Maurice Wilbert Wildin

Maurice "Bud" Wildin, beloved father of Molly Brovan Christopher and Milly Lierman; grandfather to Milly's son and daughter, Alan Robison and Alexis Robison; stepfather to Jana Miller, Heather Crespin, and Kim Taglialegami; and grandfather to their kids, passed away Monday, March 22, 2021, at the age of 85. He was a man of strong principles who epitomized hard work and dedication to his work, to his church, and to his family and friends. He was a loving husband to our mother, Mary Ann, and to our stepmother, June. He was a great friend to his brother, Doug; his colleague, Cornie Hulsbos; and many others. His siblings Doug, Joyce, and Rosemary are reunited with him now.

He was a Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Mexico, where he dedicated 36 1/2 years to growing aspiring young engineers and advancing technology with his fellow professors. He also worked at many other institutions and companies such as Boeing, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sandia National Labs, and Los Alamos Labs.

He loved music and was always singing, whistling, or listening to his favorite classical pieces, swing jazz music and Hymns. Later in life, he joined The New Mexi-Chords, a men's barbershop chorus group, and dedicated time to singing and volunteering for them, winning several volunteering awards while doing so.

There is a concept of "Love Languages" and our dad's was "Service". When he committed to something, he could always be counted on to see it through to the end. He loved and served his church in every way possible, longer than we have been living, and participating in committee work until his passing.

"Fiercely Independent" barely starts to describe his approach to life - he never wanted to ask for anything, he only wanted to give. He LOVED to read and would always tell both of us what books he had picked up from the library. He grew up on a farm and enjoyed gardening. He was always growing something, whether it was tomatoes, crabapples, grapes, and so on. He loved to can and make crabapple jam, peach jam, and many other fruits. He also was a GREAT baker and made the BEST cookies, many were his mother's recipes from the farm! He not only enjoyed making jams and cookies for our family but loved to give them as gifts to church members, colleagues, and neighbors. His "Chocolate Mountain" cookies were, without a doubt, some of the yummiest and most requested ones.

He absolutely LOVED to fish and spent many long, and usually un-fruitful, days fishing with his buddy Cornie as well as with us. He loved to travel and had a chance to explore many different countries. He loved and stayed in the home where we were born and raised until the end.

We are so grateful for our dad. He never wanted anyone to limit themselves and wanted them to live up to their full potential, which he felt was infinite. He spoke from a position of authority on that very subject, growing up as a farm boy in Kansas, making his way to Jr. College, graduating from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science Degree, and obtaining Master and Doctorate Degrees at Purdue University.

We loved our dad. He was an immense inspiration to both of us and an enabler of all we have been able to achieve in both of our lives, and in the lives of his students and many others. He was loved by so many people from his family, church, the University of New Mexico, the New Mexi-Chords Chorus and countless others. He will be greatly missed.

In lieu of flowers the family would greatly appreciate donations to some of dad's cherished non-profit organizations with links provided below.  A private zoom memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. MST Sunday, April 11, 2021.  If you would like to participate please contact Molly at duckdodgers0704@gmail.com or Milly at millylee2000@yahoo.com."
Dad's barber shop chorus http://www.newmexichords.com/
World Wildlife Foundation https://help.worldwildlife.org/hc/en-us
The Nature Conservancy: https://www.nature.org/en-us/membership-and-giving/donate-to-our-mission/

Mildred Minerva Wildin Scholarship Fund for HutchCC students:  https://www.hutchcc.edu/online-giving.  If you prefer to write a check, make it payable to HCC Endowment and mail to HCC Endowment, 1300 North Plum, Hutchinson, KS 67501.