Cuttyhunk Images: Janet Adair Wilder (1916-2007), Photojournalist |
Born in Boston, Janet Wilder was a professional journalist and photographer. As editor of her Quincy fifth grade newspaper, she settled on her career at an early age. She wrote for a local newspaper while attending high school and wrote free lance feature stories for Boston newspapers while at Boston University School of Journalism. Upon graduation, she became a staff reporter and feature writer for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy. There, she met her husband, Donald C. Wilder. They were married in 1940 and began a lifetime of Cuttyhunk summers together. Janet’s career included free lance work for the Massachusetts Archaeological Society and area newspapers. She learned photography to illustrate her stories. From 1959 to 1984, she was with the Grossmans’ lumber and building materials company, editing The Carrier, which reached 3,500 employees nationwide, as well as a weekly newsletter for 500 headquarters employees in Braintree and Randolph. On Cuttyhunk, Janet covered the First International Swordfish Tournament over its 14-year existence, 1959-1973, for the New Bedford Standard Times. She caught the island’s life and its scenic beauty in her many photographs. In 2003, Janet published her book, Dear Deer and other Cuttyhunk Stories, anecdotes of her “more than 60 years of incidents, people and places that give Cuttyhunk Island its distinctly unique flavor.” She wrote them in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she resided the last six years of her life. Devoted to this island, Janet wrote in 2006, “Cuttyhunk is my tiny, sea encircled, salt encrusted haven from the real world and I look forward, in the not too distant future, to joining my family and old friends who have already settled there, permanently - or at least, in spirit.” |
Janet Adair Wilder (photo by Oriel Ponzecchi)
The exhibit entrance with Janet's walking stick overhead.
A days catch at the Cuttyhunk First International Swordfish Tournament, 1960.
