James Wilkinson |
| Posted 2009-01-24 by Judy Wight Branson |
| Herald & Review, Decatur, Illinois Wednesday, January 10, 2001 James Wilkinson, 87, formerly of Bethany, died Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001, in Prescott, Ariz. Services will be noon Friday in Humboldt Arizona Bible Church. Visitation will be 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in Memory Chapel Mortuary, Prescott, Ariz. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Alzheimer's Association or Humboldt Arizona Bible Church for either their Awana Fund or Mission Fund, 2500 Old Black Canyon Highway, Humboldt, Ariz., 86329. Jim was born Aug. 17, 1913, in Bethany. He was a longtime Yavapai County resident. Jim first went to Arizona at age 11. He worked each summer on the family Granite Dells Ranch and returned to Illinois for school each fall. He attended the University of Illinois and began his business career working in the family lumberyards located in Bethany and several other Central Illinois towns. Then, in 1946, he moved permanently to Arizona. Jim worked his own ranch in Granite Dells and was the rancher and owner of the original Rifle Ranch, a store specializing in custom rifles, hand loading equipment, shooting and hunting supplies. Jim loved to hunt, and this passion took him around the world. He hunted in Alaska and Canada in the 1950s, Africa in the 1960s, and then visited even more exotic destinations in the 1970s. These included the countries of India, Afghanistan, Iran and Nepal. Of all the big game, the mountain sheep was his obsession. He collected all four varieties of North American sheep known as the Grand Slam. Then he became the tenth person in the world to acquire the Super Slam, a collection of 16 different types of sheep found on four separate continents. Surviving are his wife, Clarice; son, Bill and wife Laura; grandchildren, Brooke Curtiss, Nathan, Jared, Meggie and Shawn Wilkinson; step-children, Eric Carmichael, Scott Carmichael, Donna Voorhest, Kathy Smith and Jennifer Cota; several cousins, nieces and nephews. |
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