Cover photo for Buford Hayes Wilkerson's Obituary
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Buford Hayes Wilkerson

d. June 28, 2020

Buford Hayes Wilkerson

Dr. Buford Hayes Wilkerson passed away on June 28, 2020 after an illness of some months. He had been in failing health for years and had been living in the Bay Cove memory care unit in Biloxi. He was born January 19, 1927 in Lucedale, Mississippi. His parents were Elsie Alexander Wilkerson and Willie Wilkerson. Buford grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi and attended Gulfport High School. The family had a strong military history as his father, Willie and his uncle, Wilburn both served in the Navy and also in the Army in World War I. Both men were sharpshooters who were on the Atlantic fleet champion rifle team of the USS Louisiana in 1912. His Great-grandfather, Robert Alexander, served in the 11th Tennessee Infantry of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, losing a leg at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. In 1944, he enlisted in the Navy because “Both my brothers were overseas and I didn’t want them to come back bragging that they had been to the war and I hadn’t.” He did his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station and was assigned to USS Wilkes, DD-441, a destroyer. His ship escorted USS Franklin, an aircraft carrier, to Pearl Harbor. As a member of the crew of the Wilkes, he fought in the Naval battle of Okinawa. The Wilkes was on Radar picket station 12 and shot down two Japanese Kamikaze planes. The noise of the 5- inch guns later led to his hearing loss in old age. He turned 18 on a destroyer in the Pacific. After the war, he got his GED certificate and went to school at Perkinston Junior College on the GI bill. To his surprise, he found out that he was academically gifted, especially in math and sciences. On the advice of a good friend, Buford transferred to Ole Miss in Oxford. After completing 90 hours of college work, he was accepted into medical school. He completed 2 years of preclinical academic work in Oxford before transferring to the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis to complete his clinical externship. During his medical school years, he met Elsie Lorraine Tempest, a young Australian girl who came to Mississippi after WW2 to be with her sister and mother who lived in Jackson. Her mother had asked Buford to meet Lorraine at the bus station in Jackson. “I’ve been waiting for you, Lorraine,” he said as he took her suitcase. Marriage followed after a time of courting. After graduating from medical school in 1953, Buford served an internship at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta and worked off a scholarship loan from the state of Mississippi by serving as a staff physician at Whitfield state mental hospital, Sanatorium tuberculosis hospital, and private practice in Lumberton and Poplarville. The family increased by three sons. After a couple of years working in Louisiana, Buford settled his family in Gulfport, taking a staff physician position with the VA hospital. He worked in both the Biloxi and Gulfport divisions. The Gulfport VA on Biloxi Beach is where Buford and his family took refuge from Hurricane Camille, a category 5 hurricane in 1969. The stories of that night of 200 mph winds and storm surge of 24 feet became legendary in the family. Everything would change and Buford was forced to move his family to the Biloxi VA due to the devasting damage to the Gulfport VA, where they lived. He worked for the VA for about 25 years before retiring to Ocean Springs for a peaceful retirement with Lorraine. Buford’s greatest passion was his hunting camp in Lucedale where he taught his sons and grandchildren the love of the outdoors. He never got tired of walking his property paying careful attention to the trees, plants, birds, streams, and wildlife. He was preceded in death by Lorraine, who passed in 2012; and his middle son, Kimberly Hayes Wilkerson, who passed in 2017 of leukemia. He is survived by his sons, William Christopher Wilkerson (Phyllis) and Kelvin Paul Wilkerson (Audrey); daughter-in-law, Junie Wilkerson; four grandsons, Charles C., Owen, Zachary, and Ben; two granddaughters, Tempest (Lollie) Lenzer and Stella Wilkerson; and six great-granddaughters. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the DAV.org. A visitation will be held on Friday, July 3, 2020 from 12pm to 1 p.m. with a service at 1 p.m. all at Bradford- O’Keefe Funeral Home, Ocean Springs, MS. Burial will follow at Pine Grove Methodist Cemetery on Hwy 57 in Benndale. Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, Ocean Springs, is honored to serve this family.
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Past Services

Visitation

Friday, July 3, 2020

12:00 - 1:00 pm

Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home - Ocean Springs

911 Porter Avenue, Ocean Springs, MS 39564

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Funeral Service

Friday, July 3, 2020

Starts at 1:00 pm

Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home - Ocean Springs

911 Porter Avenue, Ocean Springs, MS 39564

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Interment

Pine Grove United Methodist Church

MS-57, Benndale, MS 39456

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