Obituary of Agnes Wilder

Agnes May Wilder, 91, of Glenville, NY, passed away peacefully in her sleep, April 12th, at Kingsway Manor Nursing Community with her youngest son by her side. The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Louis L. Lucas and Sophie D. Olie, she was born March 20, 1922 in Saltlick Township, Ohio. She grew up with a brother and sister in Akron, Ohio where she graduated from East High School in June 1940. Shortly after graduating she took a position with the F.W. Woolworth Co., followed by becoming a window dresser with the M. O'Neil Co. in Akron. She then completed courses at the Goodyear Technical Center for Drafting and Engineering. Just before her 21st birthday she signed into the Navy. She received some of her basic training at Iowa State College in Cedar Falls. She was first stationed at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma, then the Kingsville Naval Air Station in Texas, located on the King's Ranch property where she attended one of their famous huge barbecues. As a Wave, she sang for a special Christmas Mass at the newly built base chapel where she was introduced to Joe, a Naval cadet at the time. Later they married in Vero Beach, Florida. While in the Navy she worked on planes as a mechanic and metallurgist. After the Navy, the couple moved several times with Joe's General Electric career. They settled for a time on a large colonial farm in Ashby, Massachusetts where they raised their eight children. She spent her time involved with her boys as a Boy Scout den mother taking great pride in her Hungry Boy Casserole at the Blue & Gold dinners. She could always be found out in her huge vegetable garden, canning up the harvest, or helping with the spring lambing. Her home was always open to others traveling through. Her continued love of singing led her to join the Leonard Gaskins choir of Fitchburg, MA, the choir at the Immaculate Conception Church in Glenville, and later the Octavo Singers of Schenectady. One of her greatest joys was attending musical performances by her grandchildren. While in Ashby, Agnes developed a love of hockey Go Bruins! which she followed with a passion until the end, earning her the nickname of Gramma Hockey in the sport collector circles. She even had a chance to meet Phil Esposito at a hockey convention in Montreal and received a birthday card from Bobby Orr, with whom she shared her birth date. She was excited when they won the Stanley Cup, and her son, John, presented her with a championship cap and team jersey. The couple moved to Glenville in 1972 with four of the children, where she gardened and tended to her large variety of orchids, a joy inherited by her eldest son. The family also spent many wonderful outdoor camping adventures at Middle Saranac Lake by boat, where she enjoyed her bass fishing competitions with her grown children. She also was able to spend her 50th wedding anniversary overnight in the lean-to at Weller Pond while it snowed. In her 60s, she also discovered a love of gem and mineral collecting which combined with her inner gypsy passion for traveling, found her rockhounding across the United States, even into the wilds of Alaska with her husband to abandoned mines and rock quarries. To expand her knowledge she completed courses at SUNY Albany and became a loyal member of the Fulton Montgomery Mineral Club. Agnes was predeceased by her husband in 2004; daughter, Micaela J.Caron (2000); son, Roger L. Wilder (2011); and granddaughter, Sumi TJ WIlder (1992), sister, Elizabeth Metcalf; and brother, Louis Lucas. Mom is survived by son, Charles J. Wilder II, currently of Kuwait; daughter-in-law, Chuni Wilder of Leominster, MA; son-in-law, James Caron and wife, Jeanne of North Carolina; daughter, Roberta L. Wilder of Clifton Park, NY; son, John A. Wilder of Fitchburg, MA; daughter-in-law, Jane Wilder of Townsend, MA; daughter-in-law, Suki Wilder of Leominster, MA; son Christofer Wilder of Satellite Beach, FL; daugher-in-law, Laurinda Wilder of Florida; daughter, Melanie E. Peck and Jim of Glenville, NY; and son, Kevin A. Wilder and Amy of (Charlton) Ballston Spa, NY. She was also a very proud grandma of 15 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. We wish to thank everyone at Kingsway's Nursing Community B-Wing, Hospice and Robbie for being there when other family members was unable to be. She will always be our First day of Spring and "Squish". A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, April 17 at 9 a.m. from the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Saratoga Rd., Glenville. Calling hours, to which relatives and friends are also invited, will be at the Glenville Funeral Home, 9 Glenridge Rd. from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Interment with military honors will follow at the Gerald B.H. Solomon National Cemetery. Memorial contributions (in lieu of flowers) to APF, 53 Maple Ave., Scotia, NY 12302.