Peter Ridley Wilkinson

Pete graduated from Colgate University with a bachelor’s degree in economics, a 4-year soccer letterman award, a love for singing as a member of the Colgate 13, and an experience as a ROTC cadet, which led to an amazing career in the Air Force.

As an airman in the United States Air Force he piloted C-130’s, flying two tours in Vietnam before transitioning to human resource management, earned an MSA in Industrial Personnel Management from George Washington University and eventually moved to strategic program management. He ended his Air Force career leading research and development for various organizations and space programs.

After retiring from the Air Force, he joined Rockwell / Boeing’s aerospace division as the Director of Strategic Planning and earned a PHD in Leadership and Human Behavior at Alliant International University.

Pete lived a purpose-filled life. He met his wife Terri while stationed in Columbus, OH, proposed two months later and they were successfully married for 52 years. He often described her as the “Wind Beneath his Wings”. Upon marriage, he committed to Terri that he would have three phases of his life – the Air Force, a post Air Force career to support his wife and family, and then dedicate his remaining time to giving back.

True to his word, he retired from the Air Force, then from Boeing, and committed the rest of his life to mentoring disadvantaged children (CASA), supporting veterans (MOA, Honor Flight, Veterans Court), protecting wildlife (Columbus Wild Center), aiding the homeless (Columbus Street Church), and leading multiple church related initiatives, one in which resulted in the construction of a new church itself, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Santa Margarita, CA.

Pete was a family man to his core. His early days with his siblings included painting tar on the now legendary rock and playing with fishing knives in Mamaroneck, NY. He deeply loved each and every one of his children, grandchildren, brothers and sister, aunts, uncles and cousins – often calling his family his biggest accomplishment. He loved family time and made every outing an event. He turned road trips into adventures, simple vacations into amusement parks, never missed a chance to bodysurf in the ocean and loved to sit back with appreciation and take it all in.

His absolute favorite times were spent around family dinners debating solutions to the world’s problems. The Supreme Court has nothing on Pete Wilkinson’s family dinners starting even when his kids were as young as 10. Nothing was off limits, but you better come prepared. Family holidays and extended family reunions brought him great joy, he could continue debating anything and everything and ending the night singing with the whole Wilkinson/Decker crew.

He loved classical music, snow covered trees, airplanes, weather, bourbon, political conversations, storytelling, racquetball, mentoring, diet coke, and crisp bacon. He was preceded in death by his mother Isabel Decker and father Milton Decker. Pete is survived by his wife Terri, his children Sean (Kate) Wilkinson, Shannon (Chris) Diffley, Scott (Emily) Wilkinson and his grandkids Mia, Ty, Charlie, Mackenzie, Kellen and Isabel.

In the end, he would have asked for a simple celebration without a lot of hoopla, and we want to honor his well-lived life this way. A memorial service will be held at St. Andrews Anglican Church 7481 S Old State Rd, Lewis Center, OH on February 18th at 3:00 p.m., followed by a celebration of his life from 4:30 p.m. -6:30 p.m. at 4124 Worth Ave, Columbus. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Wounded Warriors Project (woundedwarriorproject.org) or Tunnels to Towers (www.t2t.org), two organizations close to his heart.