Grant Wilkinson

Grant Davis Wilkinson died suddenly during the night of May 5th-6th in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Grant was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 13, 1987 and lived in the city of his birth for six years before moving with his family to Pass Christian, Mississippi. He was baptized at Saint Frances Cabrini Church in New Orleans on December 5, 1987 and attended the parish school as a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten student. In June of 1993 he moved with his parents and four older siblings to Pass Christian where he attended St. Paul School for six years. Grant was an altar server at St. Paul Church and made his first communion there. He subsequently attended Saint Stanislaus College in Bay Saint Louis. Even as a young child, Grant was highly imaginative and continually seeking outlets for creative expression. He displayed an astonishing ability to produce highly detailed and carefully nuanced drawings at an early age. His innate representational skills suggested an eye which saw the world all too clearly; and so he sought his subjects in the fecund regions of his own imagination. An indifferent student in his younger days, he became a prodigious reader and skillful writer later in life. Sadly, tormented by the twin scourges of mental illness and addiction, he was never able to apply his gifts to pursuits that might have enabled him to find peace in this world. Nevertheless, Grant loved all living things, including exotic pets and equally exotic mushrooms. He worked for a time as a nurseryman and became highly knowledgeable regarding the cultivation of both decorative landscaping materials and plants with more practical uses. He loved gardening and was also an accomplished cook. Grant was quiet and gentle, treating family and friends with kindness and affection.
He was preceded in death by his loving grandparents, Arthur and Martha Grant of Pass Christian, and his equally loving grandmother, Dolores Imogene "Jean" Wilkinson in New Orleans.
He is survived by his parents, James Davis Wilkinson and Elaine Grant Wilkinson; brothers, James Beau Wilkinson of Atlanta, Georgia and Buckley Howell Wilkinson and wife Tiffany Rose Ingraham of Metairie, Louisiana; sisters, Anna Greene Allen of Manassas, Virginia and Bevin Wilkinson Taylor of Alexandria, Virginia and their respective spouses, Chadwick Davis Allen and Ryan Joseph Taylor; nieces, Holly Marie, Emily Rose and Lily Imogene Wilkinson and Hannah Laine Allen; and nephew Davis McCutchon Allen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint Paul Chapel, 199 East Scenic Drive in Pass Christian, at 2:00 p.m. Friday, May 12, 2017, with visitation beginning at 1:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society at Holy Family Parish, 22342 Evangeline Road, Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571.
RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 11280 Three Rivers Rd., Gulfport is serving the family. An online guestbook may be signed and memories shared at www.riemannfamily.com.