Thomas J. Wilkinson

1929 - 2018

Thomas (Tom) J. Wilkinson

Reno - Thomas (Tom) J. Wilkinson passed away October 18, 2018 at Renown Hospital in Reno. He was born in Miami, Arizona in 1929, to Joseph and Hazel Wilkinson.

Tom served in the Army and the Air Force in Japan, Korea and stateside from 1947 to 1968. He was a Korean War veteran with Distinguished Service honors.

He loved wildlife and outdoor photography and would share his photo journals with enthusiasm and pride. A few of his favorite places for photography in recent years included Yellowstone National Park, the Ruby Mountains, the Markleeville, CA area, and the Sacramento Valley wildlife refuge areas. The refuge areas host hundreds of thousands of ducks, geese (and other birds) in large concentrations during the winter with his last visit to Gray Lodge WMA and Sacramento NWR in late January 2018. It is likely that he would have wished that as many people as possible could experience the sights and sounds of these refuge areas during the winter.

He was a duck hunter from 1968 to 1991 mainly hunting the Sacramento Valley, Stillwater, Humboldt Sink and Ruby Marsh wetlands. (In 1991, he said his knees could not take any more wading in deep mud.) He was an avid big game hunter since 1968. He drew his last Nevada deer tag and hunted in 2015. He was also a lifelong fisherman and had plans to go fishing at Pyramid Lake on October 13.

Tom was an avid bowler and has made many friends over the past 45 years in the Reno area, especially with Pyramid Lake fishing buddy Vince Escallier. Tom will be greatly missed by his loving wife Reiko, three children Kay, Ken, and Jim, his caring daughter-in-laws Jill and Leah, and his precious grandchildren Kinsey, Andrea and Sheldon, and Mariah and Darin.

An Inurnment will be held at Mountain View Cemetery in Reno at a later date. The family invites you to leave a condolence message on the book of memories at: www.waltonsfuneralhomes.com.

Rest in Peace Tom. We love you to the moon and back.