Rhett S. Wise

Rhett Skillings Wise. March 10, 1940 to February 10, 2021.

Rhett Skillings Wise was a longtime resident of Springfield Township. Over the years he also spent time in Montana, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Vietnam.

Service in the Army and his time in Vietnam were a large part of Rhett's life. In his words:

"In October 1965 I enlisted in the Army and graduated from the Infantry Officer course at Ft. Benning, Georgia. I served in Vietnam from 28 February 1967 to 5 April 1968 (including a voluntary extension). I served in the 9th Infantry Division (3D BN 47th INF 9th INF DN) as part of the Army/Navy Riverine Force on the waterways of the Mekong Delta. Much of the time we berthed on troop ships on the rivers and made assault landings in old WWII landing boats – regretfully many times at low tide. I was a rifle platoon leader for almost 10 months, then Executive Officer and later Acting Company Commander. My company command time came when my captain went on R&R during a time that coincided with the 1968 TET offensive, when we fought in one provincial capital city."

He didn't speak a lot about his experiences in Vietnam, but he did say that on one expedition, 102 men went in, and 69 came back. On another occasion his unit was ambushed, and the man in front of him and the man behind him were killed.

Rhett was discharged 22 August 1968. Among his decorations are the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), the Presidential Unit Citation, the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. He said that, unlike many other veterans, he never had a flashback and had no problems with PTSD. He was, however, affected by Agent Orange, and because of that 7 years ago he had to start treatments for what turned out to be a persistent series of bouts with cancer.

Before the Army, Rhett was a forestry student at the University of Montana and worked summers for the U.S. Forest Service. He worked as a smoke jumper and aerial fire observer for Glacier National Park. He spent 4 fire seasons as a "smoke jumper," which involved bailing out of DC-3s and other aircraft at 1000 feet to fight fires. This involved back-country jumps in the National Forest in Montana, Idaho and Washington, as well as in the Canadian Forest in British Columbia. He eventually retired from jumping at the age of 30 because of back problems. Other fire-related airborne jobs included working with the National Park Service as an aerial observer and "kicking" cargo for the Bureau of Land Management.

He then worked for the Bureau of Land Management out of Anchorage, Alaska; in all, he spent 16 years in various capacities with the BLM in Anchorage, mostly in appraising. After Alaska, Rhett transferred to Phoenix and became a District Appraiser in 1985, where he appraised land for the BLM in Arizona desert country. In 1992 he became a District Appraiser for the Las Vegas District Office of the BLM.

Rhett's great love was the outdoors. He especially loved camping, hiking, canoeing, and cross-country skiing. He knew all about plants and wild animals. He grew up hunting and trapping with his father, Jesse Wise, in the woods and streams surrounding the home he grew up in just outside Springfield, Ohio. Rhett enjoyed hiking with friends and relatives, and his nieces and nephews remember joining him on many hikes, especially at John Bryan Farm and Glen Helen.

He enjoyed the wide-open country and mountains of the West, and likely would have remained there, but he retired early and returned home in the late 1980s to help his ailing mother, Louise, and older brother, Howard. He then stayed longer to help another sister, Doris, who credited Rhett for helping her remain independent for such a long time.

He often spoke of his intentions to return to the West, to revisit Las Vegas, Montana, Alaska, and other places, and seriously thought of moving there once again. His camping equipment was ready to go, and he had plenty of free time, but he became tied down by the need to have treatment for his cancer, and repeatedly had to put off planned excursions out West. Outwardly he was amazingly fit; he worked out regularly, until recently went for hikes, and did vigorous work outside on his land gardening, mowing, and cutting brush mostly for the pleasure of it. But when the virus weakened him, the cancer took over.

Rhett attended 2 schools in the Springfield area, first Possum, then Greenon High School, where he made many lifelong friends. He was the youngest and last of his immediate family. His father was Jesse Wise; his mother was Louise Skillings Wise. He had 2 brothers: Howard and Lamar, and 2 sisters: Bernice (Battin) and Doris (Quick). He was close to his nieces and nephews: Ron (Vickie) Quick, Jerry Quick, Brenda Quick (Bill Marsh), Lori Quick (Charleric Lenglain), Diane Quick, Sharon Wise (Jackson), Kathy Wise (Caudle) and Lee (Catherine) Battin. In addition, he enjoyed the friendship of the children of his nieces and nephews, as well as of his own remaining cousins.

Those who knew him will never forget his generosity, his sometimes quirky ways, and his always cheerful, humorous, nature.

We all have many fond memories of him and will always miss our Uncle Rhett.

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