R.E.L. LAMKIN JR.

R.E.L. Lamkin Jr., 343 N. Pacific, a longtime Cape Girardeau businessman and civic leader, died Wednesday, July 15, 1992, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was 82.

He was born Oct. 24, 1909, in Cape Girardeau, son of R.E.L. and Floy Tucker Lamkin. He and Virginia Williams were married June 1, 1937, in Cape Girardeau.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Robert E.L. Lamkin III of Kirkwood; a daughter, Anne Kinder of Houston, Texas; a brother, John T. Lamkin of Cape Girardeau, and three grandchildren.

Lamkin was a 1927 graduate of Central High School, and 1931 graduate of the University of Missouri where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

He then joined Buckner-Ragsdale Co. as secretary-treasurer and then served as president until he retired in 1982. During World War II he worked two years for the Office of Price Administration in St. Louis and Washington, D.C.

A merchant in Cape Girardeau almost 50 years, Lamkin was a long-term director of Missouri Retailers Association and served as chairman in 1978. He was also the first president of the Cape Girardeau Metro Association and a director of the Cape Girardeau Redevelopment Corporation.

Lamkin had served as president of both the Chamber of Commerce and Cape Girardeau Lions Club, and chairman of Cape Girardeau Public Library Board.

He also served as a member of the local Cerebral Palsy Board and helped organize the first telethon. He was treasurer of Cape Girardeau's Sesquicentennial organization in 1956.

Lamkin was a member of First Presbyterian Church, had served as a deacon and treasurer, and was a member of the Tower Club.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. The Revs. Charles Grant and E.C. Brasington will officiate. A private family burial will be held at Memorial Park.

Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements. There is no visitation.