- Date Of Birth: November 24, 1952
- Date Of Death: January 18, 2019
- State: Colorado
David went home to be with his Creator at the Intensive Care Unit at St. Mary’s Hospital surrounded by loved ones after a brave 3-year struggle with myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer. David was born in Inguavuma, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa of his dental missionary parents, John Lloyd Wilkenson and Mildred Beryl (Baughman) Wilkenson. His maternal grandparents were Irvin C. Baughman and Eulalia I. (Anderson) Baughman. His paternal grandparents were John T. Wilkenson and Ida (Paulson) Wilkenson. David is survived by siblings John Raymond Wilkenson, Anita Lea (Wilkenson) Baillie, Daniel Allen Wilkenson, and Susan Marie (Wilkenson) Withrow. He is also survived by three children, Brandon James Wilkenson of Grand Junction, and Brandon’s two half-brothers, Benjamin Nathaniel Wilkenson and Toby Samuel Wilkenson, who live in England, and numerous cousins. David, a graduate of Grand Junction High School, was an HVAC mechanic who began his career by graduating at the top of his class from the Navy Seabee refrigeration school in Port Hueneme, California. For his final exam, he had to construct a problem for the rest of the class to solve. The problem he constructed was so difficult and tricky that the neither the class nor the instructor could solve it. He was awarded a medal for expert marksmanship. He was stationed at Sigonella in Sicily, Italy during most of his tenure with the Navy Seabee Construction Battalion. Upon leaving the Navy, he went into business for himself as United Building & Maintenance Technologies.
David was a nondenominational man of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a big (6’4”), strong, man with an optimistic spirit and a kind and generous heart. He loved life. He was interesting and fun to be around and will be deeply missed by all who knew him. His greatest loves were his family, his Glade Park home, the great outdoors of Western Colorado, and the U.S. Constitution which he swore to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
David played football, and was an all-state bass player, at GJHS. He loved classical music, and played bass in the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra for many years. David was as close to a mechanical genius as it is possible to get. He could fix literally anything, and was an amazing fast and accurate diagnostician. He ministered to, and was greatly loved and admired by, many. The family would like to publicly thank the incredibly supportive critical-care team at St. Mary’s Hospital who stood by us until the end: Dr. Andrea Thornton, Chaplain Julie Parrish-Fender, and nurse Matt Schnepse.
