WILMER MADISON LIBBY April
17, 1910-March 8, 1967
He had much respect, compassion, and great love for the elderly or infirm. If there were a task that needed to be done and for some reason he couldn't do it himself, he’d try to set it up so another could.
Daddy never shied away from hard work. He worked as a machinist making airplane parts during WW2. He dug and planted home gardens for produce. He swung a large scythe to empty the fields of hay at our home in the country in West Garland, Maine, hung a rope swing from a butternut tree for me, and dammed up the brook so our family and friends could have a swimming hole. He was a talented mechanic and kept our old cars on the road. To save money and wear and tear on the cars when we lived in Bangor during the 1950’s, regardless of the weather, Daddy walked about 14 blocks to the downtown area where he could take a bus the 15 or so miles to his work at the Old Town machine shop. Another of his talents was the ability to repair clocks and he did so with a chiming wonder that belonged to my maternal Grandmother Glidden. He even found and took time many evenings in West Garland to play Dominoes with us.
He thoroughly enjoyed good music. He appreciated his sister's accordion-playing, always with his foot tapping the beat. He played the harmonica well but not often. In Bangor, with a smile on his face, he listened to radio play-by-play of the local basketball team, particularly during the years we had friends involved as team- members. When the time arrived that we had a TV, watching and listening to the weekly Liberace Show became a "must". Again, the foot-tapping accompanied the lively piano music.
He also appreciated good humor. Whenever I see an ad for The Globetrotters, I always think of Daddy's laughter as he watched their antics on TV. I hear it again when I watch any bit of the Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote cartoons or see the Lucy and Charlie Brown comics during football season.
In his last years Daddy, chose to leave his work as a machinist and become a full-time minister because he wanted to share all he could of what he had learned in his own walk as a follower of Christ.
Daddy was a man of few words so when he spoke people knew he had something to say. He said much by simply living.
DADDY IN HOULTON, MAINE, DOING WHAT HE OFTEN DID THERE THE WEEK HE DIED THE TEMPS WERE 30 BELOW ZERO.
THE LAST PHOTO TAKEN OF
WILMER AND SUSIE ("MIMI") LIBBY IN LATE 1966.
