Wilbert G. Laird

Wilbert George Laird passed away on Friday, November 6, 2009 after a prolonged illness. He was at home where he wanted to be, surrounded by his family. Will and his wife, Mary, moved to Easton, Maryland in 1999 to be near their daughter in their declining years. Will, the only child of George Aloysius Laird and Elizabeth C. Zibrat, was born in Pittsburgh, PA on December 6, 1917. He graduated from Allegheny High School in 1935. He spent almost his entire life in Pittsburgh, growing up and raising a family within 50 miles of the place he was born. When Will wasn’t in Pittsburgh, he was in the Army. His Army career started with his enlistment in the National Guard, Officer’s Reserve Corps on June 14, 1939. In the prelude to WW II, Will’s career took him to Washington, DC, where he trained under General Patton, to the Southwest, where he was on border duty as part of the horse cavalry, and throughout the United States where he helped establish training camps to support a growing Army. Will left the cavalry to join the paratroopers. He then became a glider pilot. It was as a glider pilot that Will served in Northern France, Southern France, Rome, Normandy, the Ardennes, Central Europe, and the Rhineland. He was awarded a Purple Heart, American Defense Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation with 1 Cluster, EAME Theater Ribbon with 7 Battle Stars and Silver Arrowhead, and an Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters. Will ended his Army career as a First Lieutenant in March of 1946, returning to Pittsburgh to raise his family and avoid excitement. He was well-known in Pittsburgh as a specialist in furniture refinishing for Kaufmann’s Department Store for more than forty years and was asked to use his skills on the Frank Lloyd Wright Home, Fallingwater. Will liked to read and spent much of his time in Easton on his porch reading and watching the world pass by. Will is survived by his wife of 68 years, Mary Chezosky Laird; their daughter, Diane Laird-Ippolito (John); their son, Wilbert Laird II (Rose Marie); three grandchildren, Robert, Renee and Wilbert, and three great grandchildren, Krysta, Miranda and Wilbert. A service will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, at 5:00 P.M. where friends may call from 3:00 -5:00 P.M. An internment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

Wilbert G. Laird

December 6, 1917 - November 6, 2009