Diana Wilkerson

Diana Jean Jones Wilkerson of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, passed away on Wednesday, September 30th in Rockwall Texas, after a long and valiant struggle with COPD. She was 79.

Mom loved God, her family, and adventure. The only reason her kids turned out well is because of who our mom was. For almost my entire childhood, Mom was active in our church because faith was important to her. She led Sunday early morning worship quite often. She led vacation bible school for three years in a row. She also wrote and directed several Christmas and Easter pageants. Every time, she would sweet-talk Dad into building props and sets for them. Eventually, she persuaded Dad to become a baptised member of our church. The main reason we turned out as well as we did was because Mom had made a point of putting Jesus front and center during our young lives and living the example of how to do that.

Mom was the glue that held our family together. We were very blessed with her kind and persevering spirit. Rarely was she not able to find the joke in a situation. She was always excited and supportive of what we did: if we did any art, or any performance she was there. She was also a fiercely proud Blue Star Mom in support of my brother Billy’s military service. We were so fortunate to have her shrewd and competent manner if a catastrophe struck. Especially during those three a.m. phone calls from one of us who'd ended up somewhere we shouldn’t have. None of us knows where we would be if we had not had the kind of mom who answered late night phone calls. Thank God she always picked up. When she became a grandmother, she doubled down on that. She dropped everything if one of her beloved grandchildren called, and they would talk for hours about everything and nothing. Mom was the best cheerleader, confidante, sounding board, and advice-giver who ever lived, and boy howdy did that world-class sense of humor come in handy. Dad stayed smitten with her his whole life, and if you ever caught how he looked at her, you could see how in love they were. So, they remained until his death.

Mom had a love of adventure great and small. She could play a mean game of Cribbage, Farkle, or Scrabble. For as long as she was able, she DRESSED for the holidays, and everyone who saw her became as excited as she was about the celebration of the day. Thanksgiving pilgrim. Halloween witch. Christmas Reindeer. A wardrobe of holiday-themed earrings RuPul would envy. She was also great at housewarmings. If one of her kids or grandkids moved to a new place, one of her first comments was, “When can I come visit?” Dallas. New Orleans, Fort Campbell. Fort Richardson. Provincetown. If we moved there, she would come. Truthfully, mom was always up for a travel adventure: sightseeing in New York and LA, parasailing and catamaran steering in Puerto Vallarta, and even a cruise or two to Hawaii or Alaska. Mom was the best travel companion because wherever she visited, she held a childlike sense of wonder and appreciation for the sights, the people, and the food. She loved to experience the world, and she taught us all a lot about appreciating it. Today, the world looks a lot less bright because Mom is no longer in it.

Diana was preceded in death by her parents, Bob and Mary, her brother Bobby, her husband Larry and her grandson Logan. She is survived by her daughter Wendi, her sons, Larry and Billy, her stepdaughter Kim, her granddaughter Alexis, and her grandsons Jayden, Matthew, and Nate.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 10th, at Dillon Funeral Services in Sand Springs. The family requests that guests who come to honor Diana wear colors, as she would want us to focus on celebrating the life she had lived.