A celebration of Quentin’s life will be held on Saturday, September 07, 2019 at 2pm in the First Presbyterian Church, 1100 S. Harrison, with Brady Clark presiding.
Quentin was born Nov. 21, 1942 in Warrior Mine, West Virginia to Eston and Jessie (nee Richardson) Wilson. He attended and graduated from Big Creek High School, Warrior Mine, W. Virginia. He Graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor Degree in Chemistry, and did post graduate work at West TX State University. He worked as a chemist in Midland TX, and as a petroleum engineer living in Texas and Oklahoma. He was an inventor, entrepreneur and an original rocket boy. When he was in high school, he and five other boys built rockets (in the mid-fifties), winning the National Science Fair. The movie October Sky and the memoir Rocket Boys written by Homer “Sonny” Hickam (one of the boys) featured them and their achievements.
Quentin is survived by his wife Janice Knighton Birkholz, daughters Laura Wilson of Hillsboro, OR, Jocelyn (Jocie) Buchanan and husband Kent of Amarillo TX, and Heather Wilson Hillsboro, OR; a sister Dr. Keren Brown Wilson of Happy Valley, OR; and grandchildren Lance Corp. Emilio Buchanan USMC, and Justin Buchanan. Quentin was preceded in death by his parents Eston Wilson, and Jessie F. Richardson Wilson; Brother Richard Wilson, and sisters Eula Vee Wallace, Dona Sanders, and Bonnie Huckaby.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made in honor of Quentin’s mother to the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation, 15900 S.E. 82nd Dr. Clackamas OR 97085 or Tascosa Lions Club, 3321 Bell Street Suite B, Amarillo, TX 79106