Jean Pearsall Wilkinson

Jean was born in the first Rex hospital in Raleigh to Robert James Pearsall and Jessie Bell Knight. She was a classic Southern Lady, born and raised in Raleigh and she was proud of that. After graduating from Pineland School in Salemburg, NC, she went to work for the DMV.

While attending Pineland, she met Samuel R. Wilkinson who was a student at Edwards Military Institute. They married in August 1947 while Sam was getting his degree in Mechanical Engineering at NC State College. In 1953, they built their home on Wells Avenue which was on the western edge of Raleigh at that time. When their son David was born in 1954, she quit work to raise her family. When David was 15, she returned to work as a secretary in the Horticulture Dept. at NC State until she retired in 1991. Being a good seamstress, she joined her son and daughter-in- law as a volunteer at the Raleigh Little Theatre where she volunteered for twenty years. In 2014, she was acknowledged as the oldest active volunteer at RLT.

She was predeceased by her husband in 2009. Jean is survived by her son David and his wife Judi. She is also survived by her brother Jere Pearsall and wife Blanche, sister Jackie Ashworth and husband A.D., sister Kathy Huegerich and husband George and various nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at the Brown-Wynne Funeral Home at 300 St. Mary's Street in Raleigh on Thursday, November 3rd at 2:00. Interment will be at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her memory be made to the Raleigh Little Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh NC 27607 or J.C. Raulston Arboretum, 4415 Beryl Rd., Raleigh NC 27606.