SALISBURY - Ralph Earl Shanks died Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, at the home of his daughter in Leesburg, Va. Born in Keystone, W.Va., he was the son of the late Dock McKinley Shanks and Ethel Ella Atkinson Shanks.
He was a member of the Cross Pointe Church of the Nazarene and the Horse Bridge Golf Club. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years, retiring in 1972. He then worked for Wilfre Sheet Metal, retiring in 1984.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Hattie Estella Stevenson Shanks; a daughter, Deborah Leigh Hobbs of Leesburg, Va.; two sons, Timothy Earl Shanks of Linden, Va., and David Ralph Shanks of Salisbury; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a sister, Betty Semler of Waterloo, Iowa. In addition to his parents, he was also preceded in death by five brothers, Alvin Shanks, Lewis Shanks, Quinton Shanks, Gray Shanks and Tom Shanks; and two sisters, Berta Yearout and Peggy Shanks.
A funeral service was held Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, at Cross Pointe Church of the Nazarene in Salisbury. Interment with military honors was held at Springhill Memory Gardens near Hebron.
Arrangements are in the care of Holloway Funeral Home in Salisbury.