W.L. Wilder's Legacy Gontinues

摘要

A few issues ago, I offered SLT readers the opportunity of claiming this space to pay tribute to a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild or employee; to express their convictions about an issue; to write about their business; to touch on a hobby, etc. Young Kassidy Houpt stepped up, and in doing so, struck a familiar chord. Kassidy, 25, and brother, Kenney, 31, are partners in E.K. Houpt Trucking Co., Pontotoc, Miss. They are grandsons of William Lamar Wilder, now deceased, and Anne Wilder,the surviving matriarch of the Wilders in the Pontotoc community. A disabled logger and sawmiller who turned to the keyboard to express himself and relate anecdotes and truths learned from his rural upbringing and forest-related work, William Lamar Wilder was a writer and columnist for this magazine in the mid '80s. His column, RFD #7, was particularly popular, given Wilder's homespun, humorous, touching style. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1987 and died on April 20, 1988. Before he died he completedhis first and only book, Who'd A Thought It, a memoir of his simple but satisfying life.