Jeff Wilson, wife and son died in July floods; new initiatives honor 30-year educator’s legacy.
The Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) has created two initiatives to honor Jeff Wilson, a collision repair instructor who died with his wife and son in Texas flooding in July.
Wilson taught collision repair for 30 years at Humble High School and Kingwood Park High School. He died along with his wife Amber and son Shiloh in flooding in Kerr County.
The foundation established the Jeff Wilson Award for Selfless Education and the Jeff Wilson Memorial Fund in his memory.
Wilson built Kingwood Park’s collision repair program and operated it with a $3,500 annual materials budget for more than 70 students, according to the foundation. His program won CREF Benchmark Awards in 2022 and 2023.
“To honor the memory and dedication of Kingwood Park High School Collision Instructor Jeff Wilson, we will be awarding the first annual Jeff Wilson Award for Selfless Education at CREF’s annual Benchmark Awards breakfast at SEMA,” said Brandon Eckenrode, CREF executive director. “In speaking with Jeff’s Houston area industry colleagues, we’ve created this award to recognize a collision instructor who best represents Jeff’s spirit in going above and beyond for their students.”
Wilson advised instructors at other Texas programs through his work with the Houston I-CAR Committee. He organized career fairs for CREF in Houston in 2019 and 2022.
The award will recognize instructors who demonstrate passion for the collision repair industry’s future, prioritize students’ needs, exceed expectations and advocate for students and the industry.
Nominations for the award are due Sept. 25 through CREF’s website.
Adan Ibarra, owner of Leading Edge Collision, and the rest of the Houston I-CAR Committee are leading creation of the Jeff Wilson Memorial Fund to support instructors who lack adequate school funding for their programs. The fund accepts donations online through CREF’s website.