R. L. (Larry) Franklin

R. L. (Larry) Franklin, 66, of Pampa, died October 11, 2015 in Amarillo. Memorial services will be at 11:00 AM Wednesday, October 21, 2015, at First United Methodist Church in Pampa, with Rev. Thacker Haynes, pastor of McLean United Methodist Church, Rev. Todd Dyess, pastor of Groom United Methodist Church, and Rev. Ruby Moultrie, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Pampa, officiating. Private graveside services will be at the Franklin Ranch Cemetery in Gray County under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors. Richard Lawrence Franklin was born May 27, 1949 in Bryan, the first child of Hans Joe and Virginia Louise Walker Franklin, the grandson of Fred Bertram and Bertie Winnie Stapp Walker and Oliver Morris and Anne Ohlsen Franklin. Beginning his Panhandle life in 1949, Franklin moved with his parents from College Station to the Franklin Ranch in Gray County. His parents’ second child, Jean Anne, was born in 1951. In 1955 the family built a house and moved into Pampa where he attended Austin Elementary, Robert E. Lee Junior High, and Pampa High School. In 1967, he was graduated with honors, having served as president of his senior class. Franklin was chosen the best high school sports columnist in the State by the Texas High School Press Association. Franklin was graduated in 1971 from Southern Methodist University with high honors and departmental distinction in economics and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and was its secretary, treasurer and vice-president. Franklin attended law school at the University of Michigan and received teaching credentials at the University of Texas at Austin. He taught on the secondary level at Griffin Christian Academy in Dallas, and Robert E. Lee Junior High in Pampa. In 1974, his father, his sister and he formed the Cantonment Cattle Company, which continued the operation of the Franklin Ranch; raised AQHA registered cutting horses, and fed cattle in Texas feedlots. Franklin was also a venture capitalist in the fields of telecommunications and food products. Franklin was a member of First United Methodist Church in Pampa. He served as a local Trustee and as a Trustee of the denomination’s Amarillo District. He was a member of the church’s expansion building committee. He taught the “Home for the Holidays” collegiate Sunday school and was a substitute for the high school Sunday school. He served on the Administrative Council, the Nominating Committee, and as a chairman of the House and Grounds Committee. Franklin was appointed a Trustee of the Pampa Lovett Memorial Library by the City Commission. He served on the board of the Pampa Lovett Library Foundation, with ten years as its treasurer, during which the Foundation was able to give the City a total remodeling and updating of the library. As his own gift to the City, Franklin funded the construction of the Green-Franklin-Buckler-Henderson Commemorative at the library. It consists of landscaped sculptures by Don Ray and David Frech. It honors four women whose contributions of time and talent to the library and to a great range of civic, charitable and Christian causes improved a great many lives over the course of a century. The Gray County Commissioners Court appointed Franklin to the Board of the White Deer Land Museum, and he served three years as its first president. During his tenure, the Board designed and constructed the Museum’s Holland Wing. The Texas State Historical Commission presented Franklin its award for distinguished historical preservation. For seven years, Franklin was a Trustee of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society and a member of the Museum Committee of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. He was loved by his niece, nephew and his dogs. Franklin was preceded in death by his father, his mother, his grandparents, his maternal uncle Scott Walker, his paternal uncles John Oliver, Paul Edward and James Benjamin, his maternal aunt Freddie Walker Mitchell and husband Herbert, and an aunt by marriage Joan Ballentyne Franklin. Franklin is survived by his sister, Jean Anne Franklin McComas and husband William Michael; his niece Katy Leigh McComas Magee and husband Destry and their children, Jack and Kaylyn; his nephew Matthew Franklin McComas and wife Katie Gatlin; his aunt by marriage Yvonne Jones Franklin; his paternal uncles William Frederick and Dr. Theodore Eugene Franklin; and numerous well-loved cousins and friends, many of fifty years and more. Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, PO Box 1981, Pampa, Texas 79066-1981, or the McLean United Methodist Church, PO Box 125, McLean, Texas 79057.