John Harvey Wilson

NEW BERLIN, Pa. < Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey Wilson, 72, of 135 Front Street, New Berlin, died on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 at his home. Born in Auburn, the son of the late Ervin Otto and Laura Harvey Wilson, he attended Catholic elementary and high schools before graduating from Cornell University in 1960 with a Bachelor#"s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations. Later studies at Ohio University earned him a Master#"s Degree in Foreign Affairs. In addition to various courses in military leadership, tactics and management, John completed the Army#"s Command and General Staff College in 1974 and the War College in 1982. John enjoyed two careers: until retirement in February of 2006 he served as a Parole Hearing Officer with the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, which capped a 20-year employment in the criminal justice system; and he was also retired from the United States Army. During a career spanning 32 years he rose from the rank of Private at enlistment in 1952 to Lieutenant Colonel at retirement in 1984. John#"s military career included peacetime assignments in Germany, Morocco and throughout the United States. His tours of duty in Southeast Asia included command of a rifle company of the 173rd Brigade (Airborne) on combat operations in 1966-67. His last overseas assignment, in 1980-81, was with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Lebanon where he simultaneously commanded all American military observers in the Middle East as Senior United States Military Observer and an international group of 84 officers from 16 nations as Chief, Observer Group, Lebanon. Locally, he was assigned as Professor of Military Science, for ROTC at Bucknell University from 1977-1980. John#"s military awards include the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with "V#8 device for Valor and two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters and the United Nations Observer Medal. He was most proud of the Combat Infantryman#"s Badge and the Master Parachutist#"s Badge. Throughout his life he enjoyed a number of recreational activities. He hunted small game and deer in his native upstate New York and Pennsylvania; in college he took up sport parachuting, completing several hundred jumps; he followed the hounds in fox hunting from horseback in Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania; he completed several marathons and was an avid downhill skier. He is survived by his wife, the former Christine Bordner; daughters, Colonel Lorelei Coplen and her husband Rick, of Carlisle, Pa., and Lilith Boucher and her husband Richard, of Camden, S.C.; and a son, John Christopher Wilson and his wife Carla, of Hattiesburg, Miss.; and seven grandchildren, Remy, Jacqueline, Michaela, Jourdan, Jonah, Mary and Mell; a sister, Virginia Sobus and her husband Richard, of Florida. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to visit with the family from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, at Saint Pius X Catholic Church, 112 Fairview Drive, Selinsgrove, Pa., where a memorial Mass will be said by Father Ted Keating at 11. Burial with full military honors will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial contributions to: Sun Home Health & Hospice, 61 Duke Street, PO Box 232, Northumberland, PA 17857. "Go to sleep soldier brave, God is nigh.#" Arrangements are entrusted to Schwartz-Adamo Funeral and Cremation Services, 247 Chestnut St., Mifflinburg, Pa. 17844, (570) 966-2702. For more information, to send condolences, or to sign the guestbook, visit www.schwartzadamo.com To send a message to the family, sign our guest book at www.auburnpub.com and click on obituaries.