Donald Raymond Wilcox

Donald Raymond Wilcox passed away at home on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002, at the age of 88.
Funeral services were held Monday, Aug. 19, at Sunrise Bible Church, with interment at Sunrise Cemetery. Arrangements were by Olson Funeral Chapel, Rush City.
Don was born July 12, 1914, at the farm in Sunrise Township where he lived his entire life. He was the ninth of 11 children of Bert and Ellen Wilcox. He attended Peaceful Valley School through the 8th Grade and then North Branch High School, graduating in 1932.
Don was a handyman and jack-of-all-trades. As a teenager he trapped furs and harvested maple syrup for cash. In the thirties he worked as a mechanic and auto-body repairman at garages in the area, and was a ringman and clerk at area sales barns. In 1941 Don opened a feed store in Sunrise with his Uncle John Wilcox, but it was later destroyed by fire.
In 1943 Don took over the home farm after the death of his father. He was united in marriage to Alice Farmer on Dec. 8, 1944. Don and Alice raised eight children on the farm. In addition to farming, Don spent many winters logging the woods of the St. Croix River Valley. The original family home burned in 1949 and Don built the present house that year on the same spot.
In 1948 Don purchased a farm implement dealership in Harris. He operated Wayside Equipment Company for 29 years, and also continued to farm. He traveled the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin buying farm equipment for resale.
He had customers from southern Minnesota to Canada. Don officially retired and turned Wayside over to his children in 1976. His youngest son took on the farm full time in 1978. Don and Alice continued to travel to auctions until the family sold the business in 1989.
Don spent his last 25 years working on the family farm. He and his son put up many new farm buildings, harvesting logs from the farm and sawing the lumber themselves. Don remained actively engaged in farming through last summer.
Donís health began to decline a year ago.
He was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers and five sisters. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Alice; three sons: Bert of North Branch, Ralph (nickname Pete) of Elizabethton, Tennessee, and Charles of Sunrise; five daughters: Charlotte of Sunrise, Anne and Brad Miklya of Grantsburg, Wisc., Janet and John Swanson of Sunrise, Alice and Vince Bennett of Sunrise, and Nancy and Tom Rys of Rock Creek; 16 grandchildren; one great-grandson; unborn twin great-grandchildren; and one sister, Doris and Charles Richardi of Manteca, California; many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

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