WILTON – Outdoor writer Joe Adamowicz worked with Gary Crooker for over ten years at The Milford Cabinet. They continued their life-long friendship sharing their love of books and writing, sports and the outdoors.

On Thursday, Aug. 3, Adamowicz was the main speaker at a gathering of Crooker’s friends at the Wilton Public/Gregg Free Library, where he introduced Crooker’s last book, “Literary New Hampshire.,” for which he wrote the forward.

Crooker passed away in March ar age 72.

“When he asked me to write, I was flattered, very touched,” Adamowicz said.

The library rotunda was full to overflowing as Crooker’s family and friends recalled him with an equal number of laughs and tears.

Crooker was also known as “Mr. Old Home Days,” which Wilton celebrates every five years. He was the low-key and very efficient chairman of the event for thirty years. He will be honored at next year’s celebration.

“It’s easy to talk about Gary,” Adamowicz said. “He was what he was, the most genuine friend I had. He loved Wilton and he had a great respect for its people. He had a great wit and was a great writer. When I read what he wrote, it’s like he was here. He was a great storyteller. We met in the late 1980s,” at his used bookstore, Crook’s Books, in the basement of Wilton Falls Building. “He got me the job at the Milford Cabinet – Wilton Journal, and I have to get Wilton Journal in there. I wrote features and then sports. I didn’t much like town meetings.”

The Journal was dropped from the newspaper’s name in the 1980s.

“Gary loved high school sports.” He and others recalled sporting events Crooker had covered – and participated in as a high school student in the 1960s, and the men’s basketball league.

Former Library Trustee Ron Brown recalled Gary reading stories at their annual Christmas party. “He loved the library.”

His brother Marty called him “a fantastic brother.”

“Literary New Hampshire” focuses on the famous writers associated with New Hampshire from Celia Thaxter to Grace Metalious. “He had a wonderful time driving around and visiting all those places,” Adamowicz said.

The book, published by The History Press, is available for $24 at Barnes and Noble.

Crooker was also the author of “Images of America: New Hampshire Old Home Day Celebrations.”

Adamowicz, a former resident of Wilton, currently lives in Ashburnham, Mass.