Franklin – William Glenn Mabe, 86, passed away October 31, 2013 after a long battle with Alzheimer's.
Glenn Mabe was born May 30, 1927 in Greenville, Tennessee to Earl and Pauline (Hughes) Mabe. Glenn was the third of four children; Kenneth, Fannie Kate King, and John Milborn (Jim) Mabe. He shared many school days and growing-up years with his siblings and his first cousin Mack Hughes. Glenn was very close with them all.
Glenn served in the United States Navy from 1944-1946 primarily as an arresting gear crew member on the USS Tarawa (CV-40), an Essex class aircraft carrier. After being discharged from the Navy in 1946, Glenn worked a few years in Washington D.C. and then decided to take advantage of the GI bill and was accepted into the North Dakota School of Forestry, a two year junior college just 15 miles below the Canadian border. After graduation from the School of Forestry he returned to Washington D.C. where he had kept in touch over the years with Jeanne Clark, a secretary in Washington. They were married in June 1950, and moved to Athens, GA that fall where Glenn had been accepted into the School of Forestry at the University of Georgia. Upon his graduation in 1952, Glenn was hired by Union Bag and Paper Corporation as a forester in Savannah, Georgia. In 1954, Glenn was awarded a fellowship to attend the School of Forestry at Yale University. He was graduated in the Spring of 1956 with a Masters in Forestry. A dedicated Rotarian, he was a past President and former Sergeant-At-Arms of the Franklin Rotary Club and had been a member of Rotary International in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. He was a member of the High Street United Methodist Church where he had been a former Sunday School teacher and choir member.
Glenn and Jeanne had three children together: Jeffrey Mabe, Jill Mabe Scheible, and Janis Mabe. Jeanne predeceased Glenn suddenly in 1978. In 1981, Glenn married Shirley Barham and helped raise her third child, Joanne Barham.
Glenn retired from Union Camp Corporation in 1990 after serving as a Superintendent in Procurement and Land Acquisition. He then forged his own timber and real estate company, Mabe Timberlands Realty, where he continued his forestry works until his retirement in 2006. Glenn and Shirley were married 32 years.
Survivors include his wife, Shirley Barham Mabe; a son, Jeff Mabe, and his children, Amy Mabe Artes, Kathleen Mabe and David Mabe; daughters Jill Mabe Scheible (Bill), and her children, Carey Scheible Southern (Brian), Clarke Scheible and Collin Scheible and Jan Mabe Vernon, and her children, Dustin Vernon and Brittany Vernon; Cindy Peak (Bill) and their children, Zack Peak and Addison Peak, Dan Barham (Susan) and their children, Olivia Barham and Dashland Barham, and Joanne Barham (Jack Bradshaw); four great-grandchildren and sister, Fannie Kate King.
A memorial service will be held at 11 AM on Monday, November 4, 2013 at High Street United Methodist Church on Camp Parkway with the Rev. John Ashley officiating. A reception will follow at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, South East Virginia Chapter, 6350 Center Drive, Suite 102, Norfolk, VA 23502 or High Street United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 218, Franklin, VA 23851. www.wrightfuneralhome.org