Pioneering Southern Nevada science teacher Wilkinson dies

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 1999 | 9:29 a.m.

Before Lelwin Wilkinson came to the newly opened Robert O. Gibson Junior High School in 1963 as its first science department director, there was no biology course planned for ninth graders.

Wilkinson established that class and other programs en route to becoming one of the top science teachers in the Clark County School District during the 1960s and '70s, earning awards ranging from local civic club honors to statewide recognition.

Wilkinson, who also was the first head of the science department for Western High School, became in retirement a rancher, musician and published poet.

"Teaching and farming were always in Dad's blood," said Verl Wilkinson, a 1963 Western High graduate and one of Lelwin's former students. "He was an excellent teacher who started a lot of programs in Las Vegas, including the debate team at Gibson, which won awards here and in California.

Lelwin Floyd Wilkinson, who devoted five decades to educating the youth of Nevada, Utah and Arizona and was recognized as the 1968 outstanding biology teacher in Nevada, died Saturday following a lengthy battle with cancer at the St. George (Utah) Care Center. He was 82.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 18 years will be 11 a.m. Thursday at the Third Ward Chapel, 700 E. Telegraph St., Washington, Utah. Burial will be in Hurricane City Cemetery. Metcalf Mortuary of St. George handled the arrangements.

"He loved the challenges of teaching children," said Wilkinson's wife of 60 years, Viva Wilkinson, who was a teacher at Rose Warren Elementary School for 15 years. "He started out in agriculture. When he decided to become a teacher, he chose science because that was the closest thing to agriculture."

The biology course Wilkinson started at Gibson was copied by schools countywide. He also started classes in earth science, which his son said was his favorite subject.

Born Dec. 1, 1916, in Cane Beds, Ariz., Lelwin was the youngest of nine children of teachers Joseph T. Wilkinson and the former Annie Webb. Joseph built a wooden schoolhouse at Cane Beds in 1917, which Lelwin attended. Two years ago, the building was deeded back to the Wilkinson family, which restored it.

When he was a child Wilkinson's family traveled from Arizona to Utah by horse-drawn wagon. In the 1930s Lelwin attended Dixie High School in St. George, where, at a basketball game his senior year against rival Hurricane High, he met Hurricane senior Viva Spendlove.

They married in 1939 at the St. George Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just after he graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor of science degree and she graduated from Brigham Young University.

At first, Lelwin was employed by the U.S. government, teaching agriculture to military veterans at Dixie College in St. George. He went to Michigan State to earn his masters degree before becoming a public school teacher.

Wilkinson got his first teaching job at Hurricane High and coached the school's debating team to first or second place finishes in the state during his five years there.

In 1961 Wilkinson accepted the science department head job at newly opened Western High School. Wilkinson taught for two years at Western before accepting the same post at Gibson, where he remained until his retirement in 1979.

During his tenure Wilkinson was recognized by several organizations for his classroom accomplishments, including teacher of the year honors from the Las Vegas Rotary Club for his success with the Gibson debating team.

In the 1980s Wilkinson was a rancher in Alamo and an LDS church official. He was president of two stake Sunday schools, where he continued to teach. A talented musician who was skilled on the guitar and banjo, Wilkinson enjoyed singing and playing in small community bands.

Wilkinson also took up poetry and won national contests. One of his works, "Keep Your Eyes Upon the Ball," was published in the 1998 book "A Celebration of Poets Compilations," by the International Library of Poetry.

The short work gave insight into his philosophy for success. It reads in part: "As you play the game of life/ With its great challenge, cares and strife,/ Like in a game of basketball/ To blindly shoot won't count at all."

Wilkinson was diagnosed with prostate cancer six years ago, but the disease went into remission. At age 80, he applied for a teaching job at a Colorado City, Ariz., Community College, and got it. He taught there for two years. Earlier this year, the cancer returned and spread to other organs, his family said.

In addition to his wife and son, Wilkinson is survived by three other sons, Floyd Wilkinson of Santa Clara, Utah, Bruce Wilkinson of San Jose, Calif., and A.J. Wilkinson of Washington, Utah; a sister, Merle Richards of Tropic, Utah; 23 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.