From left, Lucia, Meredith, Jim, Marianna and Carmen
Welcome to our farm
We are the Jim and Marianna Wilson family. We moved here in 1989 because of a desire to live in the country. We named our place Mainstay Farm, and began growing Christmas trees six months after we moved here. We selected a scripture verse to be our theme: I Corinthians 15:58. Be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, ...knowing that your toil is not in vain. We found later that a mainstay is actually a bamboo stake used in the Christmas tree industry which holds a seedling up straight: it marks the seedling; it protects the seedling when storms come; it gives the seedling stability, disciplining it so it will become what it is intended to be. For our family, the Living Lord is the Mainstay. He is doing these same things for us. And this is how we live! We are glad you are here.
A Little More About Jim & Marianna Wilson
Jim Wilson and Marianna Ingraham of Franklin, Tennessee met in 1978 while college students at North Texas State University (now called UNT). Marianna was raised on Tap Root Farm, a working black angus beef operation established in 1962 by her parents Frank and Frances Ingraham. "My dad is an attorney and a gentleman farmer," Marianna said. "He and mom raised my brother and sister and I gardening, showing cattle and being taught a love for the Lord. My upbringing could not have been any sweeter." Marianna graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from UNT. She worked as a print salesman for Higgin's Printing Company and later for Sprint Press until their first daughter Carmen was born in 1987.
Jim was born in Longview, Texas to Bill and Mary Wilson. He has one sister Beth. The family moved to Fort Worth in 1964 for Bill to take a position with Union Bank and Trust Company. "I was raised with a real sense of responsibility," Jim said. "My parents gave me work to do, such as polishing my dad's street shoes and mowing our yard. I learned to work and follow-through." Jim owned and operated East Side Lawn Service from 1973 until 1978, caring for 20 yards each week. He graduated with a BA in Journalism in 1979 and opened The Wilson Group in May of that year. Today the firm provides marketing services to the dental specialties, plastic surgeons and the hearing aid industry.