The founder of Central Oregon’s oldest furniture store died last month in Redmond.

Elton J. Wilson, the Wilson behind Wilson’s of Redmond and Wilson’s Mattress Gallery-Bend, died Sept. 22 at an assisted living facility at the age of 88.

Born in Eugene, Wilson enlisted in the Navy at 17.

Martin Wilson, Elton Wilson’s son, said his father may have gotten an early taste of his future career as an appliance repairman while working as an aviation electrician in the Navy.

Wilson remained stateside through the last years of World War II but signed on with the Oregon Army National Guard after completing his commitment to the Navy. Wilson became a commissioned officer with the Guard and spent many summers in training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Wilson married Ruth Farmer in 1949, and with their two children, Martin and Linda, the family moved to Bend in 1964.

After a year spent doing appliance repair work out of the family’s garage, Wilson opened his first store, Wilson’s Electric Home Service, in 1965.

Selling televisions, refrigerators and other appliances on the ground floor of the New Redmond Hotel, Wilson’s store thrived, and by 1969 or 1970, he was seeking a new, larger location.

Martin Wilson said once his father secured a property on what was then the far edge of town, across the U.S. Highway 97 from a large stockyard, he began looking for ways to build his new store as cheaply as possible.

He found a solution in an abandoned fire lookout tower being sold by the U.S. Forest Service.

With help from his son, Wilson dismantled the tower at the top of Paulina Peak and hauled the timber to Redmond. Together they built the new store, portions of which still survive in the present-day Wilson’s of Redmond building.

The store expanded in the early 1970s to include furniture, and the name changed to Wilson’s Furniture and Appliance.

In 1978, Arlon Rasmussen approached Wilson about buying the store. Martin Wilson, then working as a studio musician and recording technician, said his father hoped his son would carry on in the family business, but opted to sell when Martin Wilson turned down the offer.

The store continued to do well under new ownership, and Wilson and his wife left the area to run stores for the Grocery Outlet chain, an experience that took them to Tillamook, Longview, Washington, and La Grande before they returned to Redmond in the early 1990s.

Martin Wilson said his parents moved into the Brookside Place assisted living facility together last spring.

Elton Wilson is survived by his wife, a sister, Yvonne Johnston of Oregon City, daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Steve Perry of Baker City, son and daughter-in-law, Martin and Catherine Wilson of Redmond, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com