the funeral home will be required to wear a mask. Born May 22, 1982 to Dr Michael J. Wilson and Caroline Wilson, Marieke Justine (MJ) was descended from Yorkshire stock on both parents’ sides. Some of her most vivid memories from her childhood were of the three years she spent with her family in Guinea, West Africa between the ages of 7 and 11, during her father’s posting with the World Bank. There she learnt to ride horses, travel in challenging conditions, and absorb the French language and culture. She loved recounting adventures from our road trips, such as: driving through “elephant nests” filled with water in the rainy season, sending waves of water cascading over the vehicle; fashioning narrow planks into a rickety old bridge to pass over a deep stream; and when father, mother, and daughter huddled in the bed together with a single light bulb on all night so we could keep an eye on the large spider dangling from the ceiling. On returning to the Washington DC area, after studying for two years at the Lycee Rochambeau, MJ went on to flourish in every aspect at the Madeira School for Girls, on its beautiful McLean campus. She spoke frequently of the outstanding teachers who formed her and also of her co-curricular activities there, such as interning for Congressman Barney Frank on Capitol Hill. During her undergraduate years at Johns Hopkins University, MJ developed a passion for the study of Anthropology, a subject that was a perfect fit for her inquiring mind and international perspective on the world. During a gap year, MJ did a hands-on documentary-making class at George Washington University’s Institute for Documentary Filmmaking in preparation for her career in anthropology. MJ moved on from her undergraduate studies at Hopkins to the Masters/PhD program there. She was awarded three prestigious grants for her studies, including a Fulbright scholarship which enabled her to travel to Lagos, Nigeria to study the use of film in the evangelical mega-church community,. There she was able to put her documentary-making skills to good use, capturing the links between the burgeoning Nollywood film industry and the use of film by the large-scale Protestant churches to evangelize. Her research in Nigeria formed the basis of her dissertation, “God is in the Medium“. MJ also received a teaching award for the popular class she created and taught, “The Culture of Cool”. It was her deepest wish to return to school and complete the PhD project she worked so hard on. MJ often spoke of her professors in JHU’s Anthropology Department in glowing terms and their gift to her of a first-class grounding in anthropology. MJ’s passions were music and film and she must have known every single song or movie ever made. She treasured her large collection of Everyman books sent to her by her father for each birthday. Something else she loved was the afternoon nap and, wherever we were, we often exchanged texts saying, “is it time for a nap yet?”, “but first, a nap”. Neither mother nor daughter grew out of the tradition of trading Care Bears dreams with each other at bedtime, and MJ waxed creative with imaginative Care Bears scenarios. The wide-ranging conversations we would have on just about anything – art, music, literature, philosophy, ordinary stuff—are a joy to remember. Over the years, MJ loved animals and had various pets, the most memorable of which was a beagle called Rocket. She finally had to concede defeat, however, when Rocket spectacularly flunked his Dog Obedience and Barking Cessation class, which necessitated him being repositioned to the country. More recently, Chap the cat was a constant companion to her in the home that she shared with Pablo –and she often forwarded photos of Chap asleep, Chap draped languidly across the furniture, Chap doing this or that. MJ’s last three years were spent in a loving relationship with her fiancé Paul, aka Pablo. Pablo’s parents and extended family took MJ under their wing and she loved their company. She and Pablo, an accomplished musician, loved the thriving Baltimore music scene and a week before her death, MJ excitedly recounted her plans to document the rich local talent scene, using her training as film maker and anthropologist. MJ brought so much joy to our lives and we all miss her terribly since her accidental death on November 6, 2021 at the age of 39. She was a sensitive soul who felt deeply the “Hart-ache, and the thousand Natural Shocks that Flesh is heir to” and experienced more intensely than most the pain that life inevitably brings to all of us. We can say that MJ’s adult life was bracketed by the beauty of long-stemmed red roses, starting with the graduation ceremony from Madeira at age 18, when she and all the other graduates walked with a traditional bouquet of 13 roses. These beautiful flowers also mark the end of her time with us as we celebrate her life story. MJ is survived by her parents, Dr. Michael Wilson and Caroline Wilson, her fiancé Paul (Pablo) Ackerman, her half-brother Justin Wilson, and her half-sisters Clare Lunnen and Sarah Wilson, and their respective families. All those who knew MJ are invited to attend a Celebration of her Life on Sunday, November 21 at the Stevens Funeral Home on Fort Avenue in Baltimore. After the homily at four o’clock, you are invited to share a memory of MJ if the spirit moves you, or simply be present to honor her life.