Robert Cecil Wilson Jr., 81

SEAFORD - Robert Cecil Wilson Jr., of Seaford died Wednesday, May 23, 2007, in Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, after a long illness. He was 81.

Mr. Wilson was born in Harrington on June 15, 1925, the son of the late Robert C. Wilson Sr. and Elizabeth Cahall Wilson.

Mr. Wilson was raised on the family farm near Prospect Church, Harrington and graduated from Harrington High School, class of 1943.

He left the farm and started work at the DuPont nylon plant in Seaford.

While at DuPont, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany.

After his discharge from the service, he returned to DuPont during which time he attended Delaware Technical & Community College in Georgetown and earned an associate"s degree in drafting, resulting in promotion to the engineering department at DuPont, where he was employed for 37 years until retiring on May 1, 1985.

Mr. Wilson was a member of the Christmas Tree Association and was a well-known supplier of the trees in the community for many years, selling his first tree in 1965. He was an avid gardener of fruit trees, vegetables and gladiolas.

He served on the DuPont Credit Union board of directors, where he had served as past president.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Ronald Alan Wilson; and a brother, Donald R. Wilson.

He is survived by two brothers, Richard A. Wilson and his wife, Shirley and Lewis E. Wilson and his wife, Joan, both of Harrington; a stepdaughter, Phyllis Messick and her husband, Joseph W. Sr. of Laurel; two grandchildren, Hope Larson and Joseph W. Messick Jr.; six great-grandchildren; several nieces, nephews and cousins and his good friends and neighbors Craig and Connie Truitt, of Seaford.

Memorial services will be offered at 8 p.m. Sunday in the McKnatt, Carpenter & Baker Funeral Home, 50 Commerce St., Harrington, where the family will receive friends after 7 p.m.

Burial will be private at the convenience of the family.

Instead of flowers the family suggests contributions to the Harrington Alumni Association Scholarship Fund, c/o Mr. Donald Derrickson, P.O. Box 37, Harrington, DE 19952.