Individual Details

Death

Mrs. Milton Russell Wilder, a life long resident of Cullman County, passed away on April 30, 2011, at the Cullman Regional Medical Center. Mrs. Wilder was born Essie Lee Tubbs on September 15, 1914 in the Mt. Joy Community in the southern part of Cullman County, to To Tubbs and Dora Key Tubbs. Mrs. Wilder attended Good Hope School, then Cullman High School and was graduated from Samford University with a bachelor's degree in education. She earned a master's degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. A retired teacher, she taught at the now defunct Kelley and Providence elementary schools on the Eva road. She then taught at the Eva Elementary School for a number of years until her husband's illness took her to Birmingham, where she was dorm counselor at Samford University. Subsequent to her husband's death, she taught at the West Point Elementary School and at the Cullman Middle School before her retirement in 1978. At her death, Mrs. Wilder was a member of the First Baptist Church of Cullman where she had taught Sunday school classes. Always active in the Baptist Church, she had previously taught ladies Sunday School classes at Flint Creek Baptist Church and Friendship Baptist Church. During her adult life, she always participated in the Women's Missionary Union and Baptist Training Union, and organized and taught summer Vacation Bible Schools for children. Her greatest joys in life was working with children and working in the church. She began "teaching" Sunday School at age 9 when she read stories to the five-year-olds at Mt. Joy Baptist Church. After her retirement, Mrs. Wilder was active in a number of organizations in the Cullman area, among which were the Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons, each of which she served as president. She was also in the Home Demonstration Club, and the Singing Seniors at the First Baptist Church. She was married to the late Milton Russell Wilder, Sr. for 27 years until his death in 1967. They had two children, Milton Russell Wilder, Jr., who is professor of Health and Physical Education at Delta State University in Mississippi, and Virginia Lee Wilder Stevens, who retired as district librarian for the Department of Education in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She has two grandchildren, Kelly Wilder, a graduate of Auburn University, and James Byron Wilder, a graduate of the University of North Alabama, and his wife Sarah. Her son-in-law, Stiles F. Stevens, is a retired civil engineer. She was predeceased by two sisters, Christine Tubbs James and Wynelle Tubbs Miller, one brother, Hoyt Tubbs, and niece, Nellie Fay Miller Byrd. She is survived by one brother and sister-in-law, Avon and Louise Tubbs, nieces and nephews, Barbara Tubbs Harris, Betty Tubbs, Erewer, Juanita James Stanley, Richard James and Larry James. Services will be held at Moss Service Funeral Home on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 11 a.m. with Dr. Edwin Hayes officiating. She will be interred beside her husband at Cullman Memory Garden. Family will receive friends and family at 10 a.m. until service.
The Cullman Times, May 02, 2011