FRANKLIN–Harding Ashby Blythe, Sr. 90, passed away August 12, 2011 at Southampton Memorial Hospital after a long illness.

He was born in Southampton County, a son of the late Kenneth and Florence Lankford Blythe, and was predeceased by his wife, Sallie Mae Cobb Blythe; one sister, Daisy B. Johnson; and four brothers, Otis, Sherman, Thurman, and Morgan Blythe. A Navy veteran of WW II, Mr. Blythe was retired from the Virginia Department of Corrections Southampton Correctional Center. He was a member of Sedley Baptist Church and a birthright Quaker.

Survivors include his daughter, Vera B. Copas and husband, Richard, of Franklin; his son, H. Ashby Blythe, Jr. and wife, Terri, of Ivor; two grandchildren, Stevie Ezzell and wife, Nancy, and Vanessa E. Pair and husband, Eddie; eleven great-grandchildren; caregivers, Janice Carter and Paula Murphy; and a host of nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be conducted at 2:30 pm Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at Sedley Baptist Church with the Rev. James Foreman officiating. Interment will follow at the Lankford Family Cemetery on Sedley Road. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 pm Monday at Wright Funeral Home and suggests memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or American Lung Association. www.wrightfuneralhome.org