Charles Hinton Drake

Charles Hinton Drake, MD - GLENNVILLE - Charles Hinton Drake, MD, 91 died December 3, 2009 in Savannah after a long illness. He was a native of Tattnall County, Georgia, born August 29, 1918, the eldest child of Claude Hinton Drake and Alice Gordon Murray. He attended Indiana Central College before enlisting in the United States Air Force in March 1941. In the service he was initially trained as a bombardier and later as a combat intelligence officer. He served in the 391st Bomb Group of the 9th Air Force and saw action in England, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany, rising to the rank of MAJOR by the time he left service in 1945. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star. Following the war, on September 25, 1946, he married Estelle Carolyn Nail, also of Tattnall County. He attended Emory University and the Medical College of Georgia, receiving his MD degree in 1951. After an internship at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, he moved to Glennville in 1952 to begin his medical practice. He was one of the last old-fashioned country doctors and was loved by the many patients he cared for during his thirty years of practice. He was a committed Christian and had a deep and abiding faith in God. Although he was not an ordained minister, he considered all that he did a form of service to his Lord. In 1968, he became the first medical director of Glenvue Nursing Home, which he eventually purchased and owned for nearly thirty years before it was sold in 1997. In 1969, he helped found Pinewood Christian Academy, serving as one of its first directors. In 1984, he was honored to receive a coat-of-arms from the College of Arms in London, granted under the authority of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He was a member of the Order of Lafayette, an hereditary society of United States military officers who assisted in the liberation of France in World War II. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Estelle; two children, Charles Edward Drake and Carol Louise Drake, both of Savannah; daughter-in-law, Rita Chabot Drake, and grandchild, Vivienne Rita Drake. He was predeceased by one brother, James L. Drake, and is survived by one brother, Dr. R. L. Drake of Gainesville, Florida. He is survived by four sisters, Mae Drake Lynn of Collins, Georgia, Betty Drake Collins of Lyons, Georgia, Joyce Drake Rivers of Collins, and Margaret Drake Williamson of Eastman, Georgia; two sisters-in-law, Betty Sikes Drake of Gainesville, Florida and Frankie Rich Drake of Commerce, Georgia; and two brothers-in-law, J. H. Collins of Lyons and James Williamson of Eastman, plus many nieces and nephews. Visitation will be at the Brannen Kennedy Funeral Home in Glennville on Friday evening, December 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Funeral services will be held at Brannen Kennedy Funeral Home chapel, Glennville at 11:00 AM, Saturday, December 5. Interment will be in the Glennville City Cemetery. Remembrances: flowers or donations to Pinewood Christian Academy, P. O. Box 7, Bellville, Georgia 30414. Brannen-Kennedy Funeral Home Glennville Chapel Savannah Morning News December 4, 2009 Please sign our Obituary Guest Book at savannahnow.com/obituaries .