Donald King Atkins

1942 - 2025

Donald King Atkins

July 20, 1942 - October 17, 2025

Donald King Atkins, Don, aged 83, passed away on Friday, October 17, 2025 at the Glenn A Kiser Hospice House in Salisbury, NC following a recent diagnosis of advanced melanoma. Don's funeral service will take place on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 2 p.m. at the Fort Chiswell Church of Christ in Max Meadows, VA with Steve Canup officiating. Visitation will occur at the church beginning one hour before the funeral service. Grubb Funeral Home will be managing the arrangements.

Don was born in 1942 in Wythe County Virginia to Elizabeth Frances (King) Atkins and Marvin Deward Atkins. He served in the US Navy from 1960 to 1964 spending time as an aviation mechanic at Anacostia Naval Support Facility and Joint Base Andrews before a six month deployment aboard the USS Intrepid, CVS-11, out of Norfolk, VA to various locations in the Caribbean. Don retired from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford, VA, following over 30 years of work, most recently as a Manager in the Power House, but he loved people and was too restless to remain inactive, so he worked as a greeter for Walmart in Fairlawn, VA for a while, then as a grounds keeper at the River Course in Radford, VA, before pursuing his second long term vocation, preaching for nearly 20 years for the Church of Christ, in Washington, NC with the River Road congregation, and in Salisbury, NC with the West Innes Street congregation, before his final retirement in 2022 at the age of 80. In his final days from his beds in the Neuro ICU of Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, the Rowan County hospital in Salisbury, and the hospice, he preached numerous sermons about love, in particular the love of all people regardless of their differences. Don also spoke of his love of and pride for his wife of nearly 60 years, Cindy; his daughter, Jill; and son-in-law, Richard Foster; and his granddaughter, Ginny; and many other family members.

Other surviving family members who will be missed and of whom Don spoke of in his final days include his sisters, Zoe Jackson, Iris Spraker, and Betty Lefler and her husband, Dickie; his twin brother, Ron Atkins, elder by just a few minutes, and his wife, Fritzy; his aunt, Ginny King; six nephews and three nieces, Eddie, Kenny, Ronnie, Wesley, Danny, Stephen, Cindy, Lynn, and Mary; as well as many spouses, partners, great nephews and nieces, and their children.

In regard to Don's love and care for all mankind, donations in his memory to the Fort Chiswell Church of Christ in Max Meadows, VA, to support the needs of transient, ill, and hungry people who pass through, and of those in need in the community, will be appreciated. Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.grubbfuneralhome.com

Grubb Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Grubb Funeral Home

215 S. 6th St. Wytheville, VA 24382