Lincoln Wildes was born Aug. 5, 1926, at the old family homestead off of Wildes Road. He passed peacefully at home surrounded by his loved ones June 10.

Lincoln started first grade at Intervale School on Quade Road and walked to school on the old road that connected from the homestead to the north to get to school. He transferred to Langley, where he played football for the Langley High School team. There were also plenty of chores to do at home, since the family had a dairy farm to run, where they sold milk to Darigold.

After graduating from Langley High School, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served for three years, being stationed on Guam and Truk islands, including service in China. He made many lifelong friends during his service, including one in particular, Gordon Williams, that he remained in touch with over the years, even visiting him in Arizona and hosting him here on Whidbey.

After being discharged from the Marines, Lincoln returned to South Whidbey, which he loved, and began his career working in the woods, logging. It was then that he married the love of his life, Janice Burley and began raising a family.

After a few years of logging, he went to work at Waterman’s Mill and worked there for 30 years, while raising his family. He worked several different positions at the mill, then trained and acquired the job of head filer, which was a very important job, keeping all of the various band saws and circular saws repaired and sharpened to keep the whole operation up and running smoothly.

After retiring from Waterman’s Mill , he obtained the chip truck business from George Fajerson, and drove the chips from the mill to the old chip dock just north of old Clinton. After he retired from driving the chip truck, he was able to enjoy life and go hunting or fishing when he wanted and work in the amazing garden that he and Mom grew every year.

Dad, grandpa and husband, Lincoln loved to hunt and fish. He really loved to share time with his sons, friends and relatives, bird hunting all over Eastern Washington. He also enjoyed elk hunting in the Blue Mountains with Ray Fossek and the gang, in addition to Mossyrock, where he had friends that would welcome him back with open arms every year.

He also loved to fish for salmon, whether it was just down off Scatchet Head, Bush Point or the occasional rare trip up to Vancouver Island in Canada. He just loved the outdoors. He was also an expert horseshoe player and was in many a heated match, whether it was at home or up at the fairgrounds in Langley. He just had that perfect spin where he would throw a ringer more often than not.

He also loved cutting firewood. I’m not sure how many hundreds of cords he cut over the years, but he enjoyed doing it not only for his own household, but also for other people.

Lincoln and his family attended church at Woodland Hall for many years. After the kids grew up and moved away, and Woodland closed, he and his wife attended Island Church of Whidbey in Langley, and most recently the Calvary Chapel on French Road in Maxwelton.

Lincoln was also a proud member of the Maxwelton Volunteer Fire Department for over 20 years and selflessly got out of bed many a time in the middle of the night to go help out when the call came in.

He also very much looked forward to heading up to Fossek’s every Tuesday evening and playing pool with his great group of friends.

He will be truly missed.

Lincoln is survived by his wife Janice; sons Gordon (Deanna) of Clinton and Don (Cheri) of Machias, Wash.; grandsons Cameron and Jesse; granddaughter Jaqi (Jeff) and great-granddaughter Kyleah of Pullman, Wash.; sister Elma of Bothell, Wash.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceeded in death by his first son Kenneth (Anna) Wildes; brothers Scott, Warren, Clellan, Parker and Robert; and his sisters Jean and Margaret.

Sincere gratitude to Dr. Sanders and the team of Whidbey Health Hospice Care for compassionate care of Lincoln and family. Memorial donations are suggested to this organization.

A memorial celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, June 23 at the Little Brown Church, on the corner of Maxwelton and French Roads.