WILSON E LARKINS's Obituary
Wilson E. Larkins age 88, of Miami, Florida passed away on Monday, January 8, 2018. He was born in the town of South Miami to parents John Grover Larkins and Mary Mahl Larkins, and was a grandson of the founder of the town of South Miami. This pioneer family came to South Florida in 1898 and settled at Sunset and Le Jeune on the south east corner of CocoPlum Circle. By a vote of the landowners they decided to call the town "Larkins". His grand father had the first store, and had the first telephone line strung from Coconut grove. As the surrounding area was growing people wanted to know where "Larkins" was located. The town was located south of Miami, so the name was officially changed in 1927 from Larkins to South Miami in 1927.
Wilson went to private schools and pubic schools and graduated from University
of Miami with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
He loved to build model airplanes radio control & free flight. He earned his private pilot’s license when he was 65 years old after completely restoring a Cessna 150 airplane even, replacing rivets. One of his greatest joys was restoring a 1966 Mustang to running condition doing all the restoration himself. He was an avid fisherman and scuba diver spending many weekends on or below the ocean.
He was a deacon at University Baptist church and was most recently a member of Christ Fellowship for the past 15 years.
He was married to Florine Anne Smith for 61 years and together they traveled extensively for pleasure and missions. With his wife they travelled to the jungle in Peru on a mission trip and spent three months in Northern Iraq after the gulf war bringing relief to the Kurds. For pleasure they toured Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Singapore, Malaysia, Italy, Bahamas, Turkey, Hawaii, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and all the lower 48 states.
He leaves behind his wife and 4 children, Wilson & Tammy Larkins and son Lance, Lucinda and
Don Ostenson with 2 girls Charlene with 2 children and Vallarie, Lorinda and Guy Garufi, and Wendy and Jeff Sanford have 2 children, Hunter and Kailey.
A private family service will be held in at Van Orsdel funeral home in Miami. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations be made to the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes , PO Box 8190 Lakeland, FL 33802-9963.
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