Leah Atkins

Leah Marie Rawls Atkins, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, died on October 4, 2024 at Brookdale University Park assisted Living at 89 years of age. She was born on April 24, 1935, grew up in Birmingham, AL, on the North Highlands near Oak Hill Cemetery in a family group of four houses, and moved to Edgewood in the second grade. She graduated from Shades Valley High School and Auburn University, where she later received her M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees in History. She and her late husband, George A. Atkins, were married for 60 years.

From 1951 to 1957 she was a competitive water skier, training on the Warrior River at Camp Oliver, and later at Lake Martin. She won numerous titles, including the U.S. Women’s National Overall Championship in Long Beach, California, and the Women’s World Overall Championship, which was held in Toronto, Canada, both in 1953. In 1976 she was inducted as the first woman into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Auburn University’s highest award for women’s athletics is named in her honor.

Leah taught history at Auburn, UAB and Samford Universities over sixteen years. She was the founding director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Auburn University.

She was a proud member of Beta Omega Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi, the Alabama Academy of Honor, an Auburn Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement honoree, and she spent many years working with the Alabama Historical Association. She was trustee of the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery and a member of Ascension Episcopal Church.

Leah lived an Auburn Creed kind of life, she believed in work, hard work. She was known for her persistent competitiveness, engaging history lectures and entertaining speeches on topics she was most passionate about, from the heroics of the men and women during World War II to any and everything about Alabama history. She was proud of the books she authored and especially her recorded interview with Coach Shug Jordan about his experiences of D-Day. She considered herself very blessed to have had such incredible support during her career from administrations and co-workers. She was proud to have broken many barriers in her career that were seemingly unattainable for women during that time and cherished that the doors she opened would allow other women to follow. Most will remember Leah as someone who enjoyed helping someone else out. She was blessed to be a blessing to so many, whether it was offering advice to a colleague, proofing a paper, connecting people with opportunities, sponsoring a student, or just helping a person in need. She will be remembered as a woman who accomplished so much as an athlete, author and professor but she was most proud of her children and grandchildren carrying on her legacy of education, diligence and work, hard work.

Leah was preceded in death by her parents, Jack and Margaret Jones Rawls, her son, George Timothy “Tim” Atkins, and her husband of 60 years, George Arthur Atkins. She is survived by her son Richard Brian Atkins (Kathy), her daughter Laura Leigh Atkins Drake (Kealon), and son Jack Raymond Atkins (Nikki), Stacye Hathorn (Tim’s widow); her grandchildren Elaine Atkins Thomaston (Casey), George William Atkins, Charlcie Hathorn, Jean Leah Atkins, Katie Atkins Gregg (John), Margaret Anne “Meg” Atkins Fyfe (Adam), Michael Andrew Atkins (Caroline), Oliva Noel Atkins, Elizabeth Anne Drake Hines (Jared), Kealon Drake Jr. (Maggie), George Dalton Drake, Taylor Ann Atkins Havard (Evan), Jack Avery Atkins (Ann Archer), Holly Ibanez, Victor Ibanez, Nicholas Ibanez, and her great-grandchildren, Noah Timothy Thomaston, Matthew George Atkins, Emma Louise Atkins, George Russler Fyfe, Margaret Rawls Fyfe, Anne Hamilton “Millie” Fyfe, Rory Olivia Gregg, Max Charles Gregg, Jackson Calvert Atkins, Hudson Arthur Atkins, Beckett Thompson Atkins, Weston Pierce Hines, Georgia Logan Hines and Henry Ellis Havard.

A Celebration of life will be held Monday October 14th at 10:30 a.m. at The Chapel at Church of the Highlands- Grants Mill 4700 Highlands Way, Irondale, AL 35210. Please join the family for lunch after the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Auburn University Libraries at:

Auburn University Foundation

317 South College St.

Auburn, Alabama 36849

(334) 844-1427

augiving@auburn.edu