Franklin D. Payne

Franklin D. Payne passed away Thursday, August 1, at the age of 84 after living a full and happy life in spite of his recent battle with Parkinson’s Disease.  Growing up in Bradshaw, WV, he attended Iaeger High School where he met his wife, Marlene, and played sports year-round as a member of the football, baseball and basketball teams. Franklin graduated from Iaeger Class of 1954 and he went on to attend Marshall University.  

After serving in the U.S. Army, Frank pursued a career of more than 30 years in accounting management that took him with his family to Ohio and Western New York. He retired to South Carolina with Marlene to enjoy the outdoors and his passions living at the lake. He was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Ninety-Six. Frank created a trail of friends along the way providing many memories, stories and lasting friendships that he shared with others up until his last days.

He is survived by Marlene Day, his loving wife of 62 years, and daughter, Vicki Morgan, and her husband Gary Morgan. He was pre-deceased by his parents John D. and Mattie Payne of Bradshaw, WV.

Throughout life, Frank has been a kind, loving, giving, and supportive spouse, father, father-in-law, uncle, brother-in-law and friend to many who will love him and cherish his memory. There will always be joy and laughter in our thoughts and memories of Frank.

A service and celebration of life will be held at Cravens-Shires Funeral Home, 3431 Coal Heritage Road, Bluefield, WV 24701. Visitation will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, August 7, 2019, with his funeral service following at 12 p.m. in the chapel. Rev. Donald Compton presiding. Franklin will be laid to rest in Woodlawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today.