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Mr. Wilkinson opened his Real Estate-Barber Shop in the growing community, and allowed room for the first public library in the county. Mrs. Wilkinson was a talented musician, and was the only living Charter Member of the Collegeport Women's Club in 1984, at the age of ninety-two.
Mrs. Wilkinson and children often traveled by ferry to Palacios to shop. When they returned to Collegeport, Mr. Wilkinson met them in his Model T. On one trip, she and the four children entered a dry goods store, where she timidly told the clerk she would like to look at some hats. They followed the clerk toward the back of the store, where she began to bring out hats for little girls. Mrs. Wilkinson said, "But I want to see some ladies' hats!" Because of her youthful appearance and petiteness, the clerk had thought she was the older sister of the small children with her, not their mother!
With the discovery of Spindletop and the beginning of the oil boom, Mr. Wilkinson became one of the earliest lease operators, and in 1920-21 drilled the deepest oil well at that time in Matagorda County. In 1922 he moved his family to Bay City where he opened his office upstairs in the Austin Building on the Square. Stricken by a stroke in 1961, he kept up with his business by telephone from his home west of Bay City. He died on April 20, 1968, and was buried in Roselawn Memorial Park, Van Vleck, Texas.
The Wilkinsons were the parents of four children. Walter William, Jr. was born on May 18, 1910, the first boy born in Collegeport. He attended Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, and The University of Texas; and engaged in farming and the oil business. On September 27, 1933, he married Marjorie Jim Bruce, daughter of James Arthur and Lorena May Nolte Bruce, in St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City. They were the parents of two daughters: Jean, who married Dr. Gordon E. Richardson of Bay City; and Helen who married Clyde H. Fitch, Jr. and resided in Corpus Christi. Walter and Marjorie Bruce Wilkinson had six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
In the fall of 1911 the little family of three returned to Ohio by train where their second son, John Paul, was born on October 25, 1911, at the home of his maternal grandparents at Bannock, Ohio. He was graduated from The University of Texas School of Law, and opened his practice in his father's offices in the Austin Building. He married Lydia Rasmussen on December 18, 1935. She was of Danish ancestry and a native of Nebraska. Their children were Carol Ann, who married Ray Basom of Tucson, Arizona; John Paul, Jr., who married Pamela Fannin on November 14, 1964 and resided in San Antonio; Marion Frances, who married Darrell Reaks Lester and lived in Fort Worth; and Janet Lucille, who married James Corbin Considine on August 18, 1967, and resided in Midland, Texas. Due to the asthmatic condition of his daughter, Carol Ann, John Paul moved his family to Midland, Texas in 1946 where he practiced law and was engaged in the oil business. He died in an automobile accident near Midland, Texas, on October 5, 1957. The posterity of John Paul and Lydia Rasmussen Wilkinson is their eleven grandchildren.
Frances Virginia Wilkinson was born on August 13, 1913 in Collegeport. She attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, Ohio, and received her Degree in Music from Southwestern Louisiana Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana. On September 14, 1935, she married Lyle Lee Cummins, who died on February 20, 1970. Their son, Kent Wilkinson Cummins, resided in New Braunfels.
Robert Jay Wilkinson was born in Collegeport on September 9, 1915. He held a Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas. Following his discharge from the Navy at the end of World War II, he founded the Bay City News of which he was owner-editor. He was later an independent oil lease broker. He married Luceile Huebner on December 28, 1939, at the First Presbyterian Church, Bay City. She was the daughter of Marion Taylor and Lillian Hurst Huebner. Their daughter, Martha, married Clayton Edward Lake, and resided in Las Vegas, Nevada; and their son, Robert Jay Wilkinson, Jr., married Peggy Dianne Menke, and resided in Bay City. Robert Jay and Luceile Huebner Wilkinson had four grandchildren.
Jean W. Richardson & Mrs. Bob Wilkinson
Historic Matagorda County, Volume II, pp 562-563
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Walter
William Wilkinson, Jr. 85, of Bay City died Wednesday, August
16, 1995 at the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Wharton. He was
born May 10, 1910 in Collegeport, Texas to parents, Walter
William and Helen Lenora Gossett Wilkinson.
He was
educated in the local schools and graduated in 1929 from
Jefferson Davis High School where he was on the Black Cat
Football Team. He attended Schreiner Institute in Kerrville and
the University of Texas. An Oil Lease Broker and engaged in
farming, he was in the cattle business until World War II. He
was in the Home Guard during World II, and was on duty at
Matagorda after the 1942 Tidal Wave. A member of the Supreme
Lodge of Slavonic Benevolent Order of Texas (S.P.J.S.T.) since
1938; the Matagorda County Co-op since 1946, and a Charter
member of the Bay City Lions Club. On September 27, 1933 he
married Marjorie Bruce at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, who
preceded him in death on December 23, 1989.
