Zack Wilkinson -
Biography
Zachary
was born and for the most part raised in Chesterfield
County. We had recently moved to
Buckingham County , and for the first time Zachary
was experiencing a new way of life. Living on a farm wasn’t
an easy transition, but it wasn’t long before he had
mastered everything out here. He planted trees with the
trackhoe. He took care of a baby calf that lost his
mother. He ran and played with his puppies often. He
walked down to the river and fished. He learned how to
shoot a gun. Zachary’s life was rich and full. He
experienced more in his eleven years than most of us experience
in a lifetime.
When he
went home to visit his father in
Chesterfield, he would be so excited to be in his
familiar surroundings and spend time with his friends
skateboarding. He spent as much time as he could mastering
all of his moves and jumps. He was good, and anyone would
tell you that.
Zack has
two brothers Richie (17) and Jacob (8 months) and one sister
Katelyn (15). He was the baby for so long, but becoming a
big brother this year was the neatest thing to him. I would
often tell Zachary that he was going to make the best Daddy
ever. We haven’t been able to make Jacob laugh quite like
Zachary could. They were quite a pair and together filled
our home with joy. Zack spent a lot of time watching his big
brother Richie, and he had followed in his footsteps with
his skateboarding. He thought Richie could do anything, and
looked up to him so much.
He shared
his deepest secrets and thoughts with his big sister,
Katelyn. She was his confidant, and he often spoke of how
strong she was. Just that Friday, while walking home from
the bus stop, he had shared with her his desire to play
basketball and spoke of how many girlfriends he had acquired
so far this year.
Zachary
had many dreams. From the time he was very small until the
end he was always trying to make a dollar. He was a business
man in the making. He received his first Jack Russell puppy
as a Christmas present last year, and he had recently
purchased a female, Zena, with his hard earned allowance.
This was going to be his business until he was old enough
to work for his stepfather Darrell at Fas Trac General
Contractors. His intentions were to work in the construction
business while he attended college and studied to be an
engineer. He said he wanted to design cars. He dreamed
big, and we were so excited about his future. He also would
mention daily that one day he would own his very own
McDonalds. When we moved to Buckingham he often would
comment that he did not know how the people in this
community survived without a McDonalds, and when he was
grown he would bring one to Buckingham. Everyone close to
him already knew that his favorite was the #9 /large with
buffalo sauce. Breakfast was the chicken biscuit with
buffalo sauce. Once, Zachary had the opportunity to tour a
McDonalds while visiting his Aunt Kathy Tompkins. He was so
excited, and he came home with a big bag of buffalo sauce.
He treated it like it was gold. It made us chuckle. It
wasn't long after we moved here that ironically a McDonalds
was slated for the little town of
Dillwyn which is right in
Buckingham County . While he will never see that
McDonalds it will be a constant reminder to us of Zachary's
dreams and how his face would light up at the first sight of
those “golden arches”.
This is
just a small amount of the memories that we have of
Zachary. We share them with you as a reminder of his
special life.
