Worcester, VT Ivers Milon Wilder, Jr., 81, passed away after a brief illness on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at Central Vermont Medical Center. Ivers was born on August 1, 1926 in Northfield, Vermont, the son of Ivers Milon Wilder Sr. and Emma Fogg Wilder. He attended schools in Northfield. He began logging to help support his family and joined his faithful uncles for work in the woods of Orange, Vermont. Ivers joined the United States Army, 5th Calvary, on September 13, 1944. He completed his basic training with the 4th Platoon, Troop K, 1st Training Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. He departed for his overseas duty in March of 1945. He served as a rifleman in the Southern Philippines during the campaigns of Luzon and Leyte and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and two battle stars. His regiment left the Philippines on three transport ships to await the occupation of Japan. Ivers felt privileged to have been present in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945 during the signing of the Joint Declaration of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union with Japan. He received his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army on November 26, 1946. Ivers received the following decorations: the Army of Occupation Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Philippines Liberation Ribbon, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal. Ivers had been a life member of the Brown-Johnson Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 792, in Montpelier. Upon his discharge, Ivers returned to Vermont and began his long employment as a polisher in the Barre and Montpelier granite industry. He remained in the industry for 42 years and retired in 1989. Not one to sit around, even in retirement, Ivers worked for many summers as a groundskeeper for the Vermont Parks and Forests and the Pleasant View Cemetery in Morrisville, Vt. His greatest enjoyments in life, other than times with his family, were mowing and plowing his home property, traveling the back roads of Vermont, discovering new places in the United States, and watching the games of the New York Yankees and Giants with his son and grandsons. Family life began on July 5, 1952 when Ivers married Lorraine Jean Pillsbury at the home of Reverend Arthur Hewitt in Berlin. They resided in Montpelier for their first twenty-four years of marriage. In 1976, the family moved to Worcester, where Ivers and Lorraine continued to reside. Ivers is survived by his loving wife Lorraine; his daughter Denise Wilder and husband, Michael Fullerton of North Calais; his daughter Jean Wilder and husband, William DeVaughn of Middlesex; his son Les Wilder and wife, Angie Wilder of Worcester; and his daughter Ruth Wilder and partner, Peter Mayhew of Marshfield. Ivers is also survived by four grandchildren: Jennifer Wilder Perry and husband Christopher Perry of Montpelier; Thurman Wilder and partner, Harmony Cook of Williamstown; Amber Wilder Larrabee and husband, Jake Larrabee of Barre; and Michael Springer and partner, Emily Smith of East Montpelier. Ivers was a proud great grandfather of Christopher Perry, Jade Perry, Landon Ivers Larrabee and Olivia Amber Wilder. Ivers also has left his beloved sister Evelyn Grandy of Montpelier; his best friends and cousin Beverly and Fred Fisher of Montpelier; his loving Aunt Lila Wilder of Worcester; one niece Diane Naumec, four nephews Steve Barabash, Chris, Kevin and Michael Butler, and too numerous cousins and friends to mention, but they were never forgotten. Ivers has been predeceased by his son Milon Ivers Wilder; his father, his mother and his stepmother Elsie Wilder; his brother Donald Butler; all of his uncles and aunts; and his best friend George Richardson. Ivers wished to have no calling hours or funeral. Instead, family and friends are invited to celebrate his life at a ceremony which will be hosted at the Brown-Johnson Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Post 792 on Tuesday, March 25 at 11 A.M. A meal will follow the ceremony. The VFW is located at 1 Pioneer Street in Montpelier. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Brown-Johnson VFW fund titled Operation UpLink, which provides telephone cards for soldiers stationed in Iraq; to Palliative Care at Central Vermont Medical Center, P. O. Box 547, Barre, VT 05641-0547; or to any local community service fund of your choice.