Get to know Beth Wilder

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

My husband, Chris, and I moved to Mountain Brook from Forest Park in 1996 when our two sons were toddlers. Neither of us is a native of Birmingham, and we were looking for a walkable community that offered a small-town feel and great schools. I had grown up in a small town (Montevallo) and loved being able to walk and ride my bike everywhere, and Chris wanted a neighborhood similar to the one his father had grown up in on Long Island, N.Y.

Crestline was the perfect choice! Not long after we moved, our daughter was born. We lived on Spring Street for 17 years, and it was the greatest place in the world to raise our three children, surrounded by the greatest neighbors in the world. Our boys are away in college now (Will is a junior at Washington University St. Louis and Patrick is a freshman at Auburn) and Hannah is a ninth-grader at MBJH. 

We recently moved to Old Leeds Road. While I miss the convenience of Crestline, I love sitting on my back porch looking at the sunset over Ruffner Mountain in my new home!

What is your day job?

I am the president and executive director of The Literacy Council.

What do you love most about it?

I love my job because I get to see firsthand the transformation that reading can make in a person’s life. Most of us take the ability to read for granted, but for thousands of Alabama’s adults, illiteracy is a way of life. I love that I can be a small part of changing someone’s future by giving them the power of words.

Is there anyone else from Mountain Brook who is involved in the Literacy Council or is a star volunteer?

 We are blessed at The Literacy Council to have so many great and wonderful volunteers and patrons from Mountain Brook. This community has been extremely generous to our cause over the years, opening their homes for our Signature Series author events, volunteering as tutors, supporting our fundraisers. Even the school kids have pitched in by hosting book drives at the high school and junior high. 

Margaret Porter was our very first board president in 1991, and she has been followed by some great Mountain Brook residents such as Norman Jetmundsen, Susan Swagler, Leigh Hancock, Cissy Jackson, Jera Stribling, Robin Sparks, Alison Scott, Emily Amberson — they are almost too numerous to name.

What is your favorite thing about living in Mountain Brook?

The people. Everyone is friendly and everyone knows everyone. I have made so many wonderful friends in the 17 years I’ve been here. True Southern hospitality!

What store in our city could you not live without?

The Pants Store. I shudder to think how much money my daughter and I have spent in that store since it opened. I think my husband has done his share of damage as well.

What do you think makes Mountain Brook so special?

I love the sense of community — the feeling of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. It is so true that “it takes a village” to raise a family, and I always feel like I have that village in Mountain Brook. Everyone looks out for everyone’s kids, everyone helps out their neighbors in times of need, and everyone celebrates together in the good times. It is a truly small town buried inside a large metropolis.

If you didn’t live in Mountain Brook, where would you most like to live?

On a beach somewhere.

What is your favorite Mountain Brook tradition? 

I love the high school fall choir show. I have been taking my daughter, Hannah, since she was in elementary school and I purchased tickets from a neighbor’s child. I was blown away by the talent and the enthusiasm, and I loved that kids of all kinds were on stage singing and dancing — theater kids, football players, track stars. It has become a family tradition every year since, and even a more meaningful one when our son Patrick was in the choir his junior and senior years. What fun to have a family member to cheer for! I have a feeling I will still be attending the show long after Hannah has graduated.