• General Notes

  Richard Allen Wilkin is the third son of Emmitt Richard Wilkin. He was born in Newark, Licking County, Ohio on July 9, 1946. There were a total of five children born to the marriage of Emmitt Wilkin and Millie Mable Hunt, they were: Betty Louise, James Edward, Donald Lee, and the twins Richard A. and Margaret Ann.
  
  Richard and his siblings grew up on a farm about five miles West of Utica, Ohio and two miles South of the village of Homer, Ohio. The farm was located on US Hwy 62 just West of the crossroads of US Hwy 661 and US Hwy 62. (At what used to be the site of the Famous Eight Corner Barn).
  
  This farm has lots of memories for the Wilkin siblings, both good and not so good. Many days were spent along the Lake Fork Creek that runs through the center of the farm, and divides it horizontally just south of the old farmhouse and barns. Swimming, fishing, and frog hunting were the favorite activities during the summer months after chores and farm work was done. Of course there was enough WORK. to go around as the family always had two truck gardens and lots of hogs, cattle, and chickens to care for. Along with the nearly 200 acres of crops, such as corn, wheat, oats, and lots of hay to be baled most of which was required for all the livestock for winter feeding. So many hours were filled in the fields working with the crops. Also, to help the farming and the family, Emmitt was involved doing work off the farm doing harvesting and hay baling for a large variety of neighbors and other people in the community. SO naturally, the main crew that was used at most of these locations was the sons of his family.
  
  All members of the Wilkin family were kept busy like so many farm families of the day were and most likely still are today, but the work was hard and taught values as well as kept most of the children of the day out of trouble.
  
  At the age of five, Richard found out the hard way that people have to deal with handicaps to succeed in all of life, when he fell from a hay wagon and broke his right elbow. For months he struggled with first the fact that in those days the elbow could not be worked with very well. The doctors of the day worked with it to get it to heal, then physical therapy of the day required Richard to carry a little bucket and to add stones each day until the strength was built up enough to be able to use the arm. This was only partly successful but it did work well enough to do most of the work and activities required for First Grade.
  
  When Richard and Margaret were just teenagers, their parents separated and were divorced in 1961. Richard and Margaret were the only two of the five children that were left at home. They moved to Croton, Ohio. it was quite a transition from the farm to rural town life. Throughout High School, Millie, Richard and Margaret lived in a rental apartment above the Croton Hardware Store. It was a great place to live. Many fond memories were helped by several good Christian People of that town and how they took care of this new family in there midst. Starting with Ned and Marjorie DeBolt, who owned the Hardware Store. Mrs. DeBolt was Math teacher at the New Northridge North High School and was responsible for getting the family moved to Croton and help them to get set up. They were two wonderful People very dear to Millie, Margaret and Richard.
  
  Next there were the many people from the Croton Church of Christ Family that were always there to give a hand and too many to name individually, but they surely will receive God's Blessings for taking all of the strays in and making them feel God's Love.
  
  One of the most important people of Croton, to Richard had to be a lady named Grace Grandstaff. Grace owned and operated the Red and White Market in the Center of Croton, and hired Richard at the age of 13, as a carry-out boy. Over the next several years she instructed Richard in all matters involved with the Grocery Store Business. She also assisted in his development with responsibilities and understanding a lot about life in general.
  
  It was while living at Croton that Richard managed to shatter his right elbow again, but this time through the intervention of Dr. Carl Coleman and the University of Ohio Medical Center, was able to get surgical repair of the right elbow and regain almost 85 percent use of it. With more surgery to repair some nerve damage and lots of therapy it turned out to be only a slight handicap from that time to the present. (Oh the wonders of new Science and Medical Talents.)
  
  Richard was at the cutting edge of Technology and new advances in several areas of Ohio and the Nation. A new project for High Schools was set up in Licking County, where for the last two years of his High School he was able to attend Heath Vocational High School in the studies of Electrical and Electronics Technology. Then even before graduating he was successful at being employed as a TV and Radio Repairman in the village of Johnstown, Ohio. Shortly after graduating from both Heath Vocational High School and Northridge High School at the same time as his sister Margaret, Richard joined the United States Air Force. Here he received training for repairing Avionics Systems (Navigation Aid Systems) used in all of the Air Force aircraft. This was to fulfill a boyhood fantasy to be able to work on highly advanced electronics equipment and airplanes at the same time.
  
  Richard managed to go on to complete several notable accomplishments while serving with the U. S. Air Force. His list of schools and courses spanned all of his almost 21 years of career with the USAF, and the opportunity to travel to almost twenty different countries was a very beneficial experience. None of these more prominent than when in 1979 he was added to the list of people to perform Maintenance and operations of the Airborne Command and Control Systems (the Airborne Command Post) both on the ground and also in-flight. After nearly 7000 flying hours and much time spent in alert facilities across the upper northwest part of the U. S. He had attained the rank of Tech. Sergeant and Senior Air Crewman, with several honors to his credit. This was an extremely prestigious position as there are very few enlisted members of the U. S. Air Force who ever hold a flying position. He thanks the good Lord who granted him the talents to hold and maintain that kind of Honor. (Not too bad for a youth that had a slight handicap who was told he could never do that sort of thing.)
  
