With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of Austin Shane Wilkinson, who left us too soon on Feb. 7, 2026, at the young age of 28. Born on Dec. 17, 1997, in Tallahassee, Austin grew up with a love for the outdoors, often found fishing, dancing or riding the dirt roads at Cabbage Grove. His spirit was as wild as the woods he cherished, and those who knew him will forever remember his joy and laughter. Austin was a devoted son, survived by his father, Brian McCroan, and his mother, Verona Wilkinson; his two sisters, Autumn Wilkinson and Shilynn Wilkinson; and his brother, Jeremiah Thomley. He brought light and love to their lives, and his memory will continue to shine in the hearts of family and friends. Though he completed his education up to the ninth grade, Austin made his mark working as a cashier at Marathon, where his friendly smile and upbeat attitude made every customer feel welcomed. In celebration of Austin\u2019s life, we will gather for funeral services that will be held on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m. at Joe P. Burns Funeral Home in Perry. The family will receive friends on Friday, Feb. 13, from 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Family and friends are invited to come together to share stories, reminisce about the good times and honor a young man who lived freely and authentically. Austin may have departed from this world, but his spirit will remain with us, echoing through the woods and dancing in the breeze. Fly high, Austin; you will be missed more than words can express. Friends may sign the online guest book at joepburnsfuneralhomes. com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of Austin Shane Wilkinson, who left us too soon on Feb. 7, 2026, at the young age of 28. Born on Dec. 17, 1997, in Tallahassee, Austin grew up with a love for the outdoors, often found fishing, dancing or riding the dirt roads at Cabbage Grove. His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51017,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51016\/revisions\/51017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perrynewspapers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}