Col. John Spencer Wilkinson

January 4, 2017

COL John Spencer Wilkinson, USAF Ret., 83, of Bainbridge, Ga., passed away Wednesday, January 4, 2017.

The graveside memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2017, at Baltimore Cemetery in Baltimore, Md. Online visitors may sign the guest register at

www.iveyfuneral.com. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bainbridge Decatur County Humane Society, 1250 Cox Ave., Bainbridge, GA 39819.

Spencer was born February 18, 1933, in Baltimore, the son of Lawrence Melville Wilkinson and Vera Ida Armiger Wilkinson. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University in 1955. He served in the United States Air Force in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He was a Colonel in the Maryland Air National Guard with 37 years of service, and retired as the Director of Operations of the 135^th Airlift Group. After retirement he moved to Bainbridge, GA in 1994, where he became active in the Bainbridge Decatur County Humane Society, Bainbridge Decatur County Chamber of Commerce, and the Bainbridge Air Base and Southern Airways Reunion. He was a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Phyllis Jane Hatton Wilkinson of Bainbridge; his sons, John Spencer Wilkinson, Jr. and Todd Edgar Wilkinson; and his grandchildren, Amanda Catherine Wilkinson Tewey, Ethan Todd Wilkinson, Chase Conrad Wilkinson, and Atley Nash Wilkinson. He was preceded in death by his son, Blane Conrad Wilkinson.