Garth E. Wilkinson

St. George, Utah - Garth E Wilkinson, 95, passed away Thursday, December 4th, 2025, at St. George Regional Hospital, he was surrounded by his family.

Garth was born on November 9,1930 in Orem, Utah, he was 1 of 10 children born to Jay C and Emma Florence Gadd Wilkinson. He grew up in Orem attending schools in the area and graduated from Lincoln High School class of 1949. While in high school he was the 12th grade class president, participated in drama and played football.

He married his high school sweetheart, Rhea Rose Lowry, on June 20th,1950 in the Salt Lake City Temple. They made their home in Orem, UT.

He worked at Geneva Steel for 9 years before joining the Orem City Police Department. In March 1967 he was offered and accepted a position at the University of Utah to assist in the conversion of a Security Guard System to the building of a Police Department. The family then moved to Bountiful, UT. While at the University of Utah he served as an Investigator, Lieutenant and Captain before moving to Park City, UT in 1976 to assume the position of Chief of Police. Prior to moving to Park City he graduated with a bachelor's degree in May of 1976 from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. After 2 years as Chief of Police, he went to work as the Security and Safety Manager for a movie company that was based in Park City. That lasted 5 years before the company moved to California.

In 1984 he started working for the State of Utah as a Narcotic Investigator. He was transferred to St. George, and supervised a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force, consisting of 5 Southern Utah Counties, where he worked until March of 1996 when he retired.

Garth was a longtime volunteer at St. George Regional Hospital. He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many positions, including High Priest Group Leader, Counselor in Bishopric, Counselor in Seniors Branch Presidency, Ordinance Worker in the St. George Utah Temple and with his loving wife served 3 years as Service Missionaries.

He was definitely a people person. He loved meeting people. He was always at least 30 minutes early to church to "hustle the crowd." Meeting visitors and making people feel welcome. If you were out with him and a stranger was nearby you could almost guarantee that they would be friends by the time he walked away.

Garth loved his family very much and was very proud of them all. Any chance he had, he loved spending time with them. While his brothers were alive, he made it a point to talk to them weekly. He was the last one to survive.

He loved playing games, mostly cards and loved watching his BYU and Utah Jazz. He loved to play golf up until he couldn't anymore.

His outlook on life was very positive no matter what he was going through. His motto was "EVERY DAY IS A GREAT DAY, SOME BETTER THAN OTHERS BUT EVERY DAY IS A GREAT DAY!"

Garth was preceded in death by his wife Rhea Rose Lowry, his parents and 9 siblings. He is survived by daughter, Lucinda Sessions, son Ricky Wilkinson (Melanie), daughter Nancy Vaughn, daughter, Denise Mason (Bill), and son Tony Wilkinson (Shauna).

Funeral service will be held, Monday, December 15, 2025, at 11:00 am at Metcalf Bonzo Mortuary, 288 West St. George Blvd, St. George, UT. Visitations will be held on Sunday, December 14th at 6:00-7:00 pm and Monday, prior to services from 9:30-10:30 am at the mortuary. Interment will be in the St. George City Cemetery, St. George, Utah.

Garth Wilkinson Funeral Service Program