Francis Lankford, law enforcement officer preached respect

By RICK BADIE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Francis Lankford taught his family to respect, understand and obey the law.

For him, it was a simple, cut and dry principle. You’d expect as much, though, from a veteran lawman. His law enforcement career spanned several decades.

He began his career as an officer with the Dalton Police Department. That stint was followed by one with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Department and eventually the Georgia State Patrol, where he spent 27 years. Most of the time, he was assigned to post No. 3 in Cartersville. He retired as a sergeant.

As a state patrol officer, the Dalton native did it all. He patrolled highways. He chased moonshiners and worked wrecks. He often got called to the scene when lead-footed drivers misjudged mountain roads, said his granddaughter, Sarah Barnaby of Orlando.

“A lot of the teenagers would race on those mountain passes,” she said, “and end up having an accident. He got called up to Hall County all time, though he wasn’t stationed at a post there.”

Francis G. “Red” Lankford, 98, of Cartersville died Friday at the Maple Ridge Health Care Center of Cartersville from natural causes. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville. Parnick Jennings Funeral Home and Cremation Services is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Lankford grew up in Dalton, the son of the late Tooms Lankford and Ida Middleton Lankford. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Afterward, he started an extensive career in law enforcement that ended with his retirement in 1975.

In retirement, he tended to a 20-acre farm off Cassville White Road in Cartersville. He and his first wife, Annie Ambercrombie Lankford, grew vegetables that they canned, froze and shared with neighbors. They also raised cattle.

In the late 1970s, the couple moved back into the town of Cartersville. His wife died in 1993. Years later, he married his current wife, Eulane Lankford of Cartersville.

Mr. Lankford belonged to Tabernacle Baptist Church. He was a member of the Peace Officers Association of Georgia and Cartersville Masonic Lodge No. 63.

One aspect of law enforcement didn’t sit well with Mr. Lankford. It’s something he observed in the decades of wearing an officer’s badge and uniform. The public, he told friends and family, treated State Patrol officers with more respect than city or county officers.

“I think the way he was received had a lot to do with it,” his granddaughter said. “But he thought all law enforcement officers should be treated the same. It’s the kind of respect he taught us to have.”

Additional survivors include a sister, Edith McClean of Falls Church, Va.; a stepdaughter, Kay Fields of Cartersville; and one grandson.