An Army specialist from
who died in Afghanistan on Dec. 11 will be remembered fondly by the people he valued above all else, according to his sister.
“He lived for his friends and his family,” Christie Berkey said of her brother Spc. Ronald Herbert Wildrick Jr.
Wildrick, 30, died in Afghanistan’s Kunar province after his truck hit an improvised explosive device. His funeral is scheduled for Jan. 12 in Woodsboro.
The last time Berkey saw her brother before he was stationed for training was during an annual Independence Day family camping trip to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pa., she said. She last spoke to him via video chat about three days before he died.
“We were able to Skype, and he got to see the kids,” she said.
In addition to having two daughters of his own, he was very close to Berkey’s four children.
His daughters were one reason Wildrick joined the Army, Berkey said.
“Just to better himself for his girls.”
According to Berkey, Wildrick had wanted to serve in the military for a long time, and looked up to their older brother Joseph Osborne, a U.S. Air Force officer.
“He was always very proud of Joe,” she said. “And he felt very honored to be able to go over and do his part.”
Wildrick’s remains are scheduled to arrive on Jan. 11 from Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 11 at Hartzler Funeral Home, 404 S. Main St., Woodsboro.
A funeral service is planned for 11 a.m. Jan. 12 at the Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Co. Activities Building on Coppermine Road. The Rev. Steve Humphrey, former pastor of Walkersville United Methodist Church, will officiate.
A military burial with full honors is set for 3 p.m. Jan. 13 at Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral procession is slated to leave Hartzler Funeral Home at noon.
Wildrick attended Walkersville United Methodist Church. He was serving in the U.S. Army with Alpha Co., 2nd Battalion 35th Third Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. From January 2009 to July 2011 he was a member of the nation’s foremost color team, the Continental Color Guard.
Memorial contributions in his name may be made to Fisher House, 116 Purple Heart Drive, Dover Air Force Base, DE 19902; or through www.fisherhouse.org.
Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.hartzlerfuneralhome. com.
