Sonny pictured with Ed Love & Elizabethe Kuhlemeyer.

Elmor “Sonny” Wilder is our Resident Spotlight for Heritage Health Therapy and Senior Center. Sonny has been a resident at Heritage Health, previously Heritage Manor, since December of 2010. “It is very nice here, but there are other places I would like to be,” Sonny said. Sonny hopes to return home soon.

Sonny, who is 74 years old, was born in Dorchester, Illinois. Dorchester is almost identical to what it was when I was growing up, Sonny stated. Dorchester has not had much fluctuation in population for quite a few years. Sonny had a large family growing up, as he had two brothers and two sisters.

Growing up, Sonny worked almost all the time. Having a large family and living on the farm, there was always something for Sonny to do. The Wilder family always put in a large garden each year, so there was always garden work to be done. “If I wasn’t working in the garden, there were always animals to be fed,” Sonny said. During the winter when there was no garden, the Wilder children spent majority of the time hauling in wood for the wood burning stoves.

Living on a farm, Sonny experienced many “great” meals. Sonny’s favorite meal cooked by his mother was her fried chicken. “She was awful good at cooking it, I loved it,” Sonny mentioned. With the fried chicken, the Wilder family had “the standard.” The standard consisted of mashed potatoes, corn and gravy.

Sonny started school in a country school which was called a Grime school. When the Wilder family moved, Sonny attended Wilsonville School for only a year and half until all the schools were consolidated in Gillespie. Sonny then finished out his schooling in Gillespie. “I liked the sports,” Sonny said. Sonny said he could of done better when he spoke of the sport he played. Sonny played football while he was in high school. Sonny graduated in 1954 and he recalls about 60 kids graduated in his class.

After high school, Sonny joined the Marines. In the Marines, Sonny was awarded expert rifle and expert pistol awards as well as good conduct and national defense. Sonny taught small arms in the Marines. I usually spent my day at the firing range, Sonny said. Sonny recalled the event when he had to fail someone who was up for an officer position. After I failed him, he had to write a letter to combat of the Marine Corp. explaining why. “Boy he was madder than hell, I had to call the range officer to control him,” Sonny said, “The 300 yard line killed him, he completely missed his targets.. dumbass.” and Sonny was in the Marines for 4 years and then he got out because he wanted to get married. “They didn’t like you to have a wife if you were serving,” Sonny told us, “If they wanted you to have a wife, they would issue you one.” In the Marines, Sonny did a lot of guard work.

Then after the Marines, Sonny got married to Shirley and spent a little time in Milwaukee. With his wife Shirley, Sonny had 3 children: Lori, Lynn, and Karen. All three daughters live in the BenGil area and visit Sonny regularly, he said. “I didn’t like living in a big town, too much noise and too many traffic jams,” Sonny said. Then when Sonny returned to the BenGil area, he worked at many places. He didn’t stay very long because “I needed better hours.” At many jobs, Sonny had to work many night shifts and even weekends. Sonny worked the longest at Prairie Farms and yet, he still had to work every Sunday after working there for 7 years.

After quitting Prairie Farms, Sonny started a hog farm: Wild John’s Hog Farm. “The hog farm kept me pretty busy, there was always work to be done,” Sonny said. The hog farm was located outside of Dorchester and had room for 1,200 head in buildings. Sonny’s wildest hog experience was chasing an “ole sal” that escaped. The hog escaped and built a nest and gave birth to 5 baby pigs, Sonny said. “It was easy for me to get her back, because I just took her pigs back to the barn and she followed me,” Sonny explained. After about 10 years, Sonny sold the farm. At the time, Sonny was going through a divorce. It was best for me to sell it, Sonny told us.

Advertisement

Shortly after selling the hog farm, Sonny started his second business: Wilder Excavating. Sonny did a lot of water line work when he operated the excavating company. Wilder Excavating no longer exists, Sonny said, I had to close it once I had a stroke and ended up at Heritage Health. Sonny’s family has sold off all his equipment since then.

I liked being my boss, but both jobs were “a hell of a lot of work.” Being his own boss, Sonny enjoyed the fact that he could take a day off whenever he would like. The excavating company was harder than owning the hog farm, Sonny recalled. Sonny is also the president of the resident council.

At Heritage Health, Sonny enjoys playing bingo and watching television. Sonny also enjoys therapy at Heritage Health. Therapy has been fun, Sonny said. “I can now walk from my room all the way down to the front desk and back every day,” Sonny mentioned.

Comments

comments