RWilde

Goodbye, Robert

Click to See
R.Wilde
Historian

Robert was proud to wear the Forestry uniform.

Our fallen comrade

....a good friend, faithful volunteer, historian and photographer who contributed essential information to our group allowing us to recreate structures as originally built that couldn't have occured otherwise.

Robert L. Wilde was born June 8, 1942 in Highland Park, Michigan. When he was 4 years of age, the family relocated to Pasadena, California.

Robert was mentored as a young man by a volunteer in the Big Brother program, Joe Katzenbarger, who further instilled in him a love of the mountains and of forestry and hiking in the San Gabriel Mountain Range. Joe's influence became a large part of Robert's early development. His interests were heightened in the Mt. Lowe Railway. In his days as a student at Eliot Junior High School, his collection of Mout Lowe Railway and Echo Mountain memorabilia and photographs and any artifact he could get his hands on caught the interest of the press. It also sparked the interest of a fellow student, Charles Seims, who later in life, wrote a book, "Mount Lowe. The Railway In The Clouds". Charles' book featured some of the photographs from Robert's collection and the two men remained life-long friends.

Robert was a volunteer with the Angeles National Forest through our organization, the Scenic Mt. Lowe Railway Historical Committee. For many years he worked with the group constructing and re-creating signs, structures, repairing remnants, and whatever else the group would do on its many outings to the area.