A Walk on the Wilde Side at Christmastime

LeRoy Wilde

LeRoy Wilde was borne in 1929 and raised as the son of a rancher in the area of Picabo, Idaho. They had lots of cattle, lots of horses, lots and lots of land, and an amazing amount of work to do. He was raised, literally, as a working cowboy. Since then he has worked in road construction, nuclear energy site construction and management, home construction and repair, and the Union Pacific Railroad. This not an exhaustive list, just enough to let you know that he's a pretty special fellow.

When he was a young man he was in charge of a bunch of fellows who moved 300 pound blocks of ice to and fro for the railroad. In those days, he could spend his day, his whole day, grabbing one block with tongs in one hand, another block with tongs with the other hand, and then walking the 600 pounds of ice across the dock or RR car or whatever distance it needed to be moved. Now I have done a good share of work in my time. I've moved 500 pound dollies (hand trucks) of spuds across a warehouse and onto a train. I've bucked bails of hay a few times. I've moved lumber, pulled weeds with tap roots that spoke Chinese, and even done the hardest kind of work I've ever encountered - teaching History with a vigor that left the sweat dripping from my face - but I've never been able to do the things that LeRoy Wilde, my father-in-law can do and has done.

LeRoy has met with his share of life's bumps. The deaths of his parents and of old friends were no doubt very hard for him. But in 2000 he lost a son, Terry, who was only in his early forties. Then, in March of 2007, his eternal companion, Celia Thueson Wilde, died and life became a real burden for LeRoy. He has told certain of us in the family how many times we prayed for him on a particular night when he had planned (and hoped) to slip through the veil to be with Celia again. He doesn't seem to hold our prayers against us. He understands. But he's a very sad and lonely fellow, and I understand a lot of what he feels.

Like our Haeberle/Humphries/Fernandez/Potter bunch, the Wildes love to get together on Holidays or in honor of them when they can't all be there on the day itself. Like our extended family, there is much of laughing and story telling and even some singing and teasing. And, like our family, there are faces which get more than their fair share of camera time. Autumn, the Humphries girls, and the Gridley-Haeberle girls all had to take their turns as the "focus" of the efforts of the family's photographers for several years each. Indeed, none of the above-mentioned ladies has yet escaped that burden, even though they are raising another generation of special faces to be recorded for posterity.

It will probably come as no surprise to you that The Wilde clan has more than its share of such wonderful faces, too. Some of them were in attendance at tonight's Wilde Family Christmas bash at the home of Doug and Teresa Bosen in Pocatello. Those of you so unfortunate as to have found yourselves with nothing to do in the past and who, therefore, have been exposed to this blog before, will probably recognize some of these faces. I'll do my best to label them as to name and function.

Melissa Bosen, about 24 yoa, home for Christmas from her first year of teaching grade school in Utah. She is single, strong in the Church, and heart-stoppingly lovely.

Janae (Wilde) Barela with her son, Philip, already declared by my daughter Autumn to be "the cutest baby ever."

Kelly Wilde, daughter of Larry and Wanda, possessor of luscious hair and this Marine who came home ostensibly for Christmas leave with his family but who seems to have a relationship with Kelly similar to that of a worm with a hook.

Noreen (Reynolds) Wilde with Grandson Adam Beebe.

Sidnie Sanders, daughter of Vicki Wilde, world class beauty and sweeter than the law allows.