Robert Henry Wilds
Final Rites for Doctor R. H. Wilds To Be Held Today
Doctor Robert Henry Wilds died at the Aiken County Hospital at 7:35 a.m. on November 1, 1949 after an illness of several months.
Funeral services will be held at St. Thaddeus Episcopal church in Aiken on Wednesday morning, November 2, at eleven thirty o'clock with the Reverend Michael J. Kippenbrock officiating. Members of the Aiken County hospital, and the Staff of the Aiken County hospital will form honorary escort.
Doctor Wilds was born in Longtown, South Carolina in 1883, the son of Louis T. and Annie Edmunds Wilds, both deceased.
Doctor Wilds was a graduate of the Class of 1904 of the University of South Carolina. From there he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, New York City, from which he graduated in 1910.
Doctor Wilds entered the Army Medical Corps in 1912 and served until 1920, since which time he has been engaged in general practice in Aiken. During the first World War he was Commanding Officer of Base Hospital 14 at Pongues Les Enux, France.
In 1913, Doctor Wilds married Annabelle Ashley, who died in 1922. Of this marriage the following children survive: Mrs. Norman Cullum and Louis T. Wilds. [some bit of text from below jumped the track in the printing]Anderson; Miss Cornelia Wilds, other son, [and now it makes some sense again] Lieutenant Robert Henry Wilds, Jr., was killed in action during 1944. Also the following grandchildren: Norman Ashley Cullum, Eleanor Cullum, and Louis T. Wilds, Jr.
In 1923 Doctor Wilds married Eleanor Phelps and of this marriage the following children survive: Sheffield Phelps Wilds, Preston Lea Wilds, and Claudia Phelps Wilds.
He is also survived by six sisters. Mrs. Anna McCreight, Columbia; Miss Mamie Wilds, Anderson; Miss Cornelia Wilds, of Asheville, N.C.; Mrs. John W. Davis, Minden, La; Mrs. James B. MacDonald, Savannah, Ga; Mrs. Theo Coxe, Washington, D.C.; and six brothers. Dr. Edwin Wilds, Anderson; Rev. Hugh Wilds, Luebo, Belgian Congo; Rev. Louis T. Wilds, Hendersonville, N.C.; John E. Wilds, James T. Wilds and Marion F. Wilds, all of Columbia.
Doctor Wilds was a member of the Aiken County Medical Society and The American Medical Association and was Chief of Staff of the Aiken County hospital.
Aside from the prominence he achieved in the medical profession, Doctor Wilds was nationally known as an outstanding authority on the construction and maintenance of golf courses. The Palmetto Golf Course at Aiken, to which he devoted a great deal of time, called forth the acclaim of the golfing world.
Aiken Standard and Review, Aiken, SC, Nov. 2, 1949, page 1
DR. ROBERT WILDS, LED ARMY HOSPITAL IN '18
Special to The New York Times.
AIKEN, S.C., Nov. 1 -- Dr. Robert Henry Wilds, a general medical practitioner here since 1920, who commanded Army Base Hospital 44 in France during the first World War, died today at the Aiken County Hospital after an illness of several months. He was 66 years old.
Born in Longtown, S.C., Dr. Wilds was an alumnus of the University of South Carolina. He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, from which he was graduated in 1910. He joined the Army Medical Corps in 1912, serving until 1920.
Dr. Wilds was nationally known as an authority on the construction and maintenance of golf courses. The Palmetto Golf Course here, to which he had devoted much time, is one of the most beautiful in the country.
He was chief of staff of the Aiken County Hospital.
In 1913 Dr. Wilds married Miss Annabel Ashley, who died in 1922. Of this marriage two children survive, Mrs. Norman Cullum and Louis T. Wilds. In 1923 he married Miss Eleanor Phelps. Surviving children of this marriage are two sons, Sheffield Phelps Wilds and Preston Lea Wilds, and a daughter, Claudia Phelps Wilds. He also leaves six sisters and six brothers.
New York Times, New York, NY, Nov. 2, 1949, page 27
