Individual Details
Ida Gertrude Wilson
(17 Jan 1909 - 11 Feb 1995)
Mrs. Krebs had been a continuing member of the President's Council on Handicapped Children since the Nixon Administration, and was named "Woman of the Year" in 1982 by the Catholic Charities of the Boston Diocese for her work with children. She was a longtime educational consultant to the governments of Venezuela, Columbia and Canada, and consulted with individual schools and persons in Pakistan and South Africa.
"The Krebs School, started in 1968, merged with Cotting School at her retirement in 1986.
"For many, Krebs School was a laboratory for hope -- a whole-child environment for those who could not learn to read or write by conventional means. Long before the condition now knows as 'learning disabled' had been defined, Mrs. Krebs developed and implemented a variety of special teaching techniques for such students, many of which are now commonly used by educational establishments throughout the world.
"Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Mrs. Krebs was one of seven children of [Robert] Pierce and Ida Mitchel Hightower Wilson of Fort Worth. She was a grandniece of President Woodrow Wilson [We now know that this is NOT correct.] and a descendant of settlers who first arrived in Canada in the 1650s, then traded down the Mississippi River until they settled in Texas sometime before Sam Houston. [Unless we find that William Alexander is the descendant of such traders, and he may well be, the part of the above statement about arriving in Canada and trading down the Mississippi is incorrect. See the "Notes" for WILLIAM N. ALEXANDER and WILLIS WYLIE DONAHOE.] The pioneering spirit may have been in her genes, a former colleague observed.
"At the Krebs School, showing and teaching young students rope tricks and rewarding others with pony rides were teaching techniques to her. Many students learned division by slicing carrots in the kitchen.
"'Anything that works' was her motto, and in a classroom of eight children, eight different teaching techniques could have been in use, methods guided by individual lesson plans personally reviewed and approved by Mrs. Krebs, often day by day. As a result, special education teachers who taught at Krebs were considered especially well qualified by many school systems.
"Mrs. Krebs was trained as a nurse at Atlanta Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., graduating in 1919. [In an April 1, 1995, letter to her daughter Susan Briles Kniebes, Clara Ruth Wilson Briles, Ida's sister, said that she thought that Ida would have graduated in 1929, rather than 1919, which makes sense since Ida and Roy were married in 1930.] While in Atlanta, she met and married Roy R. Krebs, an executive with American Telephone and Telegraph. After the sudden death of her husband in the mid-1940s [December 27, 1945], she returned to formal schooling and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Boston University in 1949 and 1951. She also studied at Columbia and Harvard universities.
"She began working with learning disabled persons as a teenager in Texas when she tutored a neighbor's child who had been dismissed from the public school for academic failure. Shortly afterward, other neighbor children joined this first "Krebs School" for help.
"During World War II, while serving as director of the Sub Debs in New York City, she began working with returned soldiers who had been psychologically damaged by their war experiences.
"In the late 1940s through early '60s, she tutored many students having difficulties in regular schools in Cambridge and then Arlington. In one instance she continued tutoring even when bedridden in a full body cast as a result of a broken back.
Family Information provided by Susan Briles Kniebes
"The Krebs School, started in 1968, merged with Cotting School at her retirement in 1986.
"For many, Krebs School was a laboratory for hope -- a whole-child environment for those who could not learn to read or write by conventional means. Long before the condition now knows as 'learning disabled' had been defined, Mrs. Krebs developed and implemented a variety of special teaching techniques for such students, many of which are now commonly used by educational establishments throughout the world.
"Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Mrs. Krebs was one of seven children of [Robert] Pierce and Ida Mitchel Hightower Wilson of Fort Worth. She was a grandniece of President Woodrow Wilson [We now know that this is NOT correct.] and a descendant of settlers who first arrived in Canada in the 1650s, then traded down the Mississippi River until they settled in Texas sometime before Sam Houston. [Unless we find that William Alexander is the descendant of such traders, and he may well be, the part of the above statement about arriving in Canada and trading down the Mississippi is incorrect. See the "Notes" for WILLIAM N. ALEXANDER and WILLIS WYLIE DONAHOE.] The pioneering spirit may have been in her genes, a former colleague observed.
"At the Krebs School, showing and teaching young students rope tricks and rewarding others with pony rides were teaching techniques to her. Many students learned division by slicing carrots in the kitchen.
"'Anything that works' was her motto, and in a classroom of eight children, eight different teaching techniques could have been in use, methods guided by individual lesson plans personally reviewed and approved by Mrs. Krebs, often day by day. As a result, special education teachers who taught at Krebs were considered especially well qualified by many school systems.
"Mrs. Krebs was trained as a nurse at Atlanta Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., graduating in 1919. [In an April 1, 1995, letter to her daughter Susan Briles Kniebes, Clara Ruth Wilson Briles, Ida's sister, said that she thought that Ida would have graduated in 1929, rather than 1919, which makes sense since Ida and Roy were married in 1930.] While in Atlanta, she met and married Roy R. Krebs, an executive with American Telephone and Telegraph. After the sudden death of her husband in the mid-1940s [December 27, 1945], she returned to formal schooling and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Boston University in 1949 and 1951. She also studied at Columbia and Harvard universities.
"She began working with learning disabled persons as a teenager in Texas when she tutored a neighbor's child who had been dismissed from the public school for academic failure. Shortly afterward, other neighbor children joined this first "Krebs School" for help.
"During World War II, while serving as director of the Sub Debs in New York City, she began working with returned soldiers who had been psychologically damaged by their war experiences.
"In the late 1940s through early '60s, she tutored many students having difficulties in regular schools in Cambridge and then Arlington. In one instance she continued tutoring even when bedridden in a full body cast as a result of a broken back.
Family Information provided by Susan Briles Kniebes
Events
| Birth | 17 Jan 1909 | Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, USA | |||
| Marriage | 27 Aug 1930 | Westfield, Union Co., NJ, USA - Roy R. Krebs | |||
| Death | 11 Feb 1995 | Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia, USA |  | ||
| Burial | Fairview Cemetery, Westfield, Union County, New Jersey, USA |
Families
| Spouse | Roy R. Krebs (1891 - 1945) |
| Child | Roy R. Krebs (1933 - ) |
| Father | Robert Pierce Wilson (1882 - 1922) |
| Mother | Ida Mitchell Hightower (1882 - 1977) |
| Sibling | Robert Pierce Wilson Jr. (1903 - 1990) |
| Sibling | Travis Hudson Wilson (1906 - 1970) |
| Sibling | Charlotte Josephine Wilson (1911 - 1968) |
| Sibling | Sarah Elizabeth Wilson (1913 - 2001) |
| Sibling | Jesse Rodman Wilson Sr. (1915 - 1985) |
| Sibling | Clara Ruth Wilson (1919 - 2011) |
Endnotes
1. Death Notice-Florida.