B. J. Wilkes' Obituary
Baron J. Wilkes, 97 passed away on November 24, 2014. He was born in White County, AR near Searcy. He was preceded by his wife Gladys Bailey Wilkes; parents, Tom and Avie Wilkes; siblings, Virginia Joiner, Waid Wilkes, Wayne Wilkes, Carolyn Thompson, Faye Carpenter, Tommie Lee Blevins. He leaves a sister, Ruby Glen of Memphis, three children; Ann Diller of Tampa, FL, Baron J Wilkes Jr. (Susan) of Bartlett, William Bailey(Tamara) of Lakeland, TN, five grandchildren; Deborah Coffey of IL, Christina Coffey of Tampa, FL, BJ Wilkes III of Munford, TN, Allison Wilkes ST. Clair of Bryan, TX, and Nathalia Steffanetta of Cordova, TN. He was a WWII veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart. He retired from Wayne’s Candy Company and prior to Wayne’s spent over 30 years as an independent candy salesman. He was a long time member of Union Avenue Baptist Church. The family will receive friends from 11:30-1:00p.m. the service to immediately follow visitation at 1:00p.m. All services will be held at Memorial Park Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be sent to Forever Young Vets – foreveryoungvets.org at P.O. Box 1381 Collierville, TN 38027. This is an organization that returns veterans back to the places they fought. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, “Behind the Stone Wall.”
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