On the morning of December 19, 2020 Thomas James Wilkinson left his family and friends to be with the Lord.

He was an only child born to Annette Mae and Walter James Wilkinson on November 3, 1938 in Libertyville, Illinois. He attended a one room schoolhouse until his family moved to Buena Park, California when he started in middle school.

Tom didn't attend college, but that didn't stop him from becoming a big success in designing programs for Aircrafts. He worked for Hughes Aircraft for many years, until he became an independent contractor designing the programs for machines that would then cut the metal for the use on airplanes and rockets. His final program was for the hatch that would be used on the space station.

During this time he had twins Kevin and Christina with his first wife. Later he remarried and had three children; James, Kari, and Belinda.

Tom then found the love of his life, Chris who he then spent the next 38 years with. He became the father to her two daughters; Lucie and Lisa. They shared these years doing the things they loved; traveling, bowling, attending Dodger games, and gardening.

During their time together, Chris and Tom found joy in decorating their home for Christmas in La Mirada, California. Over the 15 years their decorating grew from a small light display to a big show, becoming known as the Christmas House which hundreds of people visited nightly during the holiday season. They would dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and children were able to get their pictures taken with Santa. Thousands of dollars were raised over the years which was donated to several charities. They continued this tradition until they retired to Utah.

In Utah, Tom continued gardening and planted over 300 tulips in their yard. Tom's second greatest love was car racing. He started racing in 1969 at the Orange County International Raceway. He raced his 1966 Charger, known as Super Charger. He won many races becoming top in his league. On the final day OCIR was open, he was in the final race which he won!

Tom will be lovingly missed by his wife, 7 children, 16 grandchildren, and 20 great- grandchildren.

His name will always be remembered and will continue to live on through the men in the family with the same name.

Services will be held at a later date.