Wilbur Thomas Dickens, 93, of Omega passed away Monday, June 14, 2010, at Tift Health Care. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 17, 2010, at Omega Baptist Church. Rev. Walter Powell will officiate and Larry Lamb will give a eulogy. Burial will follow in Omega Cemetery. Grandsons serving as pallbearers will be Brad Grantham, Bart Grantham, Billy Hunke, Brian Hunke and nephews, Vinson Lewis and Danny Dickens. Honorary pallbearers will be his Sunday School class at Omega Baptist Church. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, June 16, 2010, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Born December 29, 1916 in Tift County near Omega, Wilbur grew up in the farming communities in Tift County and Macon County. He was the son of the late Charlie Earnest Dickens, originally of Upson County, and Clara Janie Harrison, originally of Meriwether County.
During World War II, Wilbur served with the 540th Combat Engineers in the Fifth U.S. Army and later the Seventh U.S. Army. Wilbur saw action in northern Africa (Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco and Arzew, Algeria), Palermo, Sicily, Italy (Anzio Beach, Rome, Civitavecchia, Salerno and Naples), France (Le Drammont, Lyon, Arbois, Epinal and the Alsace-Lorraine region), and Germany (Mannheim, Stuttgart, Heideldorf, Heilbronn, Munich, Bad Aibling and Berchtesgaden). After the war, Wilbur returned home, where he married Emma Vinson on December 27, 1945 in Norman Park, at the home of her parents, Jacob Alford Vinson and Ruth Grimes. They remained married until Emma’s passing in 2002, nearly 57 years. Wilbur was a long-time farmer in Tifton, working on his farm near Omega, and later in life, he also worked at J. P. Stevens Company in Tifton. He was a member of Omega Baptist Church for more than 50 years, where he served as a deacon and choir member. Throughout his life, Wilbur enjoyed attending Army reunions and in the past few years, he was noted as being the oldest living veteran in the community during Memorial Day celebrations.
Wilbur was preceded in death by his wife, Emma Vinson Dickens; his sister, Ruby Loette Dickens Whitworth; and his brothers, Horace Clifton Dickens, Charles Clarence Dickens and Delma Buren Dickens.
Wilbur is survived by his five daughters and sons-in-law, Ann and Carrel Grantham of Saint Simons Island, Tommie Ruth and John Bartlett of McRae, Juanita and Jim Hunke of Springfield, Virginia, Kathryn and Don Yates of Key West, Florida and Mary Ellen and Doug Hicks of Turner County; seven grandchildren, Brad Grantham of San Jose, California, Bart Grantham of New York City, Elizabeth Bartlett of Conyers, Jo Ann Bartlett of Warner Robins, Billy Hunke and Brian Hunke of Arlington, Virginia and D. J. Hunke of Springfield, Virginia; and his sisters, Margaret Dickens Weeks of Colquitt County and Nina Clarice Dickens Marshall of Albany.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of Tiftarea.