Mr. Kenneth Dean Wilkinson

Ken Wilkinson was born October 1, 1942 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Louie and Beulah Wilkinson. He was the younger brother of Marilyn. Ken started elementary school in Garnett Kansas and moved to Cedar Vale when he was in the fifth grade where he later graduated high school in 1960. Ken was very active in high school playing football, basketball and baseball being a four year letter winner in all three sports. Ken worked summers for his dad at Wilkinson Service Station. It was during his high school years that Ken first caught the eye of (and equally noticed) his future bride Trudy, who was a cheerleader at neighboring rival Sedan. Ken went to college on a football scholarship at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas where he was a four-year starter until he sustained a knee injury in his last game. During his years at Southwestern, he continued his courting of Trudy until he finally convinced her to marry him on July 11, 1964 in Sedan Kansas. Ken and Trudy first lived in Wichita where Trudy began her nursing career at the Veterans Hospital and Ken worked his first year at Boeing. He later left Boeing and went back to finish school and worked part-time at Stanley Hardware. In 1967 Ken and Trudy welcomed their first child Brian who was born on May 2. Four and a half years later they welcomed their second son Keith on October 15, 1971. Once Ken finished his degree, Ken became General Manager at Stanley hardware until he began his career at Firestone. Ken worked 10 years at Firestone working in Newton, Kansas City and finally Wichita. In 1979, Ken moved back to Boeing where he worked for another 26 years in Procurement. During his Boeing career, Ken worked several military programs concluding with the Air Force One program. He then moved into the Tooling group where he worked with tooling offload supporting the Commercial Airplane programs . Ken and Trudy welcomed their first of four grandchildren Hanna in August of 1996. Later she was joined by their second grandchild Braden in May of 1998. Five weeks later, on June 23rd of 1998, Grace entered the world. Finally on March 1, 2001, his fourth grandchild Derek was born. All four grandchildren have lived in Wichita and have built many great memories with their Papa. Ken enjoyed wood-working in his garage and was never at a loss for projects. When the grandchildren came along the need for projects grew so he began production of playhouses, rocking horses, baby cradles, airplanes, dog houses and puppet theaters. Ken was also an avid Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan and shared the latest Big 12 Championship this past Saturday with his family at his side in the hospital. In 2011, Ken was diagnosed with lung cancer. He aggressively attacked it until it went into remission long enough in 2012 for the whole family to enjoy one last vacation together on a seven day Hawaiian cruise. The vacation created many memories that the family will never forget. Later in 2012, the cancer came back and Ken chose to put his fate in God's hands and enjoy his family for his remaining days. On February 2nd of this year, Ken came to this church and professed his faith to the Lord and was baptized in front of the congregation. On March 18, 2013, the Lord decided it was time for Ken to join him in Heaven. Ken passed peacefully the morning of the 18th with his family by his side. His family is thankful for the great times and memories that were shared with him. His family would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has reached out to them during this time. Funeral services for Ken will take place Thursday, March 21, 2012 at 10:00 am, at New Spring Church in Wichita. The family will receive friends at visitation Wednesday evening between 5pm and 7pm at Lakeview Funeral Home, 12100 E. 13th Street.