Arthur Eastman Wilder

NORRIDGEWOCK – Art Wilder was born Jan. 14, 1939, in Skowhegan, Maine, the son of John Bickford Wilder and Marjorie Eastman Wilder. He grew up on the family farm in Norridgewock and graduated from Skowhegan high school in 1957.

After high school he attended the University of Maine in Orono until his junior year, when he left to enlist in the US Army and served his country honorably during the Vietnam war. He then returned to college and earned his degree in Chemical Engineering in 1963. Following graduation, he went to work for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center where he worked in the space program on sounding rockets and satellites; work which took him to Germany and India. While there he also traveled to Afghanistan and other destinations in the Middle East.

A true adventure seeker, he joined a rock climbing club in Washington DC where he met his wife, Sara Ives Jordan. Together they went rock climbing and mountaineering on the highest mountains of Ecuador and rappelled the dramatic cliffs of the Shawangunks in New York.

In British Columbia, Art was known for making the first ascent of Mount Nicholl. In 1977, Art retired from NASA and moved his young family back to the farm on Wilder Hill. Here, with the help of his wife, he built a home from trees he cut from the farm and hewed by hand. He raised registered dairy goats, produced maple syrup, and practiced silviculture. He made canoes by hand, carving his paddles extra long so he could paddle standing up. His green thumb was extraordinary: Pecan, paw paw, and persimmon trees grow today alongside the peonies he started from seed. He discovered rare orchids growing in the woods and helped the state document the Dragonfly Hatch.

Art will be remembered for his amazing woodsmanship, his ability to grow orchids in Maine, his beautiful vegetable gardens, and so much more.

Art was predeceased by his parents, John and Marjorie. He is survived by his wife, Sara “Sallie” Wilder of Norridgewock, his brother John Eastman Wilder of Norridgewock; and his three daughters, Elizabeth Wilder and partner Erik Beckman of Norridgewock, Katherine Wilder and wife Margaret O’Connell of Norridgewock, Anne Wilder and husband Jonathan Doughty of New Gloucester; and granddaughters Sophia Wilder and Endelyn Wilder of New Gloucester.

A celebration of life will be held at the Norridgewock Grange on Oct. 25 from 1 – 3 p.m.

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