Surrounded by a sea of corn fields in the southeast corner of Limestone County, Wildwood Electronics has been quietly supporting space exploration and the Department of Defense since it was founded by George T. Norwood in 1983.

He started the electronics manufacturing company in a rented building in downtown Huntsville but quickly outgrew the 4,000-square-foot facility. He relocated to Limestone in 1986, where he built a much larger building that has since undergone four additions.

Wildwood started out by making hardware that supported the DOD but has since evolved, building components on the International Space Station, NASA’s deep space rocket — the Space Launch System — and Starliner, a Boeing spacecraft.

“The SLS will put us back on the moon,” said Lori Underwood, vice president of Wildwood Electronics. “There is a new push for deep space exploration, and what we do here at Wildwood will be part of making that happen.”

NASA, International Space Station and Boeing representative surprised the company on Monday by presenting them with the Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award during a planned ceremony. Underwood, said she thought the representatives were only coming by for a visit and to thank the 45 Wildwood employees for their work.

“We had no idea we were getting an award, they really took us by surprise,” she said.

“It was totally overwhelming,” Becky Owens, Wildwood president, said. “It made us very proud of our relationship with NASA and Boeing and even more proud of our employees.”

NASA Engineering and Safety Center’s Chief Astronaut, Col. Patrick Forrester, helped present the award, commending Wildwood for their “devotion and commitment to the space program.”

“The future is bright, and we know it is because of organizations like this,” Forrester said. “We trust you and look forward to continuing to work with you.”

After the ceremony, Underwood gave Forrester, SLS Program Manager John Shannon and SLS Deputy Director Jerry Cook a tour of their facility, giving them a firsthand look of the components that will support the first phase of the SLS rocket.

From Athens High to Wildwood President

Aside from being located in Limestone County, Wildwood’s president and several of its key employees are from the Athens area.

In the 1970s, Owens participated in a program at Athens High that allowed her to attend school in the morning and work at PBR Electronics in the afternoon as a receptionist. That is where she met and forged a lifelong relationship with Norwood, who was PBR’s vice president at the time. She stayed at PBR after graduating from high school in 1976, eventually leading the bid and proposal department. After the Athens-based company closed in 1990, Owens moved to the bid and proposal department at Wildwood. She worked her way up through the ranks, eventually taking Norwood’s place as president of Wildwood in 1999.

“She is a true homegrown girl, but my father always knew Becky’s potential and how intelligent she is,” Underwood said.

The company’s quality assurance manager and contract manager also live in Athens.