Wilbur Gene Carlton

Wilbur Gene Carlton passed away Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at Harmony Manor Nursing Home after surviving 44 years on borrowed time, thanks to the care and expertise of innumerable members of the medical community and the advancements of medical technology. The eldest of four children, he was born Aug. 1, 1931 in Norris, Illinois to Ellis Costello Carlton and Wilda Wendolyn (Vance) Carlton. He graduated from Canton High School, Canton, Illinois in 1949. He then received his Bachelor’s degree August 1954 from Illinois State Normal Teachers College, now Illinois State University of Normal, Illinois. He received his Master’s degree in Music Education in May of 1964 from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. In November of 1951 he married his first wife, Beverly Ann McKinney. They were blessed with three daughters: Vickie Lynn, Julie Marie, and Lynn Ann. His first music teaching position was with the Elementary and High School Districts in Cornell, Illinois. The family was greatly amused when a local newspaper reported that he had been hired by Cornell University. After four years with the Cornell School District, he took a position with Astoria School District in Astoria, Illinois where he remained for 18 years. In 1975, he accepted a teaching position with Lander County School District in Battle Mountain, Nevada. It was there in March 1977 that a doctor detected an impending heart block and sent him to Reno for an emergency pacemaker implant, the first of many over the next 44 years. Recognizing the need for a less time-demanding teaching position, he accepted an elementary school music position with Humboldt County School District in 1980 and it was there in Winnemucca, Nevada that he finished his teaching career at Sonoma Heights Elementary School in 1996. In January 1982, he married his second wife, Sibyl Karen Butcher. In retirement, he spent the next 16 years as a full time volunteer assisting her with her high school library position at Lowry High School until her retirement in 2011. Wilbur worked tirelessly at his job and expected his students to do likewise, yet he felt it equally important for them to enjoy music while learning. He recognized his students’ interest in computers and utilized that interest to further their music education. He derived great satisfaction from parental comments regarding how much their children had learned in music classes and how much they liked music classes.

Wilbur felt that the social aspects of music education were as important as the technical. With that concept in mind, he organized the first Tri-county Northern Nevada Massed Band Festival in Battle Mountain, Nevada, performing first during the school year of 1977. This was based on the Fulton County, Illinois annual massed band festivals held at Canton High School that he had attended four years as a student at CHS and later eighteen years as band director of Astoria High School of the same county. All band students from Pershing County, Humboldt County, and Lander County Schools participated under the direction of a guest conductor. Unfortunately, Wilbur missed his first festival due to heart surgery. Later, following his move in positions, ca. early 1980s, he was the guest director for the festival when it was held in Winnemucca. Wilbur also took much satisfaction from the number of students who followed him into a music teacher career or music industry career. They approximate 8 in number and include Illinois students Larry Little, Mike Little, Jody (Lindsey) Worthington, Kerry Welker, and Stan Johnson, as well as Nevada students Jose Flores, Forrest Madewell, and Kelly Dugger. Additional music participation included singing in the Winnemucca Civic Chorus, the Swinging Seniors, and Methodist Church choir. He developed an interest in photography after taking classes from optometrist Dallas Lighthouse in Winnemucca. Copying family photographs led to an interest in genealogy, which introduced him to family that he never knew he had. This led to an accumulation of more family photographs, and more family, and more family history. 

Wilbur is survived by his wife, Sibyl Karen (Butcher) Carlton; his former wife, Beverly Ann (McKinney) Carlton, and their daughters, Julie Marie Pickel and Lynn Ann Carlton; two grand-daughters, Jessica (Jose) Rivera and Kira (Russell) Owen; two great grand-daughters, Jazmyne and Lena Headley; and fourteen nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, one daughter, Vicki Lynn Carlton, an infant brother Gary Ralph Carlton, and twin siblings Ellis Dale Carlton and Alice Ione (Carlton) Forrest.

Services will not be held due to the corona virus pandemic. Burial will be in White Chapel Cemetery in Canton, Illinois. Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association or the United Methodist Church of Astoria, Illinois or Winnemucca, Nevada. Photograph by Third Eye Photography