Joe C. Franklin Jr. of Southampton died on February 22 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton. Fondly known as “Buddy,” he was 64.
Born March 12, 1945, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to Joe C. Franklin Sr. and Willie Elbert (née Sutton) Franklin, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at an early age, family members said. He graduated from P.W. Moore High School in Elizabeth City and was baptized at Samuel Chapel Baptist Church in Elizabeth City.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Franklin worked as an orderly, then a transportation aide, at Southampton Hospital. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Southampton, and according to survivors, was well-liked throughout the communities of Southampton and Riverhead.
Survivors said this week that Buddy is gone but will never be forgotten.
He is survived by three sisters, Sarah Seymore of Southampton, Phyllis and her husband Donald Barcliffe of North Carolina, and Josephine and her husband Travis Wiggins of Pennsylvania; seven aunts, Mattie Banks and Cora Stevens, both of Southampton, Grizzell Sutton of Riverhead, Ruby Grant of Connecticut and Bessie Roundtree, Geneva Freshwater and Dorothy Sutton, all of North Carolina; seven nieces; eight nephews; and many loving relatives and friends.
He was predeceased by a sister, Mary Franklin Fulford, and a son, Jason Scott Franklin, from his marriage to Mary Myrick, as she is now known.
The family received visitors on February 27 at First Baptist Church of Southampton, where a funeral service was officiated by the Reverend Michael Jackson. Interment followed at Southampton Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Brockett Funeral Home.
on Mar 3, 2010