Jerry Michael Wilson

Jerry Michael Wilson, 78, of Hermann, Missouri, passed away at his home on May 31, 2024, surrounded by family members.

Jerry was born on October 8, 1945, in Dallas, Texas. He grew up the son of an Air Force officer, Major Robert Wilson, and the family, including his mother, Hope (Hill), and beloved little sister, Jan (Scruggs), lived in Texas, Japan, Georgia and Missouri, before settling on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  His parents and sister preceded him in death.

Jerry is survived by his loving wife, Peggy (Walters) Wilson. The couple were married on December 18, 1966, in Gulfport, Mississippi, after dating in high school and spent the last 62 years together through thick and thin. Jerry, affectionately known as “Pop”, is also survived by his loving sons Christopher Wilson (Kristie), of Holts Summit, Missouri, Mark Wilson (Angie) of Waynesville, Missouri, and John Wilson (Angela) of Biloxi, Mississippi, as well as his grandchildren, Ashton Wilson (Angel) of Tallahassee, Florida, Emily Wilson (Max Reyes) of Athens, Georgia, Anna Wilson of Waynesville, and Paige and Kaley Wilson of Biloxi, Mississippi. Jerry joins his beloved daughter, Trisha, in the afterlife whom the family lost in 1989 at the age of 16. 

Jerry leaves behind a large extended family including brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, including his beloved niece and “partner in crime” Terri Bely (Chuck) of Jacksonville, North Carolina. In addition, he is survived by a host of friends and neighbors who loved him dearly and enjoyed spending time visiting with Pop & Peggy on their front porch. Neighbors Laurie McElroy, Jeff Riley and Rick Dixon (and Goose), as well as Dan “the Postman” Baublitz, became adopted family and were each loved by Pop as if they were his own children. 

Jerry attended school in Valdosta, Georgia, St. Louis, Missouri, and Gulfport, Mississippi, before graduating with Peggy from Harrison Central High School in 1964.  Jerry played quarterback for the Harrison Central Red Rebels football team, earning a scholarship to attend Perkinston Junior College in Perkinston, Mississippi.  Jerry, nicknamed “Woodchuck” by his coaches, played fullback on the Bulldog football team, as well as shortstop on the baseball team.  He then enrolled at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, and earned his bachelor's degree in pharmacy in 1969.  Jerry spent his professional career as a pharmacist in Mississippi and Missouri, working in retail pharmacy and home health care in Clarksdale, Gulfport, Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, and finally at the VA hospital in Kansas City where he loved working directly with our country’s wounded veterans.  After 45 years, Jerry retired and he and Peggy relocated to Hermann, Missouri.  Pop and Peggy were fixtures on their front porch on West Third Street enjoying their most recent favorite pastime together - porch-surfing with family, friends and neighbors.

Jerry was an avid outdoorsman and sports fan and his fondest memories were those times spent with his family and friends on camping and fishing trips.  He especially enjoyed the annual “Macho Man Road Trip” with his boys and other family members to watch college football, professional baseball and even some horse racing in Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Michigan. He always returned home from those trips with aching ribs from the days of laughter. 

Jerry spent a number of years as a young man struggling with substance abuse. After recovering, he was always open and honest about that struggle and devoted decades of his life helping others to escape addiction, and saving countless lives, marriages and families along the way.  Jerry worked with other pharmacists to organize the Mississippi Association of Recovering Pharmacists and served as the charter president from 1987 to 1989.  He worked for years through MARP to assist men and women in the pharmacy profession who struggled with addiction.  Always there for a person in need, he helped hundreds of people throughout his life, including family and friends, as well as strangers, most of whom are known only to Jerry. 

Pop was a loving and compassionate man and will be missed beyond measure by his family and friends.  The family asks that in lieu of flowers, that Jerry's friends and family consider making a financial donation to assist a child at St. Jude's Children's Hospital (Memphis, Tennessee), a veteran in need through Mission 22 (online) or a feline friend at Ferals in Peril (Hermann).

A service to celebrate Jerry's life will be held at Toedtmann & Grosse Funeral Home in Hermann, Missouri, on June 15, 2024.  Visitation to begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by a service at 11:00 a.m.