She was raised by her grandparents in a one-room house in the Venice Hills and after completing eighth grade, she also became a farm hand and a fruit packer.

She lived in Woodlake, California and died in a hospital in Visalia after her aorta ruptured when she was leaving a grandson's birthday party.

[1][3] She included sound recordings of each word in the dictionary, and after the appearance in 2014 of a documentary on her work in the New York Times op-ed section,[1][2][6][7] her family and other members of their tribe became interested in reviving the language.

[3] She and her daughter taught it; at her death Wilcox was teaching classes at the Owens Valley Career Development Center, which are to continue.

[1][2][7] In the early 2010s, when a relative died, Wilcox became the last remaining fluent speaker;[3] at her death, there were at least three, including one of her daughters.