Alexandra and William Wilkinson, who built a loving family and added zest to life for all who knew them, died just 46 days apart in Cape Coral, Fla. Alexandra died at the age of 81, after a sudden and brief illness, on Sept. 8, 2023. William died of liver cancer on Oct. 24, 2023. He was 86. 

They were married on Dec. 7, 1963, at Round Hill Community Church in Greenwich, Conn. They shared an adventurous and active life, raising their family while steadily involved in community activities, work, and traveling across the country. Once, they motorcycled through England, Wales, and Scotland. They lived in several homes in Summit, N.J., before relocating to Cape Coral in 1995.

Born Alexandra Grindal Compson in White Plains, N.Y., she graduated from Rye High School in 1960 and was certified at Katherine Gibbs School in New York City. 

She volunteered as a Special Needs Art teacher, joined the Needle Arts Society, and was the manager of a retail children’s clothing store at Sealfons in Summit and then at Jacobson’s in Ft. Myers, Fla. She served as a media center specialist and fund raiser at Pinewoods Elementary School in Estero, Fla. and as a community relations leader at Edgewood Academy in Ft. Myers. 

In her later years, Alexandra became an acclaimed self-taught mixed media artist, teacher, and promoter in the Ft. Myers area. She was a member of The Union Arts Studios and DAAS Co-op Gallery & Gifts and Arts for ACT (Abuse Counseling and Treatment, Inc.) in Ft. Myers and Pine Island, Fla. Many of her works are in private collec-tions and have been exhibited.

Alexandra Wilkinson will be remembered as a force of posi-tive energy who joyfully made the best of every situation.

Born in 1936 in Summit, N.J., William Clark Wilkinson received a B.A. in Industrial Auto Design from Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles, and a certificate from Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, both in 1962. 

He was a well-regarded archi-tectural and technical illustrator. He was a renderer with Alfred Easton Poor Associates of New York City. His works are docu-mented in “Architectural Rendering: The Technique of Contemporary Presentations,” 3rd Edition by Albert O. Halse (1988), in The New Yorker magazine, and in private collections. 

He served on the faculty of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. He also worked as a freelance illus-trator and as the Country Car Doctor.

In his later years, he served as a medical delivery associate for PSI and Labcorp, both based in Ft. Myers. 

William Wilkinson will be remembered as a talented and insightful man. 

The Wilkinsons are survived by their three children, Wendy Lane Wilkinson of Naples, Fla., Lesley B. Wilkinson Morrow (Dixon) of Cape Coral, and Ashley Campbell W. Simpson (Matthew) of Cache, Okla; seven grandchildren; Alexandra’s brother, Angus B. Compton; and 14 cats.