Frampton Mikell Harper, 69, of Rabun Gap, Ga. died June 6, 2009 following a long illness.
Memorial service was held June 13 at Rabun Gap Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Don Barber officiating. Burial was in Beaufort. Beck Funeral Home, Clayton, Ga. was in charge of the arrangements.
Mr. Harper was a native of Williston. He served in Vietnam and was awarded The Bronze Star. He practiced law for more than 40 years in Williston, where he also served as Mayor, and in Beaufort. Following retirement, he moved to Rabun Gap, Ga., where he coached basketball, taught criminal justice at the college level, and engaged in independent research and writing. Fascinated with family history, he produced a private volume tracing the Harper family from Ireland in 1604 to the Augusta, Georgia area. He was a member of the Augusta Genealogical Society, the Longstreet Society, and the Scotch-Irish Society of the United States. He authored two books relating to the Civil War. The Second Georgia Infantry Regiment (Indigo Publishing, 2005) is a written and pictorial history of this regiment, in which several Harper men served and which fought in the most famous and important campaigns of the Eastern theater of the Civil War. The book was nominated for the Benjamin Franklin Award. A companion volume, Catharine of Ivanhoe (2008) explores the human side of the war through the personal letters of one Georgia soldier and his wife's remarkable journal. He was predeceased by his parents, Edna L. and Frampton Lawton Harper.
Survivors include his wife, Sharon Parker Harper, of the home; one sister, Jane Harper (James) Thompson of Mount Pleasant; one daughter, Fran (Angus) Hill of Atlanta, Ga.; two sons, Frampton (Mary Heyward) Harper of Beaufort and Carl (Anna Katherine) of Beaufort and stepsons Jack Read of Greenville, Dennison Read of Birmingham, Ala. and Chris Read of Beaufort and his first wife, Madeline McNair Harper of Beaufort.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Rabun Gap Presbyterian Church Food Distribution Program, 8397 Wolffork Rd., Rabun Gap, Ga. 30568.
The People-Sentinel 06/24/09