Ralph C. Edrington
1917 - 2015
A Lifetime of Service
Ralph Edrington of Arlington passed away Tuesday afternoon, August 18 at the Clinton-Hickman County ICF Nursing Home at the age of 98. He was born with his twin brother, Rufus on the family farm on June 29, 1917 to Jewell and Mae Burton Edrington. He was a 6th generation Kentuckian with his ancestors coming from Virginia in 1785.
A long-time agri-businessman and educator and a distinguished member of “The Greatest Generation,” Mr. Edrington’s life was marked by his dedicated service to his family, his church, his country and his community.
Mr. Edrington was a graduate of Arlington High School and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. He taught high school agriculture for four years, then served in the U.S. Army 8th Air Force in England and Germany for three and a half years during World War II. While serving in England, he met and married his wife, Beatrice Helen Knight, a veteran of the Women’s Royal Naval Service.
After the war the Edringtons moved back to Carlisle County to make their home and raise a family. Mr. Edrington continued to teach agriculture with post-war veteran’s training programs and later joined the Jackson Purchase Production Credit Association in Carlisle and Ballard counties before joining Continental Grain Company, where he worked in regional sales for 25 years. Mr. Edrington was also a pioneer in western Kentucky poultry farming, producing broilers for Swift & Company. He was also highly regarded for his tomatoes, melons and peaches.
Over the course of his long and productive life, Mr. Edrington served on numerous boards and in a variety of leadership roles. He was honored for his service in many ways over the years.
One of his most notable roles was in helping lead West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation. Mr. Edrington first joined the Board of Directors of West Kentucky RECC in 1966, representing Carlisle County. In 1984 he was elected president of the WKRECC Board, a position he held until he elected to step down in 2008. Mr. Edrington also represented WKRECC on the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives Board of Directors from the time it was founded in 1985 until 2009. When Mr. Edrington joined the board, he signed on to help lead a cooperative serving 17,300 meters and with total assets of just over $8 million. When he stepped down 46 years later, the cooperative had grown to serve 38,422 meters with total assets of more than $125 million. Upon Mr. Edrington’s retirement, WKRECC President & CEO David Smart had this to say: “It has been a true honor to lead with Mr. Edrington. He has proudly represented his county and this cooperative and has been instrumental in instituting the policies, code of ethics, values and integrity that we operate under today.”
In 2013, WKRECC celebrated Mr. Edrington’s service to the cooperative by naming a new substation in his honor. The Ralph C. Edrington Substation serves all of the cooperative’s Carlisle County members in the areas of Arlington, Bardwell and Kirbyton as well as parts of Graves and Hickman counties. In all, the substation serves 2,480 WKRECC members and is the most state-of-the-art of the cooperative’s 11 substation facilities. A dedication ceremony was held in which Mr. Edrington was joined by family and friends who assisted him in officially christening the substation.
Mr. Edrington was also a three-time president of the Bardwell-Carlisle County Lions Club, a Melvin Jones fellow in Lions International and was honored as Lion of the Year on four occasions. In 2003 Mr. Edrington received the Finis E. Davis Fellow, Kentucky’s highest award for dedication to the Lions Club for Humanitarian Service. He was also named a Knight of the Blind for his contributions to the Lions Research Eye Center.
His wartime experience led Mr. Edrington to serve as commander of American Legion Post 250 in Arlington for approximately 15 years and he was instrumental in organizing and raising money for the Carlisle County Veterans Memorial.
Mr. Edrington served on the Carlisle County Extension Council, the Extension District board and the Kentucky State Extension Advisory Council.
He was also recognized for his regional work with the University of Kentucky Alumni Association and was named Distinguished UK Alumni in 1977.
In 2001 Mr. Edrington was named Carlisle County’s Citizen of the Year by the Carlisle County Chamber of Commerce. He was honored at the chamber’s annual banquet for a life of community service.
Added to his other accolades, Mr. Edrington was selected as Woodman of the World Outstanding Citizen of the Year in 2001 and inducted into the 4-H Club Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2000.
A member and trustee of Milburn Methodist Church, Mr. Edrington was also a volunteer custodian of the grounds and the prayer garden.
The Edringtons have two sons, David and Charles, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The couple remained close to Beatrice’s family in England and visited many times over the years, including a special family trip in 1996 that was part of a 50th anniversary celebration. They shared a love of gardening and landscaping and worked together to surround their home and church with beautiful gardens.
If, as the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well,” then Ralph Edrington can be said to have lived a life of purpose and set a fine example for us all.
Visitation will be Saturday, August 22 at the Milner & Orr Funeral Home of Arlington at 5:00 PM Services will be conducted by Rev. Jonathan Althoff. Funeral services will be at the Milburn United Methodist Church on Sunday, August 23 beginning at 2:00 PM with burial to follow at Milburn Cemetery.
You may leave a message, light a candle or share a song tribute with the family at www.milnerandorr.com.
