Rev. Phillip Wayne Wilkinson

Funeral services for Rev. Phillip Wayne Wilkinson, 85, of Greenville will be at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, December 1, 2019 at Open Door Baptist Church. He passed away, Sunday, November 24, 2019 at University Mississippi Medical Center.  Burial will be at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.
 
He was born on September 24, 1934 in Clarksdale, MS the son of Thomas Wayne Wilkinson and Susie Baldwin Wilkinson.  He graduated from Greenwood High School in 1952.  While in junior high and high school he worked at the Greenwood Morning Star paper.  He joined the U. S. Navy in 1953.  After his discharge in 1957 he attended Mississippi State University, and while there he married Sondra Rode on January 30, 1959.  After his graduation from MSU they moved to Ft. Worth, TX where he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Once he graduated from Seminary School with a Master’s Degree they moved to Greenville where he taught at Greenville Christian School and attended Delta State University earning another Master’s Degree. While at Greenville Christian School he was a teacher, principal and headmaster.  He retired after a long career at the school, but did go back for one year after his retirement. 
 
Rev. Wilkinson preached at church’s in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. At the time of his death he was preaching at Open Door Baptist Church.
He is preceded in death by his parents, a son, Tim Wilkinson; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Charles E. and Louise Simmons Rode.
 
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Sondra Wilkinson of Greenville; two sons, Charles Wilkinson and wife, Melodie of Houston, MS and Phillip Wilkinson and wife, Susan of Greenville; two sisters, Shirley Lemonis (John) of McComb, MS and Elizabeth Callicutt of Roswell, GA; eight grandchildren, Toni, Laura Beth, Mabry, Zachary, Garrett, Sloan, Shaw and Ryder; and five great grandchildren, Bailey, Ryleigh, Loni Mae, Naomi, and Harper.
 
There will be a visitation from 12:30-2:00 p.m. on Sunday at the church.  Rev. Arthur Scott will officiate the services.