Rodger Dow Adkins
Rodger Dow Atkins, DVM, passed away on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. He was born January 31, 1942.
Rodger was born in Little Rock, Ar., the son of James E. and Virginia Huff Atkins. He graduated from Oklahoma State University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1967 and entered the US Army Veterinary Medical Corps as a Captain. He served one year at the Post Veterinary Office a Ft. Benning, Ga. and one year in Vietnam as a Veterinary Medical Officer. In 1969, he married Melanie King at the Callaway Gardens Chapel, Pine Mountain, Ga., and entered private practice in a small animal clinic in Doraville, Ga. He built the first small animal clinic in Lilburn, Ga., in 1971. From 1972 to 1990, he was a USDA veterinary medical officer in Dardanelle, Ar., and from 1990 to 2000 he was an instructor in the USDA’s national meat and poultry training center on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. After his retirement from the USDA in 2000, he and Melanie moved back to Georgia and settled in Dalton. Rodger and Melanie were hospice volunteers and Rodger was also a volunteer with the Forestry Service and the Boy Scouts in Dalton and Camp Sidney Dew. He will be remembered by all his family and friends for his “wicked sense of humor.”
He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Jon Stephen Atkins, and cousin, Becky Huff Terrien.
He is survived by his wife, Melanie; his sisters, Linda Marlaine Nelson of Lampasas, Tx,, and Mary Atkins Bodenhamer (Kevin) of Tulsa, Ok.; his cousins, Cherry Haney Fishburne of Birmingham, Al., and Linda Lindsley Farnsworth (Bob) of Signal Mountain.
A graveside service and internment will be held at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Ga. In lieu of flowers donation to Hospice or the Boy Scouts of America are appreciated.
Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.pondersfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are by Ponders Melrose Chapel 138 Melrose Drive Dalton, GA 30721, 706-226-4002