Col. Rankin Dies at 55; Burial Sunday

ARMY OFFICER DIES SUDDENLY AT FORT SILL WHILE ON HOLIDAY

Victim of a sudden heart attack, Lt. Col. Fred E. Rankin, 55, ex-Omahan and husband of the former Enid Beaty of Blair, died unexpectedly Monday at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Stationed in Oklahoma as an executive officer of the Oklahoma military area, he and his family were visiting friends at Fort Sill on the Labor Day holiday when he was stricken. His death occurred on the Rankins’ wedding anniversary and the day before Col. Rankins’ birthday.

The body is being brought to Blair. It will be at the Bendorf Funeral Home from Friday afternoon until Sunday at 3pm, when burial rites will take place in the E.S. Beaty family lot in Holy Cross cemetery here. Representatives of Stanley E. Hain Post 154, American Legion, will have charge of burial services.

Veteran of Two Wars

Colonel and Mrs. Rankin had visited Blair for several weeks late in the spring of this year.

Veteran of World War I, Col. Rankin later was in the insurance business in Omaha with Harold M. Diers. He left Omaha in 1939 when he was called to active duty on the general staff at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in the reserve corps. He later was transferred to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and then to World War II duty in New Guinea in the Pacific theater of operations.

While in Omaha, Col. Rankin was active in civic affairs. For many years he was treasurer of Ad-Sell League, and also had been a member of the executive committee of American Legion Post No. 1 there.

Surviving Col. Rankin are his wife, Enid; a daughter, Miss Patricia Rankin; his mother-in-law, Mrs. L.M. Beaty of Blair; a sister, Mrs. Carl Youngblood of Sioux City, and a brother, Floyd Rankin of Ottumwa, Iowa.

~~~obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

FindaGrave #129892613