Woods Wilkinson

Woods Watkins Wilkinson, cowboy, soldier, highway patrolman, oilman and entrepreneur, know to all as Watt, has gone to rejoin his life mate of more than seventy years, Brooksie, where united once again they will waltz across the heavens in each others arms as once they waltzed across Texas and around the world.

Watt was born in Throckmorton, Texas on February 2, 1919 to Brice Wilkinson and Caroline Reynolds Wilkinson, decendant of two famed pioneer ranching families, the Reynolds and the Matthews. Watt was second cousin to Watt Matthews, owner of the legendary Lambshead Ranch along the Clear Fork of the Brazos. Another of Watts famed forebears was Arizona sheriff, Glen Reynolds, murdered by the Apache Kid.

As a youngster, Watt lived in Ruidoso and Capitan areas, at one time in the Old Mill, where with his parents and brothers, he broke horses, cut wood, milked cows to make butter to be taken to the railhead in Carrizozo, and any other form of work the family could find to keep food on the table in hard times.

Watt and Brooksie became high school sweethearts in Throckmorton in the mid1930s and married young in 1937. They began a family before Watt was called to serve in the 65th Infantry Division, one of the units that made up Pattonss famed Third Army which drove through the heart of Germanoccupied Europe and helped bring down Hitlers Third Reich. Watt was awarded the Bronze Star and was very proud to have earned the right to wear the coveted Combat Infantrymans Badge.

Returning from the war, Watt resumed his duties as a Texas Highway Patrolman but soon got involved in the oil industry where he worked his way up from being a roughneck in West Texas oilfields to area manager of multiple offshore drilling rigs in the Far East. In the course of his long career, Watt lived and worked in many exotic places: South America, Indonesia, Iran, Dubai, Singapore, and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. Brooksie accompanied him on most of these foreign assignments including their twilight overseas tour in Venezuela.

During all these adventures, Odessa was home base for the Wilkinsons but upon retirement in the mid1980s, Watt and Brooksie came back to the mountains where he had lived as a boy and resided happily in Ruidoso for the remainder of their lives.

Watt was preceded in death by his wife, Brooksie Nell Tudor Wilkinson and all his many siblings except for younger brother, Earl Wilkinson and wife Kathy of Little Rock, AR. He was also preceded in death by a granddaughter, Jana Hammitt. He is survived by sons, Lawrence Wilkinson of Hopkinsville, KY and George Wilkinson of Ruidoso daughters, Carol Hammitt of Paige, TX and Linda Vaughn and her husband Russ of Ruidoso. He is also survived by three granddaughters, Kathleen Winebarger and husband Staff Sergeant Robbie Winebarger of Ft. Campbell, KY, Laura Wilkinson of Chicago, IL and Julie Deyerle and husband Daniel of Monterey, CA as well as several great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitaton will be Friday, May 28, at LaGrone Funeral Chapel from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM. The funeral service will be Saturday, May 29, also at LaGrone Funeral Chapel at 1:00 PM with burial to follow at the Ruidoso Hondo Valley Cemetery.

Visitation

LaGrone Funeral Chapel of Ruidoso
341 Sudderth Dr.
Ruidoso, NM  88345
Friday, May 28, 2010
5:00 PM until 7:00 PM

Service

Funeral Service

LaGrone Funeral Chapel
341 Sudderth Dr.
Ruidoso, NM  88345
Saturday, May 29, 2010
1:00 PM

Cemetery

Ruidoso Hondo Valley Cemetery
MM 267.5 on U.S. Highway 70
Ruidoso Downs, NM  88346