Jack and Pat Wilkey and Wilkey Industries Endowment

Jack and Pat Wilkey, Wilkey Industries, of Turlock were recognized at the 2024 Ag One – Stanislaus County Alumni and Friends dinner. They are both champions of higher education and have deep connections to Fresno State where multiple generations of their family
graduated including their nephew Tom Mendonca who spoke at the dinner about his grandparents. Tom played baseball for Fresno State and was on the winning team in 2008 of the College World Series Tournament team and named College World Series Most
Outstanding player.

Jack Wilkey has been working in the sheet metal trade since 1958. He was a vocational education teacher at Modesto Junior College and Turlock High School for five years. Their children went on to be teachers as well. The Wiley’s opened their business, Wilkey Industries, in 1993, and it has grown to employ dozens of people. The company fabricates and installs processing equipment in agricultural, industrial and manufacturing facilities providing innovative solutions through design, fabrication and installation. They have helped improve the performance of many processing facilities in the areas of product processing, conveyance and separation, air filtration and emissions containment, equipment placement and plant layout and design. Their equipment can be found around the globe. What sets them apart from others in the region is their community involvement as individuals and through the company. Jack has been described as a pioneer in the tree nut business and a staple in Stanislaus County. While he no longer owns the company, he remains a mentor to its owners.

Corbin Sturdivan, one of the Wilkey Industries partners shared his personal insight after the dinner. “I want to start by apologizing that I did not attend Fresno State, but Jack Wilkey gave me an education you don’t get in school. Jack gave me my first job and over the last 24 years has taught me everything I know about agriculture, business, designing equipment, taking care of customers and supporting the community you do business in. It’s an honor to be a part of pushing forward the business that bears your name. Thank you for being a teacher, mentor, friend and for the opportunities you have given me that really have changed my life. Congratulations I can’t think of someone or a couple more deserving.”

In 2004, the Ag One Foundation formed a Stanislaus County Alumni and Friends committee to deepen the outreach between the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, graduates, and the agricultural industry. Each year a dinner is held, and the Dean of the Jordan College, students, faculty, and staff go to Stanislaus to meet with alumni and friends. Each year someone from the Stanislaus area is honored for their involvement and many contributions to the community, education, and agriculture. They are inducted into the Ag One Stanislaus County Hall of Fame. A perpetual plaque hangs on the wall in Durrer’s Barn in Modesto where the dinner was first held.