Norwich, VT. – Steven L. Wilson, 68, died of multiple myeloma late Monday evening, September 16, 2019, at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care in Lebanon, N.H. He was born August 10, 1951, in White Plains, N.Y., the son of William E. and Amy (Suter) Wilson.

Following their father's career, Steve and his family lived in many places in the United States and in Europe.  He attended schools in New York, Florida, London and Athens. He graduated from Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg, Maine in 1970.

He married Linda Holderman in 1978 and they moved to the Upper Valley in 1981. They had two daughters, Mary S. Wilson and Amy J. Wilson. They later divorced but remained good friends.  Steve worked most of his life as a carpenter, and he and Linda built their house in Hartford with many materials collected from salvage jobs at old barns and buildings around the Upper Valley.  He also worked for a time as an aide in the Pomfret Schools and then as Special Educator Aide in the Lebanon School District.

Throughout his life, Steve was an avid reader who almost always had a book at his side. He was a devoted Celtics and Red Sox fan, preferring to listen to their games on the radio often late into the night. Steve also enjoyed playing tennis with friends. Perhaps most of all, he loved traveling both abroad and around the United States. He also loved traveling by foot.  By the time of his death, Steve was a seasoned hiker, having completed the Long Trail and about a third of the Appalachian Trail. He signed into logbooks at huts and shelters along the way with the trail name he gave himself: "Wrong Way Wilson."

His love for the great outdoors and the sense of contentment that he found in the beauty and solitude there is quietly conveyed in his trail journals. In an entry made in August 2010, on the last day of a six-week hike, he writes of getting up early to explore and wash up in the pools along the trail before meeting up with friends for a last day of hiking and a ride home. "I go back to the hut and hang out my clothes on a railing in the sun and then pull a book from my pack and start to read. A relaxed moment on the trail – for once a moment when there's nothing to be lost by killing time."

Steve was preceded in death by his father William E. Wilson, Jr., his sister Amy Owen Heine, and his grandson Anpetu Ohitika Mentz. He is survived by his mother, Amy S. Wilson of Valley Terrace Assisted Living, Wwhite River Jct.; his former wife, Linda Wilson of Hartford; his daughters, Amy Wilson of Philadelphia, Mary Wilson and her husband Tim Mentz of Bismarck, N.D., granddaughter Tiwakanna Mentz; a sister, Suzanne Wilson, and her husband Louis Groccia of Northampton, MA; a nephew, Owen R. Heine of Woodstock, VA; as well as cousins and friends too numerous to name.

A private service for Steve was held September 19. An outdoor memorial gathering will be held at a later date to be announced in the spring.

Messages of condolence may be made to his family at an online guest book at https://www.knightfuneralhomes.com/ . The Knight Funeral Home in White River Junction was entrusted with his cremation. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Green Mountain Club can be made in Steve's name at https://www.greenmountainclub.org/