Robert "Bob" S. Franklin

 Robert S. Franklin, 79, of Aiken, South Carolina, died following a short illness on Tuesday, 1 October surrounded by his wife, Margaret (Peg) and loving daughters, Elisabeth (Todd Constantine) and Kayla (Ben Waesche). 

 The eldest child of the late Jacob and Linne Franklin, while his father was serving in the South Pacific, Robert was born in Canton Hospital near Linnie’s Vaughan, Mississippi birthplace. He grew up in Dalton Massachusetts, attending local schools, including the newly opened Wahconah Regional High School where he graduated with highest academic honors in 1963. While at Dalton High School and Wahconah, Rob lettered in football, co-captained the golf team, and played saxophone in the school orchestra. He earned a B.A. in English from Amherst College in 1967 followed by an M.A.T. with a concentration in English from Johns Hopkins University, which led to a six-year position at Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School in Maryland. An engaging, inventive, beloved classroom teacher, he also discovered, working with students in the theater program at BCC, a latent gift and penchant for acting and directing. Among these aspiring actors was a student named Daniel Stern, who played one half of a clowning duo in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. Daniel went on to achieve considerable success in the movies and television. 

 Though Robert’s formal role as an educator was short-lived, he never lost his enthusiasm for teaching, and for literature – especially plays. In one of his first appearances on stage, he tackled the role of Shylock in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”. Some years later, while playing the lead role in a translation of Moliere’s “Tartuffe” at Georgetown University, he met and fell in love with Margaret Hiegel, a nursing student in her final year at the school, who handled costuming for the show. They married on the Georgetown campus on 10 August 1980. 

 Robert left teaching in 1974 to begin a new career as writer and editor of published minutes for the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C., serving a department which he ultimately directed. Upon his retirement in 1998, his colleagues at the IMF showered him with accolades for his intelligence, kindness, and deft leadership. He and Peg made their home in Arlington, Virginia, where they raised their beautiful, brilliant daughters before retiring to Aiken, S. Carolina in 2002. 

 These new surroundings fostered two of Rob’s great passions, golf and theater. He played every day that the weather and his health permitted. Until last year, he was an often-formidable visiting co-competitor in the Little Brown Jug, an annual invitational tournament at the Wahconah Country Club in Dalton. When he wasn’t on a golf course, he would typically be preparing and directing a stage play or a musical revue for Aiken’s storied community playhouse. In the past two decades, he had guided hundreds of talented amateurs of all ages in a variety of critically acclaimed shows, ranging from Shakespeare to musical comedy. The list includes Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men,” an ambitious dramatization of To Kill a Mockingbird, and, more recently, a wildly successful staging of “Spamalot”. In 2014, he, along with fellow golfer/thespian/retiree, Patrick Williams and Lisa Fountain, co-founded Paladin Productions, which brings innovative small plays and music revurs to dining audiences in the region. 

 In addition to his wife and daughters, and their husbands, Todd and Ben, Rob is survived by his three siblings, Jean (Mark, d.) Poopor, Mark Franklin (Lynne), and Meyer Franklin (Cynthia), and four granddaughters, Jordan and Evan Constantine, and June and Coraline Waesche. Peg’s brothers and sisters are Kathy Deberardinis, MaryBeth May, Bob Hiegel, and Larry Hiegel. 

 Though no funeral services or calling hours are planned for Robert, it’s likely that both his Aiken and his former Dalton, MA families will wish to host gatherings to recall and honor his rich legacy. Such events will be announced later. 

 Expressions of condolence may be sent to Margaret Franklin, 217 Double Eagle Court, Aiken SC 29803. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (stjude.ord).

SHELLHOUSE – RIVERS FUNERAL HOME, 715 EAST PINE LOG RD., AIKEN, SC