  One of the greatest things in Richard's life came about when he eloped with his High School Sweetheart to be married in Greensboro, North Carolina, July 12, 1965. He was married to Anna Marie Hicks of Alexandria, Ohio. They managed, with several interruptions by the USAF, to have three children added to their union. First came Juanita Annette Wilkin on August 6, 1966, next Glenda Jean Wilkin on July 14, 1968 and last but not least was Paul Allen Wilkin on Aug. 2, 1971. They lived in Wichita, Kansas; Johnstown, Ohio (While Richard was in Southeast Asia); Outville, Ohio; Adana, Turkey; Grissom AFB, Indiana; Hastings, Nebraska; Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Rapid City, South Dakota.
  
  After retiring from the Air Force, Rick as he is called now, moved to Michigan and accepted a position as Field Service Engineer for Photon Sources in Livonia, Michigan. This company developed industrial CO2 Laser systems for the fast and precision cutting and welding of metal and several other materials. These systems were computer controlled, and varied from very small units to very large and powerful units. On one occasion when a test block would happen to be knocked down it demonstrated its power by punching a quarter-sized hole right through a concrete block in the wall. This was really exciting top-drawer technology and Rick quickly rose through the ranks to become the Technical Support Engineer and then Department Manager in about one and one-half years. Unfortunately the life in the Air Force had not prepared him for a civilian world that was full of words like "HOSTILE TAKE-OVERS" and "LAYOFFS". Having only heard the Word
  
  "DOWNSIZING", just about six months after climbing to the Manager position, those words became very meaningful as Rick received his PINK SLIP. It was one of the hardest blows that he had ever experienced in his working career. But things have to move on and so did he.
  
  The next position he accepted was with UTDC CORP. They were the company that was building and setting up the automated train system for downtown Detroit, Michigan called "THE PEOPLE MOVER". He was hired as one of the Senior Electronic Techs. that were to maintain the system and keep it running. This was very good training and soon he was able to master even operating the train which was a thrill. He did his usual thing of sinking his teeth and soul into this system. He was soon approached by the Operations Managers to become the Communications and Maintenance Operations Supervisor. Wow, that was quite a position of responsibilities. Then it was time for the reality check, along with accepting the position Rick and his family would be required to move from their relatively safe and comfortable home in Garden City to the hostile and sometimes very deadly inter city of Detroit itself. This was to insure that all of the employees lived inside the Detroit City limits because Detroit was taking over the operations and business of the People Mover. Well, when they informed Rick that Quote "He had no choice about the matter" this kind of went against the twenty some years which he had served this Country to insure the rights of its citizens to have choices, So three days later Rick went to work for Great Lakes Steel in Ecorse, Michigan as the 80 inches Hot Mill Electrical Foreman. After about two years with Great Lakes Steel, Rick's health began to show signs of trouble and he was told by his Doctor that he would have to get out of that environment or he would probably not last long.
  
  Just a few weeks later he had accepted a position with Toyota Machinery of Arlington Heights, Illinois. This was as Field Service Engineer, and would launch him into the world of High Tech Computer Controlled Machining Centers. Although it meant very long periods away from home it became a very good place for a person to develop skills with Electronics, Electrical and Mechanical Sciences that do not seem to be readily available anywhere else in today's world. Rick was able to do his work very well and when the Shutdown or Downsizing of Toyota USA was appearing, was able to move to another company then to the next as he had to in order to keep the paycheck that he and Anna were used to having to pay the bills. While working for Mazak Corp., Rick started suffering mini-strokes and memory loss it became severe enough that he was placed on full disability in July of 1997. This condition is ongoing today and the outcome doesn't look good. But he wanted to leave his children and grandchildren with something to bring them closer to the family that had been so distant, with all those long years away from home in the service of the country and all the traveling of his profession. He started researching the Wilkin Family History and the more contacts that he made with cousins and ancestors the bigger the task became. Well, today you will find in these pages the fruits of months of searching through Family Bibles, County records, interviews with older living relatives, notes from family input, and many hours spent in libraries in five states. With the assistance of his lifelong companion and sometimes seemingly unappreciated partner in this world, Richard has attempted to authenticate these writings with hard substantiated fact and will continue as long as he is able to do so. He hopes to get to the roots of the WILKIN name back through time, but now even after many searches the research has only been able to verify back to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, But that is a very big history from then till today's family.
  
  By Richard A. (Rick) Wilkin
  
  Served on Temp Duties between 1967 and 1970 while stationed at McConnell AF Base, Wichita
  Numerous other T DY assignments
  June 1997, Placed on permanent disability
  May 21, 1964, Graduated Northridge HS and Heath Area VoTech HS
  August 3, 1964, Entered US Air Force
  September 1, 1984, Retired from USAF (E6) TSgt
  Served in Vietnam and Thailand-8/66 to 9/67

Details of Richard's family with Anna Marie Hicks