Vernon Ray Wilkinson, 83, Dearborn Heights, Mich., an Osawatomie native, died Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005, at Garden City Hospital in Garden City, Mich. 

He was born Jan. 29, 1922, in Osawatomie, the son of Fred Vernon and Ermyl Frances Arbogast Wilkinson. He later lived with his grandmother, Gertie Arbogast, in Osawatomie and was a 1940 graduate of Osawatomie High School. 

After graduating, he moved to Huntington, W.Va., where he attended Marshall College for two years and worked part-time for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. He was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps. 

After serving with the military, he returned to the C&O Railway on a full-time basis. In September 1963, he was transferred to Detroit as supervisor of signals. He retired in 1982. 

Mr. Wilkinson was an active alumnus of his Osawatomie High School class. He was an active member with the survivors of the 38th Bomb Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps and a member of Western Star Lodge No. 11, A.F.&A.M., of Guyandotte, W.Va. 

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Mary Miller Wilkinson; two daughters, Sharon McNeeley of the home and Bonnie Dlugosz of Livonia, Mich.; a son, James William Wilkinson of Brunswick, Ohio; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. 

Visitations were at Santeiu Funeral Home in Garden City and at Beard Mortuary in Huntington. Burial was in Woodmere Memorial Park in Huntington. 

Memorials may be made in Mr. Wilkinson's name to the American Lung Association. The Web site address is www.lungusa.org.