Wildrick Hart was born on 24 December 1919 in Johnsonburg, Warren, New Jersey.
1,2 He and
Geraldine A. Petty were married on 11 December 1943 in Hackettstown, Warren, New Jersey.
3,2 He died on 1 March 2018, at age 98, in Bradford, McKean, Pennsylvania.
2 He was buried in Union Cemetery, Hackettstown, Warren, New Jersey.
2 Wildrick Hart was educated New York University.
3 He was awarded a Bachelor's- Mechanical Engineering.
3 US Army- WWII-. He was a Kendall Refining Company-Witco- Research Department Employee. Wildrick Hart, 98, of Bradford, passed away on Thursday (March 1, 2018) at the Bradford Ecumenical Home.
He was born on Dec. 24, 1919, in Johnsonburg, N.J. He is the son of the late George W. and Ethel I. Wildrick Hart.
He was a 1936 graduate of Hackettstown High School, Hackettstown, N.J. He graduated cum laude from New York University in September 1948, with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
On Dec. 11, 1943, in the Grace Lutheran Church in Hackettstown, he married Geraldine A. Petty. She preceded him in death on May 17, 2012.
He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Bradford Water Board, the Pennhills Club, Pine Acres Golf Club, the Bradford Club and the Bradford Township Lions Club.
He also enjoyed hunting, fishing, woodworking, working on puzzles and was an avid golfer.
In 1942, he entered military service as an aviation cadet in the United States Army. He was awarded second lieutenant commision and pilot's wings in December 1943. He participated in World War II as a B-24 bomber pilot, flying out of England. He flew 35 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters. He went into the Reserve Corps in 1945. In 1949, he resigned from the USAF Reserve with a captain's commission.
Prior to entering the military, he was employed at the New Jersey State Fish Hatchery, worked for a housing construction contractor, was a machine operator at Picatinny Arsenal and was a machine assembler at American Saw Mill Machinery Company. After moving to Bradford in 1948, he took employment with the former Kendall Refining Company/Witco Chemical Co.
He worked for 37 years with Kendall/Witco in the research department.
He served the last five years as division vice president of manufacturing, retiring in 1985.
He is survived by one daughter, Cynthia Sturtevant of Bradford; two sons, Jay (Jackie) Hart of Virginia Beach, Va., and Craig (Neidra) Hart of Bradford; three grandsons, Justin, Lorne and Chad Hart; one granddaughter, Jovanna Hart and two nieces and two nephews.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was also preceded in death by one sister, Eleanor Hayford.
Visitation will be held at the First Presbyterian Church on Friday from noon until 1 p.m., with a memorial service to immediately follow with the Rev. Robert Klouw officiating.
Burial will be held in Hackettstown Union Cemetery in Hackettstown, N.J.
Memorial contributions in his memory can be made to the Bradford Ecumenical Home, 100 Francis Drive, Bradford, Pa. 16701 or the 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association, ? Annette Tison, 9107 Wood Pointe Way, Fairfax Station, Virginia, 22039.
Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the care of the Mascho Funeral Home Inc.
Online condolences can be expressed at www.maschofuneral.com.
Published in The Bradford Era on Mar. 7, 2018.