ARCHIBALD BAKER WILKINSON JR.

MENARD - Archibald Baker Wilkinson Jr. passed away on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, in Smithville, Texas. A memorial service will be at First Presbyterian Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. He was born on Jan. 1, 1916, in Fort Worth, Texas. He resided with his parents, Archibald Baker Wilkinson and Mary Godfrey Wilkinson, in Menard until the family moved to San Angelo in 1922. The family in 1928 moved to Brady and then returned to Menard where he graduated from Menard High School in 1934. He attended Tarleton College and transferred to the University of Texas at Austin where he received a BA in Architecture. He enlisted in the Army Air Force on July 8, 1942, trained as a navigator and became a Second Lieutenant assigned to the Air Transport Command at Memphis, Tennessee. He spent the first two years flying the southern route to Brazil, Africa and then Italy and later the northern route through Greenland and Iceland to England. He then transferred to the Pacific Division as a Captain for Air Offensive Japan flying frequently to the western Pacific. For his service in World War II he received the World War II Victory Medal, American Theater Service Medal and European African Middle Eastern Service Medal. He was discharged as a Major in 1946. During the Korean War he served for 2 years flying in B36s and was released as a Captain in the Air Force. During World War II, he met Melba Heine in Fort Wayne, Ind. In January 1948, they were married and settled in Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked first in an architecture firm and then set up his own architectural practice. He designed houses, medical clinics and schools in Fort Worth as well as the East Texas area. By 1980 he retired back to Menard and ranching. Archibald and Melba Wilkinson had two children, Michael born in 1950 and Isabel born in 1953. Michael works at American Electric Power, is married to Elizabeth Maurer and they have three children ? Catherine, Molly and Sarah Elizabeth. Catherine is practicing architecture in Lawrence Kansas after graduating from the University of Kansas. Molly is attending TCU and will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising. Sarah Elizabeth "Lillibet" is a senior attending Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. Isabel works at Smithville Regional Hospital and has one child, Drew Shaw, who is attending the University of Texas at San Antonio and will be graduating with his Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science. Melba died March 27, 1989, and is buried at Fort McKavett, Texas, where Archibald will join her. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Macular Association or to the First Presbyterian Church of Menard. Under the direction of Heritage Funeral Home of Menard.