More detail on this person: Wilkerson Jr.,
William 11/7/1944 - 4/2/2017 Ann Arbor, Michigan
William McConihay Wilkerson Jr. was born on
November 7, 1944, in Chatham, Ontario. He was
raised by his parents William and Eileen in the
Chicago area. In 1962, he joined the United States
Army in order to pursue his life-long dream of
becoming an aviator. In 1965, William was deployed
to Vietnam. In 1966, he was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in war.
After returning to the United States, he met his
future wife, Catherine, while finishing his term
of military service as a flight instructor at Fort
Rucker. They married in 1967. Both entered
medical school in the early 1970s and became
practicing physicians. William practiced medicine
in Colorado, Montana, and finally in Michigan,
where he worked as an Associate Clinical Professor
of Emergency Medicine at the University of
Michigan for over twenty years. On April 2, 2017,
William died as a result of complications related
to multiple myeloma, a disease he contracted due
to exposure to agent orange in Vietnam, joining
the tens of thousands of other victims of agent
orange, both U.S. service members and countless
Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. He is survived
by his wife, his sister Beth Gorman, his three
children, Travis, Dylan, and Caitlin, and his four
grandchildren. William will be buried in a private
ceremony with a memorial service to follow at a
later date. In lieu of flowers, please donate to
Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility
Campaign: P.O. Box 303 - Prince Station, New
York, NY 10012-0006, or consider giving blood.
Published in Ann Arbor News on Apr. 16, 2017
This information was last updated 05/03/2017
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Date posted on this site: 04/13/2025
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