Chico ~ Lt. Col. Jesse Curtis Wilkins, 91, went to be with our Lord Tuesday, September 8, 2015 in Chico. Graveside service is 1:00 p.m. Saturday, September 12, 2015 at Chico Cemetery. Family will receive friends 6-8 p.m. Friday at Hawkins Funeral Home.
Jesse Curtis Wilkins was born November 29, 1923, in Portland, Oregon, to parents Dovie and Jesse Eric Wilkins. After living in Oregon and California in his very early years, he moved in with relatives on a dairy farm in Weatherford, Texas. After high school, he worked at the old Montgomery Ward building in Fort Worth, where he met his wife of 73 years, Jimmie Ruth Pebworth. During their first year of marriage, Jesse joined the Army Air Corps and after schooling became a pilot, later flying forty-plus missions during WWII in the Italian theater in his P-51, Ginning Jimmie. After the war he remained in the Air Force and after 23 years of service retired with a rank of Lt. Col. He then turned in his wings for a tractor and worked as a farmer and rancher with a herd of Black Angus on 140 acres in Chico, Texas. He and Jimmie were active members of the First Baptist Church in Chico, and he was a deacon for many years there.
Jesse went to be with our Lord September 8, 2015. Jesse is survived by his wife, Jimmie; daughters Pamela Rohr and Patti Biffar; daughter-in-law Beverly Wilkins; grandchildren Jesse Wayne Wilkins and wife Denise, Angela Wilkins, Aaron Biffar, and Andrea Biffar and husband J.D. Jones; six great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and a myriad of friends. He was predeceased by his brother, Donald Wilkins, and his son, Ronald Wilkins.
Lt. Col. Jesse Wilkins was truly an exceptional man of the greatest generation. He will be sorely missed by his loving family and friends.
Hawkins Funeral Home, Bridgeport, Texas, 940-683-2211
www.hawkinsfuneralhome.com
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