Hiram S. Wilburn, an eccentric character best known for keeping exotic deer and cows that sometimes escaped from his farm near Granite Falls, has died.
Wilburn was at a care facility in Auburn on May 9 – his 85th birthday – when he died, according to his sons Hiram Jr. and Eric Wilburn.
For his father to die on his birthday is “very typical of him,” said Hiram Jr., 53, of Des Moines. “That’s just something he would do. He goes out in style.”
The elder Wilburn lived on about 25 acres in Granite Falls for more than 30 years, his sons said. A native of South Carolina, Wilburn trained pilots during World War II and became an aeronautical engineer for Boeing. Wilburn enjoyed a long career there, working mostly at the Kent plant while raising his family in Des Moines. He and his wife, Margot, who died about 15 years ago, had four sons.
He knew how to fly but his pilot’s license was revoked at some point because of color blindness, said Eric Wilburn, 48. Still, he didn’t let that stop him, the brothers said.
Hiram Wilburn had strong political opinions and believed firmly in free speech and property rights, his sons said. For instance, a few years ago, Wilburn bought a small herd of Asian sika deer to raise and sell for venison.
State wildlife officials learned of the deer and told Wilburn to build a higher fence to keep them from escaping and breeding with native deer.
“He didn’t feel he needed to,” Eric Wilburn said.
One deer got out and charged a wildlife officer outside a day care. The animal was shot dead. Wilburn’s refusal to follow state regulations landed him in court, where he faced charges, including unlawfully releasing “deleterious exotic wildlife.”
The charges were dismissed after Wilburn agreed to allow state officials to kill the rest of the herd – an option he resisted for months.
Earlier this year, Wilburn made headlines when several of his shaggy Scottish Highland cows repeatedly escaped from his property and wandered loose through town.
The cows got out because a tree from Wilburn’s neighbor’s property fell on his fence and she didn’t tell him, according to his sons. Police wrote Wilburn more than $2,000 in tickets for the cows being loose.
The cows eventually were corralled and Wilburn’s sons helped him sell them off and fix the fence, they said.
“I will miss my dealings with him, he was just an interesting guy,” Granite Falls Police Chief Tony Domish said.
Wilburn stopped by the police station about three times a week and always had stories to tell, Domish said.
One was about several Russian lifeboats he acquired at an auction. Wilburn planned to start a water taxi service in Everett with the boats, his sons said. He always had a plan of some kind going, they said.
Wilburn had a purpose for everything he did, his sons said.
“If he bought weird equipment, it was because he was going to use (it) to do this to make this,” Hiram Jr. said.
For instance, Wilburn bought a portable sawmill that he used to build a barn and two-car garage on his farm, his son said.
His problem, his sons said, was that he tried to keep too many projects going at once.
He bought old cars to fix and resell but wound up with more than 100 of the cars on his property, his sons said.
He’d hire young people to work on the cars, then he would catch them drinking and doing drugs and he’d fire them. Sometimes they stole from him, his sons said.
Recently, he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, they said. He suffered two strokes earlier this spring.
Once he left his farm, “he went really quick,” Eric Wilburn said. “That was his place. He would have stayed there until his last breath if it was up to him.”
Wilburn is survived by his four sons, including Philip of Kent, Wash.; Craig of Tucson, Ariz.; and their families.
Private services for friends and family are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Wilburn’s farm.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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