Norbert (Nubbs) Wilder is retiring today after 40 years as a county employee. Wilder started his career on April 16, 1968.

Wilder and his wife, Kathi, will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary in June. They have three children, Phil, Paul and Pat, and have been a host family for 101 foster children.

In his spare time, Wilder likes to fish, spend time at his camper on Leach Lake in northern Minnesota and volunteer for different organizations.

Over the last 40 years Wilder has had many job duties. One of the duties he has enjoyed is keeping the roads of Freeborn County safe for the traveling public during the winter months by driving the Oshkosh snow plow. He stayed on an extra year hoping that this last winter would bring lots of snow so he could plow one last year. In his early years, he operated the county&8217;s backhoe, digging in tile lines and placing centerline culverts. During the summer months people could find Wilder patching roads, helping install new centerline culverts, doing sign work or mowing the county road ditches.

Wilder said his least-favorite part of the job was

patching the roads with bituminous on hot summer days. The bituminous patch material can reach temperatures as high a 200 degrees, and on a 90-degree days, that

made for some hot and tiring work.

There will be a retirement party for Wilder beginning at 2 p.m. today at the county shop. The public is welcome to stop out and wish him well.