Beatrice "Bea" Bishop Franklin, a longtime Arlington, Virginia,
resident who retired from the Department of Defense as a housing
officer, died November 25, 2005, of a heart attack at her mountain home
in Linden, Virginiaa, at the age of 85.

Mrs. Franklin worked in various federal civil-service jobs between the
1940s and the 1980s, with a brief interlude in the 1960s as a real
estate agent. She worked at the Census Bureau, the Navy Dispensary, the
Internal Revenue Service and the Pentagon. She retired in 1982 from the
Defense Department's Joint Armed Forces Housing Referral Office.

Mrs. Franklin was a born in Leesburg and raised in the District. After
graduating from Eastern High School, she moved to Arlington. She
married and raised her five sons. Her husband served in the Navy in
World War II, and four sons served in the military between 1960 and
1970.

In retirement, she traveled within the United States and abroad, being
among the first Americans in the 1980s to visit China when relations
between the nations improved.

She was an avid genealogist and was active in the District of Columbia
Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a docent at
DAR's national headquarters, receiving a pin for her years of service,
and served in various positions for her chapter, Col. John Washington.
The Children of the American Revolution was another focus of her
activities. She also volunteered at a local thrift shop.

Her husband, Charles Franklin, died in 1972.

Survivors include her sons, Charles Franklin of Hampton, Howard
Franklin and Donald Franklin of Arlington, Virginia, James Franklin of
Newmarket, Virginia, and John Franklin of Linden, Virginia; two
sisters, Rosalind Barton of Falls Church, Virginia, and Patricia
Middelthon of Arlington, Virginia; eight grandchildren; and four
great-grandchildren.

Washington Post

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