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Walter R. Wilson
Walter R. Wilson, formerly of Southampton and Homosassa, Florida, died on November 8 in Pittsburgh. He was 91.
Mr. Wilson came to the United States from Australia in 1923 with his mother and his brothers, Peter, Paul and Calvert. He would reminisce fondly about growing up in Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s. After graduating from Southampton High School, Mr. Wilson enlisted in the U.S. Army, eventually going through Officers Candidate School and serving in search and rescue in the Arctic. Like so many veterans of the Greatest Generation, he seldom spoke of his wartime experiences, saying only that they had been difficult and hard for anyone to understand who hadn’t been there.
When he returned from the war, Mr. Wilson married his high school sweetheart, Carol Ann Ulrich, and went to work for Hildreth’s Department Store. With his great eye for color and design, he thrived in selling home furnishings. He later bought out the Dick Johnson GE appliance store and kept it until his retirement in 1983, always taking seriously his slogan, “It’s the service after the sale that counts,” as a way of differentiating between a small, privately owned business and its “big box” competitors.
Many in Southampton remember Mr. Wilson as an avid sportsman and as a man who always lent a hand when it was needed. A keen observer of nature, he hunted, fished and golfed with zest and was a collector of waterfowl carvings and hunting-related books. His collection will be handled by South Bay Auctions of East Moriches.
According to survivors, Mr. Wilson, a devoted husband, self-trained naturalist, consummate salesman, achieved his final goal of living as long as his mother had, celebrated with a banana split and, a week later, died.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Carol Ann (nee Ulrich) and his son, Bruce Wilson of Tennessee, and a daughter, Heather Wilson of Pennsylvania.
Interment will be at Sacred Hearts Cemetery in Southampton.
on Jan 28, 2013