Carl Wildhaber

July 4th , 1938 – August 12, 2026

Carl Herman Wildhaber was born, July 4th, 1938, to Herman and Mary Wildhaber of what was known as Holcomb, on the Willapa River. He attended grade school at Sylvandale near Willapa and graduated from Willapa Valley High School where he was in FFA and participated in football and track. He proposed to his high school sweetheart, Sharon Laughary and they were married three months following her graduation from high school. Thirteen months later he drove Sharon to the hospital for the birth of their first child and while she was there, he moved their belongings to the farmhouse they had just purchased along the Willapa where they raised their three children and farmed the tideland.

From an early age, Carl was drawn to farming and construction equipment. His father tied wooden blocks to the pedals of the tractor so he could reach them and drive the tractor. Later, he delivered gravel before he was old enough to have a driver’s license. Following graduation and a short stint at Grays Harbor Community College, he went to work for Weyerhaeuser and drove a log truck. Because the junior drivers were assigned the older trucks without bunk stakes, his only loads for the first year were the big logs with only one log per load. It wasn’t long before he moved to the road construction department, where Carl really hit his stride. There was no machine he could not operate, and as new types of machinery were purchased, Carl was assigned to figure out how to run them. Carl finished his Weyerhaeuser career after 40+ years with the company.

During those Weyerhaeuser years, Carl simultaneously farmed their 20 acres including milking two cows before and after work. The weekends were overfilled with hauling manure, fixing fence and working the hayfields. He handed the farming responsibility to his son who was then in the 6th grade. Months later, following the disabling stroke of his father, Carl took over the family gravel business in 1972 and continued it as a gravel and excavation enterprise through his 86th birthday.

Carl had few hobbies but did like to make berry wine and share it with his friends who would come to visit. He and Sharon would slide the boat off the field into the Willapa and troll for salmon and even caught some. Carl and Sharon were married for 64 years.

Carl was a member of the St Lawrence Catholic Church and the Lewis Pacific Swiss Society. He is predeceased by his parents and his wife Sharon. He is survived by his brother John Wildhaber and his children Greg Wildhaber, Julie Schwiesow, and Joan Loberg, with six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Carl’s funeral will be at the St Lawrence Catholic Church on August 27th at 11:00AM and burial at Fern Hill Cemetery in Menlo following a reception at the church.