Donald W. "Don" Wilson

Donald W. "Don" Wilson, TSgt Retired USAF age 72, of Ocean Springs, MS., passed away on Monday, November 23, 2009, in Ocean Springs, surrounded by family and friends. Don was born on June 30, 1937, in Guymon, Oklahoma, to Woodrow W. and Ruby Jo Wilson. He attended schools in Biloxi acquiring a GED after enlisting in the Air Force. He served two tours in England and one in Thailand as well as Florida, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. After retiring from the Air Force in 1970 he worked at a newspaper and radio station in Enid, Oklahoma. He then moved back to the Coast where he worked at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, then as a house parent and director of L.O.V.E. Boys Home in Brookwood, AL. He was a counselor at Resource Center Shelter for Abused Women and Children in Pearl, MS., and retired to Ocean Springs in 2000. Don was a member of the Ocean Springs Hospital Auxiliary, where he served as Assistant Chaplain. He was a member of the Jackson County Amateur Radio Club, the ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio and the Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. He was also a member of the Worship Team of his church and enjoyed playing his guitar. Survivors include his wife, Emily Sanders Wilson, daughter, Sonja (Jesse) Turner, two sons, Donald (Lois) Wilson, Jr. and Victor (Lee Ann) Wilson, sister, Toni Wilson, two brothers, Bryant Wilson and Richard Wilson, foster brother, Gary Lombard, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Visitation will be on Saturday, November 28, 2009, from 10 AM - 11 AM, with an 11 AM chapel service, all at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Crestlawn Memorial Park. Brother Horace Vinson and Brother Bob Storie will officate the service and the pallbearers will be the grandsons, Adam Wilson, Lewis Hamner, Casey Wilson, Kyle Wilson and T.J. Johnson, and a son-in-law, Jesse Turner.