James (Jim) Powell, Jr.

Mr. James (Jim) Walter Powell, Jr., 86, of Frederick, Maryland and Savannah, Georgia, died Sunday, March 10, 2013 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was the loving husband of seven years to June Land Powell.

Born March 25, 1926 in Frederick, he was the son of the late Walter James Powell and Matilda Viola Marshall Powell Blickenstaff.

He lived with his grandparents on the Worman's Mill Farm from 1933-1935 and was raised in the Mountaindale area where he attended Lewistown school. He attended Mountaindale Union Sunday School and had eight years of perfect attendance. A self-starter and hard worker, at the age of 10, he delivered clean laundry at the CCC Camp at the Frederick Reservoir.

Mr. Powell was a 1943 graduate of Frederick High School. Following graduation, he was employed for Fairchild Aircraft in Hagerstown, MD building cargo aircrafts. Drafted into the United States Army on June 6, 1944 into the 42nd Infantry Rainbow Division. Following the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944-45, his division pushed to the Rhine River. Captured on January 6, 1945, he witnessed the bombing of Berlin.

At 8 a.m. on April 26, 1945, the POWs were liberated by American troops. He spent 111 days as a POW before his Honorable Discharge on November 30, 1945.

Upon his discharge from the Army, he returned to Fairchild. In May of 1954 he opened Powell Insurance Agency, a successful business he owned and operated for 39 years, and which is still in existence today. He retired and sold the business on December 31, 1992 when he began dividing his time between Frederick and Savannah.

Mr. Powell was very active in the Frederick community as a Jaycee member from 1960-65 and past president; past president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce; he managed a fast pitched softball team for 17 years that received city and county championship awards; a Little league coach in Eastview with the North End Association; Elks Life Member, #684; Water and Sewer Commission member; a Precinct Chairman and Associate Precinct Chairman of Braddock Heights Young Democrats; member of the FSK #11 American Legion; an Entered Apprentice (EA) in the Masonic Lodge; and a member of the Frederick Church of the Brethren, where he organized Boy Scout Troop #269 and he was a Scout Master for five years.

Additionally, he was a charter member of the Sertoma Club and served as president from 1967 - 1968, was Chairman of the Board, State Director and Governor; served as treasurer from 1979-1990 of English Towers in Ocean City and a member of the financial committee of the Worman's Mill Community Association for three years.

Mr. Powell was instrumental in the formation of the Eastview Community Club; the first PTA at the newly constructed Governor Thomas Johnson High School; was executive director of the Miss Frederick Pageant; and he was a Miss America judge. Additionally, he visited Atlantic City annually for 27 years.

When he began dividing his time between Frederick and Savannah, Mr. Powell became active in the Savannah community as president and Chairman of the Board of the Sertoma Club, and he attended Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Ronald Lee Powell of Aberdeen; a daughter, Michele Land Brannen and husband, Joe, of Savannah; granddaughter, Lindsay Michele Brannen; grandson, Zachary Marshall Brannen; two half sisters, Joanne Blickenstaff Biser and husband, Nelson, of Hummelstown, PA; and Kathleen Blickenstaff Keckler and husband, Maynard, of Waynesboro, PA; and several nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his first wife, G. Ruth Berger Powell; and his maternal grandparents, Charles Thomas Marshall and Sarah Ann May Marshall, who were a formative part of his life and who raised him from the age of eight.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, 2013 at Stauffer Funeral Homes, P.A., 1621 Opossumtown Pike, Frederick, where a Masonic Service will begin at 7 p.m.

Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 15, 2013 from the funeral home chapel. Officiating will be the Rev. David Biser, a nephew of Mr. Powell's.

Entombment will follow at Mt. Olivet Mausoleum. Serving as pall bearers will be Col. Kirk A. Yaukey, Kevin A. Yaukey, Jack Ganley, Joe Brannen, Michael K. Shockley, and Edward Rice. Junior pall bearer will be his grandson, Zachary Marshall Brannen. Honorary pall bearers will be Paul Mossburg, Jack Poole, Gerald Yaukey, Emil D. Bennett, Harold T. Bennett, Jack Doll, LeRoy Fleming, and Curtis Bowen.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, TN, 37214-0800.

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