James Travis Ashwell

ASHWELL, JAMES TRAVIS, Capt. USN (Ret.) (87)

Of Smith Mountain Lake, VA died in Roanoke, VA, at the home of his daughter, on Saturday, April 22, 2006. A son of the late Sallie Willie Craghead and James Raymond Ashwell of Huddleston, VA, he was born July 17, 1918. Dr. Ashwell was predeceased by his wife, Alice Lorraine Isberner Ashwell; and three sisters, Hazel Ashwell Goode, Edna Ashwell Pollard, and Gertrude Ashwell Turpin. Dr. Ashwell, who finished the Naval Graduate Dental School in Bethesda, MD, in 1944, graduated from the Medical College of Virginia as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1942 after completing Milligan College. In his early years in the Navy, Dr. Ashwell spent time in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Bethesda before being assigned to the USS Randolph in 1944. At that time he performed duty in combat, when, while under direct attack from enemy aircraft, the USS Randolph sustained a direct attack by a Kamikaze aircraft. After leaving the Pacific, Dr. Ashwell served tours of duty on a number of different bases; the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL, where he met his wife; U.S. Naval Activities, United Kingdom, London, England; United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; and the naval base, Camp Lejeune, NC. In the last decade of

his naval career, Dr. Ashwell worked for the Naval Station in Mayport, FL, and the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, DC, from which he retired as Assistant Deputy Chief of the Dental Division. During his career Dr. Ashwell earned the following meritorious medals, American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three stars, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Phillippine Liberation Ribbon. Upon retirement from the Navy, Dr. Ashwell enjoyed for seventeen years practicing dentistry from an office in his home at the lake. An avid gardener, he also enjoyed growing vegetables and flowers for his many friends and large family. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Tammy Lorraine and Timothy Melville MacFarland; grandsons, Daniel Patrick MacFarland and Nicholas Sean MacFarland; a brother, Davis Rudolph Ashwell and his wife, Gail of Huddleston; a sister-in-law, Rose Isberner, nieces and nephews, extended family and special friends, Dennis and Norma West. Graveside services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, July 11 at 3 p.m. with Full Military Honors. Arrangements by OAKEY'S FUNERAL SERVICE, Roanoke, VA 540-982-2100.