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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KEVIN
WILSON 'S FATHER PASSES AWAY
Tom Wilson's 6 year battle with Cancer comes to and end.
April 9, 2009 -- Prologue
If Nathanael was an Israelite in whom there was no guile, Leonard “Tom” Wilson was his 21st century American counterpart. Born in Iowa, his life journey took him to many states in his beloved native land. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Tom was first a devoted follower of His Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. His testimony was consistent and lifelong. He possessed what he professed. He was a loving husband dedicated to his family’s needs, a first-class father, a faithful friend, a patriot and a servant to his fellow man.
Multi-talented, Tom loved people and was unselfish in his service to his fellow human beings. He was generous with his time and with his talents. He had a passion for classical music, which revealed itself in the early 1970’s when Tom took violin lessons for three years in order to practice with his son, and he excelled at it. He proudly waved Old Glory. He loved God, Country and his wife’s apple pie.
His Life 
Leonard Thomas Wilson, Jr., “Tom” was born July 18, 1932 in Waukee, Iowa, to Leonard Thomas Wilson, Sr., and Wilda Jane Campbell Wilson, and was graduated to glory Thursday, April 9, 2009. His folks moved to California, then to Yuma, Arizona where they would live until Tom was 16. When he was nine years old, Tom contracted rheumatic fever and was bedridden for four and one/half months. Doctors told his parents that he would probably not live to be 20 years of age heart damage caused by the disease.
At the age of 16, Tom and his family moved to Seymour, Iowa, finishing his Senior year in 1949. He worked on his father’s farm there until he was 19. Four times Tom attempted to enlist in the Air Force, but was denied each time because he failed to pass the physical exam. When he was 19, while working in the field during harvest, Tom came under deep conviction and announced to his Dad that he wanted to attend the revival meeting that was being held in their church. His father said, “Well, son, we will go tonight.” They did and Tom publicly confessed Christ as his Savior.
In 1954, Tom was finally drafted by the United States Army. However, his
parents were good friends with the woman who ran the local draft board in
Seymour, Iowa, and they convinced her to open the draft board office on a
Sunday. They met the lady at the draft board, and she signed Tom up into
the United States Air Force, thus fulfilling Tom's dream of joining the
Air Force. He served one year as a Airman First Class before being medically discharged due to heart damage. He was always very proud of that tenure of military service and had he realized his dream, he would have become an Air Force pilot.
Tom attended Baptist Bible College of Springfield, Missouri, and later Baptist Bible College of Denver, Colorado. In 1952 Tom met the love of his life, Mary Ann Slutts of Ottumwa, Iowa and in 1954 they married. To this union was born three sons.
Following his service in the Air Force, Tom attended Emily Griffith Trade School in Denver, Colorado for four years, where he learned the watch making trade and from which he received an Associate’s Degree in Engineering.
He employed his engineering skills in watch making, in the aeronautics industry, repairing aeronautical instruments for Continental Airlines and TWA, and at the Bendix Corporation in the research and development of high altitude aircraft computers and instrumentation. During his time working for the airlines, Tom was able to travel the globe with his bride and family.
Following his work for Continental Airlines in Denver, he and his family moved to Davenport, Iowa. In 1971, when his older sons were teenagers, Tom and Mary Ann moved their family to a farm near Downing, Missouri. Tom was owner and operator of a jewelry business in downtown Memphis, Missouri during that time.
He and his family were founding members of Faith Baptist Church in Keosauqua, Iowa.
In 1977 the Westclox Corporation would employ Tom in Charlotte, NC, which moved the family to the South. Less than two years later,
Westclox transferred Tom to Norcross, GA, taking the family to the Atlanta area; his wife Mary Ann worked for
Westclox in the same facility for approximately two years during that time. Later Tom worked for a few other engineering firms including Nordson and the Duracell Corporation. Tom rounded out a full and fruitful career spending twenty years in the Keystone Lock Service, Inc of Lilburn, GA working for and with his son, Kevin.
His Faith
Through the years, Tom was always active serving the Lord in and through local churches. He was a deacon in Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Denver, in Faith Baptist Church in Keosauqua, Buford Highway Baptist Church and Killian Hill Baptist Church and more recently Grace Baptist Church of Ellijay, Georgia where Tom and Mary Ann maintained a residence for twelve years.
