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 J. Robert Rankin Jr.
March 24, 2006
J. Robert Rankin Jr., 79, of Villa Crest Healthcare Center in Manchester, N.H., died there Friday after a 19-year battle with Parkinson's disease. He was a former resident of Pittsfield.
Born in Atlanta on Dec. 10, 1926, son of John R. and Lois Wilkinson Rankin, he attended Georgia schools. He lived in Piscataway, N.J., for 49 years before moving to Manchester in 2001.
Mr. Rankin played semipro baseball and had been offered a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals prior to his serving with the Navy during World War II.
Following the war, he received his degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and then worked for General Electric Co. in Pittsfield as a test engineer. He received his master's degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Mr. Rankin taught electrical engineering at the University of Oklahoma for three years and at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, for 44 years.
He had attended Fellowship Bible Church of Chester, N.H., since October 2001. He coached Little League baseball teams during the 1960s. He enjoyed traveling to Elderhostel destinations, camping and square dancing.
He and his wife, the former Mary L. Wyand, were married Oct. 9, 1948, in Pittsfield.
Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Anne K. Pfannkoch of Chester, N.H.; four sons, Robert W. Rankin of Austin, Texas, John D. Rankin of Pennington, N.J., James R. Rankin of Warsaw, Ind., and William S. Rankin of Derry, N.H., 15 grandchildren,
FUNERAL NOTICE -- Visiting hours for J. Robert Rankin Jr., who died Friday, March 24, 2006, will be tomorrow, March 26, from 6 to 9 at PEABODY FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORIUM, 15 Birch St., Derry, N.H. A memorial service will be held tomorrow at 1 at Fellowship Bible Church, 48 Rod and Gun Club Road, Chester, N.H. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the National Parkinson Foundation Inc., 1501 NW 9th Ave., Bob Hope Road, Miami, FL 33136-1494. To send a condolence or for more information, please visit www.peabodyfuneralhome.com. Mr. Rankin also leaves a son-in-law, Thomas; four daughters-in-law, Karen, Lynne, Linda and Susan; and 15 grandchildren, Gregory, Tracy, Lauren, John, Hillary, Ruth, Robert, Cameron, Heather, Rebecca and Charles Rankin, and Laurie Beth, Thomas, David and Julia Pfannkoch. He was predeceased by a granddaughter, Amy Kathryn Rankin, in 1999.
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