The Raymie Macomber family with memories of Wilton Fish and Game

WILTON – The family of Raymie Macomber recently attended the Wilton Fish & Game Open House with stories of his history and true love for the Wilton Fish & Game. This is a piece of history of the rebuilding of the Fish and Game club house in the late fifties told by Donna Macomber with the help of Gerald Toothaker Jr. of East Wilton. The story includes a fundraiser held in 1956 in the Wilton Academy gymnasium.

In 1954 Gerald Toothaker returned from the Korean War and found that the Fish and Game Club had been reinstated after WW2 in the old Club house on Rt 2, at that time Squirt Rolfe was the president. With the Club program up
and running, by 1955 the young men of the club had developed a plan to rebuild the club house but needed funds.

With the support of the Wilton Lions Club, the Fish and Game Club organized a Donkey Basketball game between the Wilton Merchants and the Club members who were ready to put their backs into the construction of the new building
as soon as the funds were available. According to Toothaker, “a lot of money came in that night. The gym was packed.” As he continued to tell the story he laughed recalling the memory of the Wilton Merchants really getting into the spirit of the game by showing up with cowboy hats and outfits adding to the fun of the evening.

Raymie Macomber, Gerald Toothaker and Herb Austin were three of the several young men who played on the back of donkeys that night in 1956 representing the Fish and Game Club. These three men were all about the same age, in
their late twenties, and remained good friends through all the years since. With the funds raised, men of the communities of Wilton and East Wilton organized themselves into weekend work crews. Men of all ages and
occupations got involved and had a part. Don Shea owned a garage up on the Weld road. He kept the carpenters equipped with sharp saws. He would take the used ones home after a weekend of use, sharpen them and have them ready for the next weekend. Lewis Wright of Chesterville owned a saw mill and sawed up all the wood for the siding of the club house. Ken Foster of K & H Foster would send Raymie Macomber and one of his employees at the time, over to the plant on Sundays to mix up cement and drive the truck over to the construction site to pour the foundation. Other men that Toothaker recalled who were involved are: Dr. Orr, Tink Edwards, Squirt Rolfe, Herbie
Austin, Dick Austin, Fats McLendy, Regie White, Shine Jorden, Lorie Brann, Stub Richards, Harry Stinchfield, Earl Wright, Rabbit (Eugene) Woods and a football coach from Madison who was coaching at WA at the time, whose name
couldn’t be recalled. And of course, Raymie, Herb and Toot (Gerald) were part of the construction team as well.

There were many others whose names could not be recalled at the time of this writing. Raymie was an avid outdoor sportsman. He had a passion for hunting and fishing, enjoyed hiking and trained his children to handle weapons,
compasses and the nature of the woods. So it is no surprise that he was one of the many men in the community who spent their weekends building the Club house. After it was completed he took his young children to the firing
range to be trained by NRA officers of that time. All six of his children earned their patch.

On March 20, 2017, Raymie Macomber passed away and in memory of their dad his children offered to family and friends the opportunity to give a gift to the Fish and Game Club. They were in the process of finishing a new
shooting range and the family wanted to help support the project. Raymond and his wife Bev, raised 6 children who gave them 11 grandchildren and to date there are 17 great grand children. Some of the second and third
generation of Macombers/Trasks are or are becoming avid hunters. Seven of the family members, representing all three generations, were present at the October Open House of the Fish and Game Club. Each one enjoyed firing off
several rounds at the new range, recalling their memories and learning what is available today at the Club.

At the end of the Open House, a presentation was made by Raymie’s first born, Donna Macomber. She recalled the history as she had learned it from her Dad years ago and more recently from Gerald Toothaker. She presented to
the club a 5/7 photo of her dad mounting his donkey on that night in 1956 and also a photo of him taken in recent years which will be displayed at the Club house.

On behalf of the Macomber family she expressed gratitude to the club members who continue to keep passing on to the next generation the training, principles, rules and values of the club. She made a point to express that
learning to handle the weapons and the fish poles is as much about training in respect and the value of people; their lives and property. He also taught them to respect the wildlife on land and in the water. He enjoyed the sport and wanted each of his children to enjoy it as well with appreciation and respect to the wild. He just as much enjoyed catching a glimpse of the wildlife of all kinds in the woods alive in their habitant as he did in the times he could put a good feed of fish or game on the table.