Some Remembrances of Wilbur (the Original Cook and Bottle Washer)

Hunter

Hunter

Chasin' the Sunset
Wilbur was a good friend; I'll share some memories.

The first time Wilbur appeared on my radar screen was the result of me scanning this website in the early days of my presence here. I really enjoyed reading his insightful and well-thought posts, including post 15 at https://benchrest.com/forum/threads/average-br-shooters-age.85285/.

Unbeknownst to me (at the time), Wilbur had a big laser machine that he used to put text and pictures on various objects. One day a package arrived, unexpectedly, at my front door — from Wilbur. Inside were two nice stainless, cold/hot tumblers, one had my name "lasered" on it, the other had my wife's name.

I guess it was after the tumbler gifts, my wife sent Wilbur some banana bread she had made -- she did that more than once.

One day, another package arrived, unexpectedly, at my front door — from Wilbur. Inside were two coffee cups, one had a "lasered-on" picture of a loaf of bread and text that said: "[Name] Banana Bread Queen of the World."

Wilbur was special. I'll share more memories of him later; in the meantime, feel free to share your own memories of him.
 
Sometimes Wilber would come across something he thought would interest shooters and talk about it. On his recommendation I bought a real nice shooting bag and think about him every time I use it.

Wilber was a damn good man,
 
I don't recall the first time I met Wilbur face-to-face; however, I do recall what may have been one of those early times. That's a story worth telling.

When Wilbur first showed up on my radar screen he had quit shooting. (I can't locate a source to verify this, but as I recall, he was a member of the SE Region HOF.) I don't know why he quit, but he continued being interested in benchrest shooting.

I like to shoot the monthly club matches at River Bend Gun Club, which is about a three-hour drive from where Wilbur lived. At one of those matches he and his friend Keith Gantt (another former benchrest shooter) showed up with lunch for all the shooters. I enjoyed visiting with Wilbur and Keith. Shortly after lunch, the two of them left.

What a show of interest to benchrest shooting — drive six hours (round trip) to bring lunch for shooters at a club match! Wilbur was a great ambassador for benchrest shooting — and a good person.
 
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One of my memories of Wilber involves another of the guys shooting back then Paul Wolfe. They were at the wailing wall talking about their groups at Rockingham one morning and Wilber said the morning buggers got him on his first group. Later that day we were at the wailing wall again and Paul walked up to Wilber and told him it looked like the morning buggers had hung around all day for him. 😁
 
Around the time of my son's one-and-done hunt (see post # 6 at https://benchrest.com/forum/threads/shooting-related-autobiographical-snippets.105976/), his interest in guns increased and eventually morphed into an interest in benchrest shooting. He shot several matches and eventually invited a work-related friend (who had never shot benchrest, but was interested) to a one-day, two-agg match at River Bend, and offered to let the friend use one of his benchrest rifles.

I mentioned the above to Wilbur and he volunteered to make another six-hour drive (round trip) to mentor the friend, including loading for him at the range and offering whatever advice seemed appropriate. The friend drove down from IN, and I think he had a good time — thanks in part to Wilbur. As I said above, Wilbur was a great ambassador for benchrest shooting — and a good person.

BTW, Wilbur brought his rifle to the match, but didn't compete. Nevertheless, he agreed to my proposal that we each shoot a 200-yd. target with the other's gun; I shot his gun on the first such target and he shot mine on the second. He shot my gun better than I shot his, and better than I shot mine on two of the last three 200-yd. targets. I don't have records that show what load he shot in my gun, compared to the ones I shot — but, it's easy to conclude that he was a better shot than me.
 
Not sure people remember this but Wilbur used to make and sell really nice wind flags. When I was just starting out, I bought 6 from him. He told me they came with a 'no questions asked' policy.

"Once you buy 'em, I won't ask any questions".
 
I used to always read Wilbur’s posts; I enjoyed his insightful comments — one of which is worth quoting here. He said, “There are often spectators drooling around quietly at matches. If you ain't winning (which is the case for 80% of the attendees), why not ask these spectators if they would like to finish the agg for you” (post # 36 at https://benchrest.com/forum/threads/average-br-shooters-age.85285/page-2#post-697289).

Last month at the River Bend club match everyone was shooting a custom rifle, with a high-power scope. There was a guy (Matt) standing around watching us shoot. I struck-up a conversation with him about his shooting interests; he said he had never shot benchrest. I encouraged him to come shoot with us next month (i.e., this month); he said something to the effect of just having such-and-such factory rifles, and being somewhat awed by the rifles we were shooting. I told him he could shoot in factory class, that I planned to shoot a factory rifle next month, and that he should come shoot with us.

As I was loading for the final 100-yd. target I thought of Wilbur’s above-quoted comment. Since I was not in any danger of winning, I decided to act on his suggestion. I finished loading and went to tell Matt he could shoot my rifle on that upcoming target. Regrettably, he had left the premises; nevertheless, I felt good for having committed to Wilbur’s suggestion. Maybe I’ll do that again one day.
 
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