Annette Ruth Wilkerson

1937 - 2020

ODESSA - Annette Ruth Burns Wilkerson went home to be with her Lord and Savior on September 8, 2020; she passed away at home. Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, September 11, 2020 at Mission Dorado Baptist Church with Reverends Robert L. Bratcher and Del Traffanstedt officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Annette was born on August 15, 1937 in Bakersfield, California to Ivan and Florette Burns. She moved to Kellerville, Texas at the age of 3 months. Annette attended elementary schools in Kellerville and Skellytown, Texas. She graduated from White Deer High School in 1955. Annette married Bill Wilkerson, her high school sweetheart, on June 17, 1955 at First Baptist Church Parsonage in White Deer, Texas with Reverend L.V. Ratliff officiating. She and Bill moved to Midland, Texas immediately after their marriage and lived there until 1961, when they moved to Odessa, Texas. Annette served as a church secretary in Midland at Bellview Baptist Church and Wilshire Park Baptist Church. In Odessa, she served as receptionist, music secretary, educational secretary, and pastor's secretary at Crescent Park Baptist Church for 22 years, retiring in 1990. Annette and her husband were charter members of Mission Dorado Baptist Church where she volunteered as secretary and many other jobs. She loved her church very much and if she had but one desire in this life, it was to be known as someone who loved her Lord and cared about people. Annette is preceded in death by her parents, Ivan and Florette Burns; brother, Jackie Burns; very special aunt and uncle, Melba and Wes Langham; and special sisters-in-law and husbands, Donna and Ralph Pauley, and Jean and Bob McKernan. Annette is survived by her husband of 65 years, Bill; son, Mitchell and wife Audrey of Dallas, Texas; daughter, Stacy French and husband Steve of Ft. Worth, Texas; sister, Paulette Smith of White Deer, Texas; her three special grandchildren who were the light of her life: Jeffery and Gregory French of Ft. Worth, and Olivia Jane Wilkerson of Dallas, Texas; and sister-in-law, Barbara Burns Sides of Amarillo, Texas. Arrangements are entrusted to Sunset Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home. To send condolences to the family, please sign her guestbook at www.sunsetodessa.com.