Courtland – Ralph Bennett Atkinson, 88, passed away March 18, 2007 at Southampton Memorial Hospital. Born in Pittsylvania County, he was the son of the late Howard Clay and Mabel Barksdale Atkinson and widower of Elsie Taylor Atkinson. Ralph was a retired U. S. Navy Chief Petty Officer having served on destroyers in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. He participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and was in Tokyo Bay at the signing of the Japanese Surrender on September 2, 1945, taught compressed gas school at Portsmouth Naval Base, finishing his career aboard the USS Coral Sea. He was a retired supervisor of power and maintenance from Hercules, Inc.
Ralph was a member and past master of the Franklin Masonic Lodge #151 A. F. & A. M., a member of the Portsmouth Scottish Rite Bodies and Khedive Shrine in Norfolk, and a member of the Southampton Scottish Rite Association. He was a volunteer at Southampton Memorial Hospital and the auxiliary and for many years a member of the Over-The-Hill Gang entertaining at nursing homes and health care centers throughout the area. He was an active Amateur Radio Operator, WB4ZNB, since 1972. He and Elsie enjoyed camping, fishing, and square dancing in their golden years.
Left to cherish his memory is his daughter, Joan A. Wolfe and husband, William, of Franklin; four sisters, Othelia Davis, Inez Saunders, Bertha Watkins, all of Danville, and Clara Clark and husband, Gilford, of Chatham; and two grandsons, Stuart C. Crawford, III, of Franklin and James R. Crawford of North Bend, Oregon; three step-grandchildren, Forrest Wolfe and wife, Lisha, Wendy Smith and husband, Billy, all of Franklin; and Justin Wolfe of Richmond; niece, Betty Camp and husband, Billy, of Franklin; two nephews, Johnny Scott and wife, Ann, of Danville, James Watkins and wife, Jane, of Pennsylvania; step-great-grandchildren, Ryan and Peyton Wolfe, Michael Drewry, Whitley and Jackson Smith, all of Franklin; his ham radio friend, Fred Weaver; special neighbors, Dot Gelhaus and Betty Roberts; and his beloved T. C.
The funeral will be conducted at 2 pm Tuesday at Wright Funeral Home with the Rev. James W. Browder, III, officiating. Burial with full military honors will follow in Poplar Spring Cemetery. The family will receive friends today from 7 to 8:30 pm at the funeral home and other times at his home 30137 Country Club Road. Condolences may be offered at www.wrightfuneralhome.org.