William A. "Bill" Franklin, 86, passed away at home in Santa Fe, NM on December 3, 2019.

Bill was born to Hilda Charlotta (Rumbaugh) Franklin and Albert William Franklin in Burden, KS on July 5, 1933. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Jack Benjamin Franklin, sister Annette Jane (Franklin) Reynolds, and niece Angela "Angie" Belew. He is survived by his daughter Heather Ann (Franklin) Helton and son-in-law Stan Helton, son Abraham "Abe" John Franklin and daughter-in-law Tania Chavez, grandsons Joshua Manuel Chavez and Skye Joaquin Franklin, nieces Susan "Susie" (Belew) Phillips, Janet (Franklin) Hansen, and Melanie (Wheat) Haury, and nephew William "Bill" Wheat.

Bill was raised in Burden and northwestern Arkansas. He entered the United States Marine Corps in 1953 and served at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, NC. He was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal in 1956.

He married Rita Mary Catlin in 1961. They settled in Sunspot, New Mexico, where Bill began his thirty-two-year career as electronics technician at the Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory. Bill contributed significantly to the design, construction, and ongoing operation of four telescopes that were used to collect important new information about the sun.

The family purchased their first home a few miles away in Chippeway Park in 1967. The family moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1977. Bill and Rita divorced in 1980. Bill re-married two times - to Bette Jean "B.J." (Boykin) Ramnarace in 1981 (divorced in 1993) and Elizabeth "Betty" Thomas in 1995 (separated in 2002).

Throughout Bill's life his intense fascination with hobbies was one of his defining personality traits. The mountains around Sunspot provided an ideal environment for trail riding on light-weight dirt bikes, and he and family raced in enduros held in New Mexico and adjacent states. He learned black and white film developing, family photo reproduction and archiving, and later, digital photo archiving and restoration. He played Dungeons and Dragons with Abe and several friends in their teen years. He researched his family history, including courthouse research in Oklahoma and Kansas. He programmed in HTML, collaborating with nephew Bill Wheat on the Bill and Diane's World web site. He wrote memoirs, short fiction, and mystery – including the e-books Dream to Remember and Little Cabin in the Wood.

After more than fifty years in southern New Mexico, Bill moved to the home of Heather and Stan in McCaysville, Georgia in 2015. Illness led him to move back to New Mexico in 2018, near Abe and Tania in Santa Fe. After a happy year, a return of his cancer led him to move in with them in late October 2019.

Bill's kind heart and guileless generosity touched many over the course of his life. He will be missed by all who knew him.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 10:00 A.M. at Miles Funeral Service. Visitation will begin at 9:00 AM until service time. Interment and Military Committal honors will follow at the Burden Cemetery. Family and friends are welcome to gather at Turner's in Burden afterward.