Tom was known and respected for his wisdom, sound judgment and for his love and loyalty to the men of God under whose guidance he served.
Tom was an unashamed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace with God when he was but a lad, and began a life-long journey with Jesus. He put his shoulder to the plow and never looked back, and when his final summons came, he was indeed “fit” for the kingdom of heaven. He was a faithful steward of those building blocks the Master fitted for him, and he used them well. He built a life, a home, and family, a testimony that to the end was unwavering, and he could very well have expected his Lord to say those cherished words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
His Family 
Left to mourn his passing are his loving and devoted wife of 54 years, Mary Ann, his sons Kerry Lance Wilson (Joyce), Kevin Ray Wilson (Catherine) and Brian Andrew Wilson (Amy), a brother Ron Wilson, a sister Adda Lou Gaylord, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren, as well as a host of other loved ones and friends.
His Wings 
Outside of his faith and family, Tom will be remembered for his love of flight. He dreamed of flying the plane that he had built, and though it was not to be his lot of living that dream, he took great satisfaction in putting the aircraft that he had built with his own hands into the hands of a seasoned, active military pilot from Oklahoma, who shortly thereafter christened it for a virgin flight. Tom’s exceeding patience in putting that aeronautical creation together piece by piece, year after year, in one garage after another, was the source of amazement to all who knew his story. Most of us would have never started, and having started only a very few would have continued and of those who might have continued, it is unthinkable to imagine that anyone would have finished, but Tom did!
His Charity
Tom served His Lord. He loved the Word of God. He loved its precepts and its preaching. He served in and through the Church that Jesus Christ founded and has been building since the day of Pentecost. He proudly served as a deacon in his local church, and he took his responsibilities seriously. He was an encourager. His outlook was more an uplook. He was kind, caring and compassionate. He not only affirmed his love by what he said, he demonstrated his love by what he did. Tom never said an unkind word about anyone. Nothing was too much to ask for; if you need a coat, he would give you his cloak also. He gave in the spirit of His Master having learned well the lesson that He taught when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
His Country
Tom was fiercely patriotic. He loved America. He had no tolerance for those who used their liberty to badmouth the land of the free and home of the brave. He studied history and was a student of the times, and his heart grieved over those in public office or in private life who sold their country
short. He was a firm believer in his 2nd amendment rights. He not only believed he had a constitutional right to bear arms, he loved guns and at one time had amassed an impressive collection of some rare and valuable firearms. He had a healthy view of what a gun was for and of what it would do and he respected their place in our free world. Tom was a freedom fighter, not one who resorted to violence but one who believed deeply in what America was founded on and for and he was an informed defender of our freedoms.
His Character
All of us who knew Tom in any way can say without equivocation that we are the richer for having known him, whether as a friend, a family member, a member of the household of faith, a neighbor or an acquaintance.
Men of his character and caliber come along in life just occasionally. When they touch our lives we are never the same after they are gone. Often, when they are in our midst we do not appreciate fully what we have in having them, but when they are gone, the impact and imprint of their lives, having left their indelible prints upon us, appear in all the significance that sometimes only time can reveal. Such was the man Tom Wilson.
He was gentle and kind. He was intelligent and patient. He was devoted and caring. He was a man of both strength and meekness. He set the bar high for those he left behind.
He was a servant. He served sometimes tediously. He labored tirelessly. His last and long battle for life was fought with the valiant spirit that so characterized his life: steadfastly, courageously, tenaciously and without complaint or doubting questions.
His Legacy
He lived his life for others. He lived his life with eternity in view. He lived his life well. He died courageously having fought a good fight of
faith. Tom ran with patience the race set before him, he fought a good fight, he kept the faith and he finished his course and henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness [2 Tim. 4:8].He is now blessed for he has found rest from his labors and his works do follow him.
What a Blessed Reunion!
Gwinnett
Daily Post
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- Kevin Wilson Master Locksmith
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via Fax or Email and it is delivered to Kevin's Blackberry
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