October 6, 2011

SUFFOLK — Stanley Parker Russell, 68, former chief forest warden for the city of Suffolk and Nansemond County for 32 years and “Smokey the Bear,” passed away Oct. 6, 2011. A lifelong resident of Whaleyville, Va., he was a son of the late Stanley Horton Russell and Ophelia Parker Hill. He was a graduate of Whaleyville High School and a member of the Whaleyville Masonic Lodge.

Survivors include his son, Parker Dean Russell and wife, Christy, of Franklin; his former wife, Diane B. Russell, of Edenton, N.C.; a brother, Joseph W. Russell, of Franklin, and three grandchildren, Dean Alexander Russell, Elizabeth Ashley Russell and Ericsson Angelo Russell.

He was predeceased by a brother, George Ray Russell.

The funeral will be conducted on Monday, Oct. 10, 2011, at 2 p.m. in Great Fork Baptist Church with the Rev. Donald Jones and the Rev. John Cullop officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at Wright Funeral Home, Franklin. The family requests memorials be made to the Whaleyville Historical Society. www.wrightfuneralhome.org.