February 1, 1925-October 19, 2020
Charles Ray Atkinson was born to Walter Virgil Atkinson and Malinda Myrtle (Mays) Atkinson in Centerville, Tennessee on February 1, 1925 and died on October 19, 2020 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was preceded in death by his wife of 71 years, Sarah Alline (Gilliam) Atkinson, his daughter, Joyce Atkinson Jones, and three siblings. He is survived by his son-in-law, Mike Jones, grandchildren Erin Jones, Kevin (Michele) Jones, and Matthew (Julie) Jones, and great-grandchildren Patrick, Emma, and Sam Meadows, Charlie and Lauren Jones, and Sasha, Zoe, and Hunter Jones, as well as a wide circle of loving friends.
Charlie served during World War II first in the Tennessee National Guard, then as a private in the US Army where he was a bugler. He married Alline on February 6, 1944. For a short time, they lived in Detroit where they both worked in converted factories for the war effort.
Returning home to Centerville, they had their only child, Brenda Joyce, on January 7, 1947. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1957 where Charles spent a long and successful career as a construction equipment mechanic and supervisor with Thompson and Green Machinery.
Upon his retirement, Charlie and Alline traveled the country together. Avid RV campers, they drove up the east coast to Maine, through the midwest, into Michigan and southern Canada, and extensively toured the western US. They also camped for months at a time at Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville, Tennessee and at Sherwood Forest Park in Kissimmee, Florida, where they developed enduring friendships with people from all over the US and Canada. People were always attracted to Charlie’s sense of humor and mischief. He was an accomplished prankster, though he would never have harmed a soul and had the strictest sense of honor.
While at home, Charlie never stopped working and innovating. A scrap of wood might become a work of art. Pieces of metal became useful, inventive solutions to everyday problems. Things discarded by others and tossed aside as worn out he carefully renewed and often made better than new.
He lived the last two years of his life at Morningside Assisted Living, where his kind and pleasant nature and the twinkle of fun in his eye gained him many new friends.
Charles was a long-time faithful member of the Crieve Hall Church of Christ. He had complete faith in his salvation and looked forward to going home to his heavenly Father. Charles died on October 19, 2020, after a short hospitalization.
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