He was
preceded in death by his father Walter William Wilkinson in
1968, his mother, Helen Lenora Gossett Wilkinson in 1987 and his
brother, John Paul Wilkinson in 1957.
He is
survived by daughters, Jean W. Richardson of Bay City, and Helen
W. Fitch of Corpus Christi. Granddaughters, Kathleen and Tim
Kalinowski of Lewisville, Virginia and David Chapman of Van
Vleck, Kelley and Ed Lewis and Elizabeth and Scott Jones of
Corpus Christi. Grandsons Jimmy Fitch of Corpus Christi and
Scott and Kathryn Fitch of Dallas. Great Grandchildren, Kasey,
Kelsey, and Cameron Wood, Chase Lewis, Mason Kapp, Joey Chapman,
and Jennifer Bell. Sister, Virginia W. Cummins Bay City and
Brother and Sister in law Bob and Lucy Wilkinson of Bay City.
Sister in law Lydia R. Wilkinson of Midland.
Memorials may
be given to the Mo-Pac House Foundation, Collegeport, Texas
77428, The Woman’s Club of Collegeport, Collegeport, Texas 77428
and the Matagorda County Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 264,
Bay City, Texas 77414.
Honorary
Pallbearers will be all members of the Matagorda County Farmers
Co-Op, Douglas Sillers of Moorhead, Minnesota, and Joe Tuchy of
Chicago, Illinois.
Graveside
services will be Friday, August 18 in the Wilkinson Family Plat
in Hawley Cemetery at 2:00 P. M. Service under the direction of
Dick R. Elkins Bay City Funeral Home with the Rev. Nick Novak of
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church officiating. The Daily Tribune, August 17, 1995
Funeral services for Marjorie Jim Bruce
Wilkinson, 78, will be held at 2 p. m. Thursday at St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church with the Rev. James E. Scott officiating.
Burial will be in
Hawley Cemetery, Blessing, with
Hugh B. Jones Jr. assisting.
Mrs. Wilkinson was born May 15, 1911 in
Matagorda to James Arthur and Lorena May Nolte Bruce and died
Dec. 23, 1989, at her residence.
She was a life member of the Episcopal Church
and a descendant of the first settlers of Matagorda County. Mrs.
Wilkinson was baptized in Christ Church, Matagorda, and became a
member of St. Mark’s in Bay City at the age of 7. She served as
a Sunday school teacher in her younger years.
Mrs. Wilkinson was educated in the Bay City
school system and graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in
1928. She held a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from
Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos.
She was a valued long-time member of the
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, having become a
member before World War II, and was active in the organization
of Girl Scouting in Matagorda County and served as an early
troop leader.
Survivors include her husband of 56 years,
Walter W. Wilkinson Jr.; two daughters and sons-in-law, Jean and
Dr. Gordon E. Richardson, of Bay City, and Helen and Clyde H.
Fitch Jr., of Corpus Christi; two sisters, Mrs. W. B. Jeter, of
Houston, and Mrs. George Deerman, of Angleton; six
grandchildren, Kathleen Fitch Bell of Dallas, Jimmy Fitch of
Corpus Christi, Virginia Smith Chapman and husband David Chapman
of Bay City, Kelly Fitch Lewis and husband Ed Lewis of Corpus
Christi, Elizabeth Fitch Jones and husband Scott Jones of Corpus
Christi, and Scott W. Fitch of Corpus Christi; six
great-grandchildren, Kasey, Kelsey and Cameron Wood of Corpus
Christi, Jennifer Bell of Dallas, and Mason Kapp and Joey
Chapman of Bay City.
Mrs. Wilkinson was preceded in death by her
parents, James Arthur and Lorena May Nolte Bruce, and by her
sister, Marian Bruce Grover.
Pallbearers are David Deerman, John Paul
Wilkinson Jr., James L. Henkes Sr., Ladell Sump, Robert Bruce
Jeter Jr., John and Paul Wilkinson III.
Honorary pallbearers include Vernon L.
Henkes, Damon E. Wilkinson, Ray Rangel and Douglas Sillers.
Memorials may be made to St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church Food Pantry or to the Bay City Public Library.
Arrangements are with Bay City Funeral Home,
under the direction of Dick R. Elkins. The Daily Tribune, December, 1989
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 Robert Jay "Bob" Wilkinson
Robert Jay "Bob" Wilkinson, 84, of Bay
City died September 22, 2000 at the Gulf Coast Medical Center in
Wharton, Texas. Mr. Wilkinson was born September 9, 1916 in
Collegeport, Texas to the late Walter William and Helen Lenora
Gossett Wilkinson. He graduated from Bay City High School, where he
delivered the salutatory address for the class of 1934. In 1938, he
graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in
journalism. Mr. Wilkinson was elected to SIGMA DELTA CHI, a national
honorary and professional journalism fraternity. He worked on The
Daily Texan, the university newspaper, writing the first story about
the UT tower illuminated in orange following football victories. |
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Marker photos courtesy of Faye
Cunningham |