WILDER SERVICES HELD WEDNESDAY

HARRY EDGAR WILDER, 15 Mar 1875-27 Jun 1954

	Harry E. Wilder, life-long resident of Steuben County 
for a period of nearly eighty years, died in the Cameron 
hospital, Angola, Sunday afternoon, June 27, after a prolonged 
illness of cancer of the stomach.  He is survived by the 
widow, formerly Alice Collins, to whom he was married on June 
18, 1902, and three children: Leon, of Dayton, Ohio; Mrs. 
Kathryn Wilt, of Fort Wayne; Richard, of Angola, and six 
grandchildren.  A sister, Miss Marion Wilder, of Orland, also 
survives.
	Memorial services were held in the Klink Funeral Home on 
Wednesday afternoon, June 30, conducted by Rev. Kenneth 
Hornbuckle, pastor of the Angola Congregational Church.  
Tribute to the deceased was given by Raymond E. Willis.  
Interment was made in the Greenlawn cemetery at Orland.  
Honorary pallbearers were: John Carson and Claude Morse, 
former business associates of the deceased; Albert Collins and 
George Heath of Orland; Maurice McClew and D. P. Scoville, of 
Angola.
	Mr. Wilder was born in Orland, Indiana, March 15, 1875.  
He graduated from the Orland schools and after attending a 
business college in Chicago was associated with his father in 
the hardware store in Orland.  There he was operator for the 
telegraph line into Orland.
	In 1894 he aided his father, Edson Wilder, and an 
associate, Lorenzo Taylor, in establishing the first telephone 
communication line in Steuben county, operating from Orland to 
Angola, which was known as the Taylor-Wilder Telephone 
Company.  This was incorporated a year later as the Steuben 
County Electric Telephone Company, Floyd Averill, Dr. J. E. 
Waugh, Doan Somerlott, Sol A. Wood and N. W. Gilbert becoming 
associated with the organization.  H. E. Wilder, in his 
removal to Angola in 1904, became the secretary and the later 
the general manager of the system, which is now a part of the 
General Telephone Company of Indiana, Inc. The remarkable 
expansion of the system from half a hundred telephones during 
the first thirty years until he retired was due almost solely 
to the business management of Mr. Wilder and capable employees 
who were associated with him.  When he retired from the 
company in 1926, it had accomplished complete coverage of the 
county with outlets into adjoining exchanges.
	In this period a central station and supply shop was 
erected on the corner of North Wayne and West Gilmore Street 
in Angola and the cut over from the exchange operated in the 
Gilmore block on the south side of the public square was 
effected in 1924.  This building is still occupied by the 
company as a service and stock station, while the business and 
operating branches of the company are no located on North 
Wayne Street near Mill Street.  After his retirement from the 
company, Mr. Wilder devoted his efforts to other business and 
investment interests.
	During his entire life Mr. Wilder was actively 
associated with the Congregational churches at Orland and 
Angola, holding positions of service in both connections.  In 
the Angola church he was a Sunday school teacher, 
superintendent, trustee and deacon, holding the honorary 
position of deacon emeritus at the time of his death.  He was 
a generous contributor to the needs of both of the churches 
and was always interested in their activities.
	Probably few men in Angola have enjoyed a wider 
acquaintance throughout the county than Mr. Wilder acquired 
because of his former business association.  He had a genial, 
kindly nature, and many needy and bereaved people were aided 
and encouraged by him.

Note:  The above information was found in book #22 in the black 
notebook collection, #1 through #22, compiled by Audree Siebel 
Lewis, located at the Steuben County Public Library, Angola, Ind.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 
	Harry Edgar Wilder, 15 Mar 1875-27 Jun 1954, son of 
Edson Adelman and Julia (Edgar) Wilder, married Alice 
(Collins) Wilder, 04 Feb 1876-07 Apr 1961, daughter of Charles 
Harvey Collins and Lucy (Carroll) Collins.
	Daughter:  Lorene Rose Wilder, 03 Nov 1907-27 Jan 1935.
	Son:  Leon Wendell Wilder, born 06 Oct 1909.
	Daughter:  Katherine Nellie (Wilder) Wilt, born 23 Jan 
1912, married Robert L. Wilt, 01 Jan 1910-16 Jun 1978.
	SON:  Richard Collins Wilder, born 31 Aug 1915, married 
Frances E. King.

"Cemeteries of Steuben County, Ind., 1990" by Audree Siebel 
Lewis, Vol. II, pages 1948, 1949, 1950, 1974.