Everett Wilson, played Bill Cosby's grandson on "The Cosby Show"
deb...@comcast.net
BY CYNTHIA DANIELS
STAFF WRITER
January 19, 2005
Everett Wilson was a good-humored teen who worked diligently at his
church, dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player, and had
just received his driving permit.
Wilson was killed Jan. 8 when the car he was riding in left the road,
striking a utility pole and then a pickup truck along Route 25 near
Fresh Pond Avenue in Calverton. He was 17.
The car's driver, an acquaintance of Wilson's, was arrested at the
scene on charges of driving while intoxicated, Riverhead Town police
said.
Wilson's mother, Mary Lou Wilson, of Calverton, remembered him for his
upbeat personality. "He made everybody happy," she said. "When you were
down and out he was always there to pick you up and make you laugh."
Everett Wilson was a junior at Riverhead High School. Guidance
counselor Christy Van Hoesen said Wilson was determined to excel at his
schoolwork and described him as "outgoing, friendly, upbeat and always
smiling."
"He was a great kid," she said, recalling how classmates gathered in
the school library to remember him. "He's really going to be missed a
lot."
Though his personality lit up a room, Wilson kept a fun fact on hand to
break the ice when necessary: as a toddler, he briefly appeared on
NBC's "The Cosby Show" with his twin brother, Ronald. The pair played
Cosby's grandson, Nelson Tibideaux, one half of twins Winnie and
Nelson.
"He talked about it all the time," said Linda Cowell-Pritchard of
Riverhead, a family friend whom Everett called his second mother. "When
he met people, he would bring it up ... That was something that just
put a big spark [in him]."
Cosby wasn't the only topic that excited Wilson. He was also active at
Friendship Baptist Church in Riverhead, serving on the junior usher
board, the youth ministry choir and as summer enrichment counselor for
the church's community service center.
"He was just really active," said Cowell-Pritchard, also the church's
youth ministry director. "He lived his life letting [young people] know
'yes, you can be young and have fun, but you can have fun in the Lord'
... there was just something special about him."
Besides his mother and twin brother, Wilson is survived by his father,
Everett Jackson of Calverton; brothers, Daryl Wilson of Flanders and
Thomas Wilson of Calverton; and a sister, Sandra Wilson of Brentwood.
A funeral for Wilson was held Saturday at Friendship Baptist Church. He
was buried in Riverhead Cemetery.