Southampton-Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Rawls, Sol W. Sr., 1976 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ SOL WAITE RAWLS S.W. RAWLS, VA. LEADER, DIES AT 81 FRANKLIN - Sol Waite Rawls, 88, oil distributor, political and community leader, died Tuesday at 5 p.m. in his home on Clay Street. A native of South Quay, Nansemond County, he was the husband of Mrs. Rena Savage Camp Rawls. He owned S.W. Rawls Gulf Oil Distributor, and formerly operated an automobile agency in Franklin. He was a director of the Camp Foundation, chairman of the Franklin board of Virginia National Bank, and director of Tidewater Bank & Trust Co. He was long a major Southside figure and a conservative state Democrat. He was an important factor in the development of Virginia highways and was for 30 years a member of the State Highway Commission. He was one of the original members of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike Authority. He was a 20-year member of the Franklin City Council. During World War I, he was in the Navy. He was a charter member of Southampton American Legion Post 73. He was a charter member of Franklin Rotary Club. In 1968, he won the Distinguished Citizen Award of the Chamber of Commerce for the City of Franklin. He was a member, trustee, and past deacon of Franklin Baptist Church. Besides his widow, survivors include a son, Sol W. Rawls, Jr. of Franklin; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A funeral will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Poplar Spring Cemetery by the Rev. Ira D. Hudgins. W.J.M. Holland & Sons Funeral Home has charge. The family suggests memorial donations to the Southampton Memorial Hospital Endowment Fund. ****************************************************************************** SOL WAITE RAWLS DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN - RAWLS FUNERAL SERVICE TODAY FRANKLIN - A funeral service for Sol Waite Rawls Sr., 88, oil distributor, political leader and prominent citizen, will be held at 11:30 a.m. today in Poplar Spring Cemetery. Rev. Ira D. Hudgins will conduct the service. W.J.M. Holland and Sons funeral home has charge. The pallbearers will be: Charles E. Carr, Robert F. Phillips, William T. Royster, C. Wallace Mason, John O. Galloway, James L. Howell, Hugh S. Taylor and George W. Warren. Rawls died June 22 at his home of Clay Street after a prolonged illness. He was the sole survivor of the children of the late Robert Rawls and Dinah* Rawls. He was born at the Rawls homestead near South Quay, in Nansemond County. He attended William and Mary College in Williamsburg 1906 to 1909, where he was a member of the Philomathean Literary Society and Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He was a member and trustee and past deacon of the Franklin Baptist Church. Although limited by occurrences of illness several years ago he never retired, and was active in many fields until briefly before his death. Rawls was chairman of the board of S.W. Rawls, Inc., distributors for Gulf Oil Corporation. In his early business life he owned and operated the Buick automobile agency in Franklin. He was a director of Camp Foundation. He was chairman of the Franklin Board of the Virginia National Bank, and before that was a director of Vaughan & Company Bankers, and of Tidewater Bank and Trust Company. In 1948 Rawls was given the "distinguished citizen award" by the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, the first such award ever made by that body. He was long a major Southside figure in the conservative state Democratic organization. He was an important factor in the development of Virginia highways. He was for 29 years a member of the State Highway Commission, form 1933 to 1962. He also was one of the original members of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike Authority, and was for 20 years a member of the Franklin town council. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, and was a charter member of the Franklin Rotary Club, and throughout most of its existence was its sergeant at arms, a position which he relished as a vantage point from which to needle and discipline his fellow Rotarians. He was married in 1916 to Miss Rena Savage Camp of Franklin, who survived him. He is also survived by a son, Sol W. Rawls, Jr. of Franklin, and by four grandchildren, Mrs. David H. Adams and Mrs. Peter A. Agelasto III of Virginia Beach, Sol Waite Rawls, III of New York City, and Miss Patricia Rawls of Franklin and four great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family suggest contributions be made to the Southampton Memorial Hospital Endowment Fund, Franklin. [Sol Waite RAWLS, Sr., oil distributor and civic leader, Navy veteran of WW-I, former Franklin town councilman & VA hwy. commissioner, b. near South Quay, Nansemond Co., d. 22 Jun 1976, at home, Franklin, age 88, interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Annex 2, Plot 44**), Franklin, 24 Jun 1976, donated obit, newspaper unknown; "The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), June 24, 1976] [*Mother's name usually appears as Dianna (CUTCHINS) RAWLS- her obit: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/r420d2ob.txt father Robert's obit: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/r420r4ob.txt wife's obit: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/r420r3ob.txt] [**Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, Poplar Spring list: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/psanx2.txt] Additional information: While named after his uncle Solomon C. Cutchins (1854-1925), and even listed in the Nansemond Co. Register of Births as "Solomon" (in error), the descendant's first name was Sol, not Solomon. (source: great-grandson Parker Agelasto - his "grandfather swears to it") Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Parker C. Agelasto & Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/r420s3ob.txt