A grave side service for Robert Lee (Bob) Franklin, 81, is scheduled for a later date and will be held at the Wilson-Hairston Family cemetery on Berry Hill Road in Cascade, Virginia.
Mr. Franklin died September 7, 2020 in Greenville. He was born to Sarah Banks Walton and Joseph Neel Franklin in Adairsville, Georgia, on September 6, 1939, and the family moved to Rome, Georgia, when he was six months old. He graduated from Darlington High School in Rome and the University of Georgia in Athens where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and of Pi Mu Epsilon, honorary mathematics fraternity. He was a lifelong supporter of the University of Georgia and rarely missed a Georgia Bulldog football game.
Mr. Franklin was retired from IBM Corporation and from real estate. He proudly served as president of the local chapter of the American Diabetes Association and volunteered at Fellowship Hall in Greensboro.
Mr. Franklin is survived by his children, Elizabeth Franklin Paley and husband Darrin of New Bern, N.C.; Samuel Wilson Franklin of Cascade, Va.; Caroline Franklin Holliday and husband Billy of Greensboro, N.C.; Robert Jenkins Franklin and wife Cassie of Emory; grandsons, Robert Myland Jenkins Franklin, Kye Joseph Harvey Franklin and Reeves Wilson Paley; granddaughters, Essie Robin Franklin and Opal Ann Louise Franklin; sister, Annette Neel Franklin Jackson of Athens, Ga.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Caroline Reeves Wilson Franklin in 1976; his parents; and sister, Sue Banks Franklin McKenzie.
The family requests that memorials be made to the Greenville Christian School in Greenville, to the Juvenile Diabetes Association or to Fellowship Hall in Greensboro, N.C.