Harold I Rice

Harold I. Rice, 88, a longtime resident of Wilmington passed away peacefully at the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington on Thursday July 22, 2021. The son of Merton and Marjorie (Williams) Rice, he was born in Wilmington on September 17, 1932. He grew up in Searsburg where he attended elementary school later attending Wilmington High School graduating in 1951. During the summers while in high school, he worked at Greene’s Service Station. Harold served in the US Army and was stationed in Hawaii during the Korean Conflict. Upon his discharge he returned to the area and worked for the State Highway Department for eighteen years then for Deerfield Valley Supply for a number of years. In 1974, while working with his friend Buzz Cole doing landscaping and lawn maintenance, he also saw a need in the Valley and he established his own business, Rice Lock. Over the next 28 years he served his community and built a reputation of being fair, honest and generous to his customers. He truly enjoyed this endeavor and became immersed in the business. He retired in 2002. Harold was a member of the Wilmington Baptist Church, a former member of the Wilmington Lions Club and American Legion Post 15. His hobbies included painting, photography, model building, collecting watches and clocks as well as driving his Lloyd Alexander which he purchased new in 1959 and took on his honeymoon with his wife Lucille (Stone) Rice. Harold was a well-known, friendly fixture in the community who could always be counted on to help anyone in any way he could. He leaves his wife of almost 62 years, Lucille, who he married on August 1, 1959 at the Jacksonville Church, daughter Vicki Wilson and her husband Peter of Shaftsbury, sons Timothy Rice of Groton, Connecticut and Vincent Rice of Wilmington, brothers Steven Rice of Portland, Maine and John Rice of Live Oak, Florida, grandchildren Jamie Wilson, Josiah Wilson, Casey Leblanc and Brandi Younger as well as nieces, nephews and cousins. Funeral services will be held on Thursday July 29 at 11am at the Wilmington Baptist Church with Pastor Douglas LaPlante and Reverend Rick Gramlin co-officiating. Burial with Military Honors will follow in the family lot in Riverview Cemetery. Memorial gifts may be made to the Wilmington Baptist Church in care of the Covey Allen & Shea Funeral Home, P.O. Box 215, Wilmington, VT 05363.