by Tiffany Razzano
Poulson was born Louise Reed on May 31, 1923 in Charlotte County, Virginia, where she attended Mount Zion Baptist Church and Flatrock Public Schools. She dropped out of school in the sixth grade to care for her younger siblings when her mother moved to New York to find work to support her family.
She followed her mother to New York in 1939, at the age of 16. She has lived in Rockville Centre ever since. Already immersed in her faith, she began attending Shiloh Baptist Church, when it was on Banks Avenue and under the tutelage of the late Reverend Dr. Morgan M. Days. She was very active in the church community, serving on the Usher Board, as well as the Eastern Baptist Association. Her daughter, Lenora Quinones, the church administrator at the church, said she had never seen her mother as excited as she was just three days before her death, on July 27, at the celebration of the 99th anniversary of the church.
While volunteering at the USO at Mitchel Field Army/Airforce Base in Garden City, Poulson met her eventual husband, James W. Poulson, who pre-deceased her. They married in 1943 and had three children together.
Poulson worked nearly her entire life as domestic worker for two Rockville Centre families, the Van Wagners and the Hibackers. Always a hard worker, she retired at the age of 78. She later became involved with the Silver Foxes, the Martin Luther King senior citizen group.
Poulson, however, is probably best known for her strong family ties and being the "matriarch" and "backbone" of her family, said her daughter. "Life seems so different without her," Quinones said. "I had her with me most of the time."
Quinones spoke fondly of her childhood and her mother. "When we were growing up in Rockville Centre we didn't know we were poor because of the love and happiness [in our home,]" she said. "We didn't identify poverty. [My parents] didn't make very much money, but for us it was enough."
She added that her mother was always quick to give what she could to others. "My mother taught us that we're not in this world alone," she said. "She would take a stranger in off the street, feed them, clothe them and give them money."
This desire to help others trickled down her family tree, inspiring later generations. "Her children and grandchildren have a passion for missions, to help others," Quinones said.
Eric Poulson, of Rockville Centre, said he spent countless hours with his grandmother while growing up. "She nurtured us," he said, "kept us on a straight path. She was strict, but always fair, very caring and loving."
A funeral service was held on August 7 at Shiloh Baptist Church, followed by a burial at Greenfield Cemetery in Hempstead. Eric said that at least 600 people from throughout the village, county and even the state came out to say goodbye.
"She kept a very low profile and wasn't loud," Eric said. "To me it showed how important and significant she is to our community. I was shocked by how many people she had touched."
Poulson is survived by her three children, James Walter Poulson, David Michael Poulson and Lenora Quinones; two daughter-in-laws, Sharon Poulson and Lillie Poulson and one son-in-law, Carlos Quinones; her brother Frank Reed; three sister-in-laws, Florence Reed, Eleanor Reed and Wilma Reed; 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
