Henry Hepburn Wilkins

Henry Hepburn Wilkins 1911-2007 Henry Hepburn Wilkins, a life-long resident of San Francisco and Marin County, died Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007 at the age of 95, after a courageous 17-month battle with prostate cancer. Henry's family were Marin County pioneers and leaders, who first settled in the mid-1800's. Henry was born in San Francisco on Dec. 31, 1911, attended Grant Grammar School and Galileo High. He attended college at the University of Oregon in Eugene, but left due to the Depression. Upon returning to Marin, he managed a Shell service station in San Rafael before going on to attend ship fitting school, after which he worked in the Fabricating Division of Basalt Rock Company, in Napa, building ships for the U.S. Navy. At the start of WWII, when he sought to enlist in the Navy, he was told he could best serve his country by continuing his work at Basalt building Liberty ships. In 1955, Basalt was sold to Kaiser Steel where Henry worked as a sales manager until he retired in 1972. He consulted for Conseco Steel and Conduit Fabricating until 1983 when he retired permanently. An avid outdoorsman, he loved tennis, hiking, duck-hunting, the Triple Crown, and was a long-time San Francisco 49ers season ticket holder. He became a member of the Bohemian Grove in 1959 where he was a member of the Old Guard; the Pacific Union Club and a 57-year member of the Lagunitas Country Club in Ross, which holds an annual tennis tournament in his honor. He is survived by his wife Daphne Greene Wilkins; two children, Hepburn Wilkins of Ft. Collins, CO and Wendy Wilkins Weiler of Denver, CO; eight step-children, 14 grand- and step-grand children and four great- and step-great grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be held at 4pm, Aug. 28, 2007 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, CA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Stanford University Department of Men's and Women's Athletics, the Bolinas Museum or the Marin History Museum.