James H. Wild, MD, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF (Ret.)

He was born on June 20, 1939, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to John Heiser and Harriet Hosmer Wild. Jim grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, where he formed a love of sailing on Lake Erie with his father and brothers. Excelling in high school academics and athletics, he was accepted to the United States Air Force Academy in 1957 and graduated in 1961 with the third graduating class of that institution. He served as a Navigator on C 124 Globemaster II aircraft, practicing celestial navigation and developing a lifelong appreciation for astronomy. His missions took him around the globe to Greenland, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. In 1963, he was selected to an Air Force transition program and accepted into the Ohio State University College of Medicine. While in Columbus, Ohio, Jim met the love of his life, Sydney Doane, who would be his wife of 59 years and 9 months. Upon earning his M.D., he returned to the regular Air Force as a flight surgeon stationed at Travis AFB, California and then entered residency in internal medicine at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. Following completion of a rheumatology fellowship at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, he returned to Lackland AFB. He concluded his Air Force career as the Chief of Rheumatology at Wilford Hall in 1981.

Following military service, Dr. Wild entered private practice and continued to provide medical expertise to his community for an additional 36 years. He fully retired on Nov. 17, 2017, at the age of 78, having cared for thousands of patients over more than fifty years of military and private service.

Jim was blessed with exceptional intelligence, boundless curiosity, humility, an absence of pretense, an impressive work ethic, and strong moral fiber. One of his guiding principles was “Family comes first,” which he demonstrated daily with unwavering consistency, leading his family through a combination of personal example, love, and patience. His legacy lives on in the generations of family and friends who loved him.

A man of broad and varied interests, he was as well-versed in the intricacies of lupus and arthritis as he was in the musical canons of Bach and Wagner. He found equal joy in coaxing gardening bounty from Texas Hill Country soil, jogging with his colleagues, cheering on his beloved Buckeyes and Air Force Falcons football teams, fishing with his sons, touring on tandem bicycles with Sydney, and laughing heartily at SpongeBob with his granddaughters.

Dr. James H. Wild lived a full and great life. He was a great man - husband, father, grandfather, friend, patriot, and a shining example to emulate - he will be greatly missed.

Dr. Wild was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Paul and Sam, and is survived by his wife, Sydney Wild; sons, Benjamin Wild and wife Renee, and Jason Wild; granddaughters, Hailey and Katrina Wild; sister, Martha Bender and husband Bob; as well as numerous extended family members, friends and colleagues.

Our family would like to express a note of gratitude to the staff at Methodist Hospital (where Dr. Wild spent many years practicing) for their recent care and kindness for him and our family.

A graveside service with full military honors will be held on Monday, June 1st at 9:45 a.m. at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery1 1520 Harry Wurzbach Road, San Antonio, Texas 78209. A memorial service will follow at 1:00 p.m. at University Methodist Church, 5084 De Zavala Road, San Antonio, Texas 78249.

Rev. Ben Trammell will be officiating.