Rainey Bryan Wilkerson, Jr.

Rainey Bryan Wilkerson, Jr. June 23, 1922 – August 18, 2018 Rainey Bryan Wilkerson, Jr., 96 of Wilson passed away Saturday. His funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 414 Sunset Road, Wilson. Interment will follow in Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson. The Rev. Tom Watkins will officiate. The family will receive friends Thursday afternoon from 4 – 6 p.m. at Joyner’s Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway, Wilson. Rainey served his country with honor and pride with the U.S. Army and worked in truck sales and parts for over forty-nine years with Tobacco City Motors and Herring International. He was the one who named the “Tobs” baseball team in Wilson in 1939, and pitched batting practice from 1940 – 1941. Rainey was a person who gave back to his community volunteering at the soup kitchen for twenty-two years, Meals on Wheels for thirty-two years, First Presbyterian Church for twenty-two years, and Habitat House where he assisted with building seven homes. He was also the maintenance man for the Wesley Shelter and he volunteered at the baseball museum and the clothesline. Rainey is survived by his granddaughter, Julie W. Smith and her husband, Brendan of Sylvania, Ohio; grandson, Robert D. Wilkerson, Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland; great-grandchildren, Leah Diane Smith and Parker Douglas Smith both of Sylvania, Ohio; his niece, Patty Corbett and her husband, Tom of Wilson, and daughters-in-law, Carol Wilkerson of Toledo, Ohio and Dottie Wilkerson of Sylvania, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his wife, Blanche Wilkerson, and son, Doug Wilkerson. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Rainey’s memory to First Presbyterian Church, Jim McKinnon Fund, PO Box 3184, Wilson, North Carolina 27895. Condolences may be directed to Joyner’s Funeral Home at www.joyners.net.