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WILDER -- Janet Adair Wilder, a New England writer, editor and photographer for many years, passed away on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. A resident of Manzano del Sol Retirement Village in Albuquerque, NM, since 1999, she spent her summers at Cuttyhunk Island, MA, scene of her book, "Dear Deer and other Cuttyhunk Stories," published in 2003 by the Cuttyhunk Historical Society. She and her late husband, Donald C. Wilder, retired editor of the Patriot Ledger, a daily newspaper headquartered in Quincy, MA, had a second home at Cuttyhunk. The Wilders were married in 1940 when both were reporters for the Patriot Ledger. They lived in Braintree, MA, for 58 years. Born in Boston, MA, on August 20, 1916, the daughter of T. Donald Adair and Mabel Whitcher Adair, Mrs. Wilder attended Quincy schools. In elementary school when she became an editor of the fifth grade newspaper, she decided to make journalism her career. She wrote school news for a local newspaper while attending North Quincy High School from which she graduated in 1934. During four years at Boston University School of Journalism, she was a reporter, then an editor of the B.U. News and worked summers in what was then known as the Boston University Publicity Bureau. She also wrote free lance feature stories for the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Upon graduation with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism, she joined The Patriot Ledger as a staff reporter and feature writer. As the years went by, marriage, motherhood and a husband in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II drew Mrs. Wilder again into the free lance writing field. She learned photography in order to illustrate her own stories with photos. A long-time member of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Mrs. Wilder wrote in 1958 in Yankee magazine about Wapanucket, New England's oldest village. The prehistoric Native American site in Middleboro, MA, is carbon dated 4,320 years old. "The Peerless Peddlers," a story she wrote for the Portland, ME, Sunday Telegram about the business interests in Maine of the Grossman family of Quincy, resulted in a 25-year communications job, 1959 to 1984, with Grossman's lumber and building materials company. In the company's hey day, Mrs. Wilder was editor of Grossman's newspaper, The Carrier, which reached more than 3,500 employees in stores from New England to California. She also edited a weekly newsletter, Friday at Four, for some 500 headquarters employees in Braintree and Randolph, MA. For 14 years from 1959 to 1973, during summer vacations at Cuttyhunk Island, Mrs. Wilder covered the First International Swordfish Tournament on rod and reel in stories and photos for the New Bedford Standard Times. She is a former member of the United States Figure Skating Association and a former officer of the Silver Blades Skating Club when it was based at what used to be the Cohasset Winter garden. Mrs. Wilder had made her home for the past eight years in Albuquerque, NM, at Manzano del Sol Retirement Village. Joining the community's Writer's Group, she made new friends writing about the people, places and events of her 90 years. Her contributions to Manzano's monthly newsletter, The Apple Barrel, included articles introducing her fellow residents to the Massachusetts island of Cuttyhunk and interviews about the remarkable people who were her friends and neighbors in the Manzano community. Two of Mrs. Wilder's favorite entertainments were the Rio Grande Jazz Society, and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, both of which she was a member. With a loyal group of jazz fans from Manzano, she regularly attended the Jazz Society's monthly four hour jam sessions of live music from Dixieland to Big Band era tunes of the '30s and '40s. She will be remembered for the energy, spunk and creativity with which she lived and will be deeply missed. Mrs. Wilder is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Donald Adair Wilder and Barbara Janeway; and two grandsons, Peter and David Wilder of Newfields, NH; a daughter and son-in-law, Robin Wilder Younger and Robert B. Younger; and two granddaughters, Rebecca and Abigail Younger of Albuquerque, NM; a brother-in-law, Alan Wilder of Martha's Vineyard and Cuttyhunk, MA; and a sister-in-law, Grace W. Butler of Deerfield Beach, FL. A Memorial Service will be held at Manzano del Sol Retirement Village in Albuquerque, NM, on Sunday, June 3, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.; and at Cuttyhunk Island, MA, on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at noon. Memorial donations may be made to the Cuttyhunk Historical Society.
        Published on: Sun April 29, 2007