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WYLDER -- Delbert E. "Deb" Wylder, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, died Tuesday, December 14, 2004. He was 81. Born October 5, 1923 at Jerseyville, Illinois, he was the son of Robert M. Wylder and Blanch Coulthard Wylder. He grew up in Morrison, Illinois, and graduated from Morrison High School in 1941. He served in the U.S. Air Corps from 1942 - 1945, flying 63 missions as a pilot in the 347 Fighter Squadron, stationed in Pisa, Italy. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant in 1943. When the war ended, he attended the Universidad Nacional de Mexico and the University of Iowa, receiving a B.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. from the latter university in 1948, 1950, and 1968, respectively. During his 39-year career as a professor of literature, he taught at several universities, including the University of Iowa, the University of New Mexico, Colorado State University, Southwest State University (Minnesota), and Murray State University, serving as chairman of the English Departments at the latter two universities. As chairman, he was instrumental in developing outstanding creative writing programs at both of these schools. A graduate of the University of Iowa's prestigious Writers Workshop and a skilled fiction writer, he had an eye for literary talent and hired many exceptional writer/teachers at the beginning of their careers, including the future Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Stephen Dunn and Jorie Graham. While he continued to write and publish fiction throughout his life, he devoted most of his career to literary scholarship and editing. He published two books, Hemingway's Heroes (1968) and Emerson Hough (1981), and more than fifty articles and reviews, and he presented more than forty papers at professional conferences in America and abroad. He was co-editor of the textbook Toward Better Writing (1958), executive editor of the scholarly journal Crazyhorse, and book review editor of the Hemingway Review. He was also a co-founder of the Western Literature Association and served as its president in 1966-67. Above all, however, he was a teacher, one whose passionate intelligence, sense of humor, and generosity of spirit led him to be much admired and loved by his students, many of whom became lifelong friends. Wylder is survived by his wife, Edith Perry Wylder, whom he married in 1965 and who, as a literature professor and scholar, was his partner not only in life but also in literature. He is also survived by his son Stephen Wylder, of Elkhart, Indiana, his wife Kathleen, and their children, Anne, Sarah, and James; his son William Wylder, of Coralville, Iowa, his wife Nancy and their daughter Abigail; and his stepson Paul Stamm, of Bernalillo, New Mexico, and his son Dario. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jean Williams, from whom he was divorced in 1965, and by his stepson Philip Stamm. Wylder's life will be honored at as-yet undetermined dates this spring with a military tribute at Morrison, Illinois, where his ashes will be interred, and with a celebration by his loving family, friends and colleagues from across the country at Murray State University. Memorials may be made to the Deb and Edith Wylder Creative Writing Award, in care of the Murray State University Foundation, Murray, Kentucky 42071.
        Published on: Sat January 01, 2005