Roxanne was a Christmas baby born on December 19, 1962 in Reidsville, NC. The night after she was born 14 Girl’s Auxiliary members from the First Baptist Church climbed the hospital fire escape to sing Christmas carols to welcome her and astonish everyone on the maternity floor.
Roxanne was the daughter of the late COL. Thomas M. Rankin and Rachel M. Rankin. She became a seasoned traveler and lived in Atlanta, West Berlin, Germany, Charlottesville, VA , and Columbia, SC before our last move to the Washington, DC area. She graduated from Springbrook High School in Maryland and received a BA from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She had a great experience working for Disney after college and made so many life long friends while working and traveling with Piedmont Airlines. She was married in 1995 and her daughter Sydney Rankin Lineberry, who was the most important person in her life, was born in 2001.
Roxanne loved animals especially Dobermans and horses and started riding horses in the fourth grade. She showed horses in local and state contests winning many ribbons and trophies. Roxanne worked very hard to help and provide for neglected animals. She adopted a loving dog who lost one of his legs in surgery when nobody else would take him.
Roxanne was also honored to represent North Carolina in the Washington, DC Cherry Blossom festival in 1981. Her brother, Tom Rankin was her escort.
Her graveside memorial service will be on the family plot at 11:00 AM on May 3, 2025 in Speedwell Presbyterian Church Cemetery. She will be intered with her grandparents and great grandparents and other relatives who are buried there. Speedwell is in Reidsville across from the farm owned by her great grandparents before, during the Civil War, and after.
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