Edwin Fearrington Sharpe

1924 - 2008

Mr. Edwin Fearrington Sharpe, 84, of Burlington, N.C., died at the Hospice Home in Burlington on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, at 5:50 a.m. Born in Burlington, N.C., on March 30, 1924, he was the son of Walter Eugene Sharpe and Sallie Fearrington Sharpe, both deceased and moved to Roanoke, Va., at about age six. He graduated from Jefferson High School in 1943 and almost immediately went into the Army. He spent three years in the Army Air Corp and served as a Radio Operator Gunner on a B-25 in the 5th Army Air Corp during World War II in the Pacific Theater. At the war's end, he was on Ie Shima an island just of Okinawa, South of Japan. He returned to the states in 1946 and graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BS in electrical engineering in 1949. Mr. Sharpe married Virginia Lee Harvey on June 21, 1946. He spent most of his working life as a member of the technical staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Burlington; served as a treasurer of the Alamance Battleground of the Sons of the American Revolution; served as a president of the Alamance Genealogy Society; served as a treasurer of the 345th Bomb Group Association, a group of members of the 5th Army Air Corp in the Pacific Theater during World War II; and helped as a volunteer for several local groups. He was preceded in death by his parents; and six siblings, Louise Sharpe, Norman Sharpe, Mildred Meekins, Walter Sharpe Jr., Eleanore Sharpe and Elouise England; by his wife, Virginia H. Sharpe; a daughter, Elizabeth Sharpe Vassar; and two sons, Edwin Fearrington Sharpe Jr. and Lewis Harvey Sharpe. A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, September 13, 2008, at the First Presbyterian Church of Burlington and conducted by Dr. Ron Shive. The family will greet friends after the service. Burial will be held at a later date in Evergreen Cemetery in Roanoke, Va. Memorials may be made to your choice of charities or Hospice and Palliative Care of Alamance-Caswell, 914 Chapel Hill Road, Burlington, N.C. 27215. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.richandthompson.com.