William Wallace (Bill) Lumpkin, Jr, 78, of 3501 Longdale Furnace Road, Clifton Forge and Covington, Virginia, peacefully passed away on May 14, 2015, after a long and courageous battle with several life-threatening conditions.

He was born March 5, 1937, in Charleston, S.C., the son of the late Reverend William Wallace Lumpkin, Sr., and Louise Dallas Hirst Lumpkin.

At the age of fifteen, Lumpkin started his lifelong career in journalism. While in high school in Rock Hill, S.C., he was a feature writer, columnist, and finally sports editor of the Rock Hill High School "Bearcat" newspaper.

After high school, he attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., where he not only served on the USC "Gamecock" newspaper staff for four years, but also found time to take part in plays and many other activities on campus.

Upon graduating with a degree in journalism in 1960, Lumpkin applied for jobs at newspapers in South Carolina and North Carolina, and while applying for a position with the Charlotte "Observer" had a conversation with Marshall Doswell, a former managing editor for the Covington "Virginian," who mentioned that the paper had just lost two reporters. Lumpkin applied, and was interviewed and hired by Doug Smith, the new "Virginian" managing editor. Thus began Lumpkin's four decades of chronicling the news of the Alleghany Highlands.

Starting with writing fire calls and accident reports from the police records, Lumpkin soon was demonstrating his versatility in many fields, contributing feature stories, sports articles, cartoons, and serious commentary: his first by-line in the paper appeared on a series he compiled on public officials in Covington and Alleghany County.

Lumpkin, a great sports fan, also sometimes doubled as the photographer at local sporting events and was familiar with the coaches and players on most of the local teams, both past and present. He became well-known among team officials for his late-night phone calls for game information and interviews, but was always trusted to be fair to both teams in every game. He became a fixture covering Covington City Council and School Board meetings, reporting objectively on such issues as the desegregation of the city schools in the 1960s, the creation of a new high school and the attendant zoning controversies, and the state's decision to build the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge.

In 1969 he won a Virginia Press Association Award for reporting on the need for a new hospital in Alleghany County. Courts and the police beats were also part of Lumpkin's assignments, and he retained a remarkable memory of details of the many investigations and trials he covered over 40 years, referring to the still unsolved 1966 Wickersham murder as the most memorable event he wrote about; over forty-five years later, he still recalled the opposing attorneys and much of the testimony of the trial.

Throughout these frequently intense events, he was noted for his accuracy, objectivity, and integrity, making no judgments and taking no sides, trusted by all parties to be fair.

Lumpkin was a reporter, not an editorial writer, and he was always careful to make that professional distinction. Lumpkin left the Covington "Virginian" in 1981, writing first for the "Pioneer" and then for the Clifton Forge "Daily Review." In 1988 he re-joined the "Virginian" staff and stayed with it as it and the "Daily Review" merged in 1989 to become the "Virginian Review;" it was to be his journalistic home until his retirement a decade later.

Lumpkin said that he never moved on to a larger newspaper because he became accustomed to Covington's small-town atmosphere; he embraced the people of the Highlands, and increasingly they embraced the articulate, professional, kindly South Carolinian.

Just before his retirement, Lumpkin was recognized by the Covington City Council for his coverage of its meetings. Similarly, the Covington VFW Post presented him a plaque in appreciation for his coverage of its banquets and community activities — he was in fact a fixture at the meetings and banquets of many local civic organizations, and was known for reporting accurately, but also with great understanding of the good intentions of all. As Mike Wolfe, publicity chairman for the Covington branch of the NAACP said of him, "In all the years he came to our meetings, he did it more out of love than just reporting a story. Bill always tried to get all the details that he could, and he always tried to say nice things about people in his stories.[His writing] just shows what kind of person Bill is." Lumpkin related well to the people of this area, but at some level he was always a professional journalist. At his retirement he said, "Of course, I'll miss the people that I've worked with, but I will really miss the uncertainty that goes along with the job of being a reporter. As a reporter, you learn to expect the unexpected. A news event happens and it changes everything." Clearly, Lumpkin felt called to record those events and those changes.

At the same time, Lumpkin was an artist. On the professional level, he contributed countless cartoons and caricatures to the pages of the Virginian and elsewhere, but his drawings have appeared in many venues and homes in the Highlands area. Many of Lumpkin's sketches and watercolors have been published in the Alleghany Highlands Arts & Craft Center's annual historic landmarks calendar, and in 1996 he won the Westvaco Mill Manager's Christmas Card Contest. He has had numerous paintings displayed at the Alleghany Regional Arts Center, and he has done free-hand portraits at a number of Fall Festivals to raise money for charity. Perhaps most remarkably, he has for over fifty years done pen and ink drawings as gifts to countless individuals in the area, some of them total strangers. His final spontaneous sketches were of the doctors, nurses, and visitors to his room in the Intensive Care Unit in Roanoke.

Lumpkin had other interests outside of journalism and art. He was a lifelong fisherman, and spent countless hours standing in the surf at Edisto Beach, S.C., or just sitting in a boat or on a bank watching a bobber. He was a passionately loyal sports fan, cheering for the Covington Cougars, the South Carolina Gamecocks, and the Washington Redskins, through good seasons and bad, and after 30 years or so in the Highlands he also embraced the Virginia Tech Hokies.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of many local and national charities and frequently involved in their fund-raising activities, including his annual singing of "Rickity Tickity Tin" on the Heart Association's radio telethon.

He was a voracious reader on many topics; when he wasn't sketching in his ICU room, he was trying to get through Hillary Clinton's latest book. He made model airplanes, studied dinosaurs, kept voluminous journals and scrapbooks, and kept up correspondence with many members of his very large family.

Lumpkin was a faithful member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church since his arrival in Covington 55 years ago, attending with the help of several friends even after he was virtually unable to travel. He was an usher and a lay reader, and when not otherwise engaged in the service, was a fixture in the right front pew, his strong voice and enthusiastic singing making a constant joyful noise unto the Lord.

William Wallace Lumpkin, Jr., was the bearer of a proud name, that of William Wallace, the great 13th-century Scottish warrior and patriot, and Bill's own father, William Wallace Lumpkin, Sr., a warrior priest who served as Chaplain to the Second Marine Division on Tarawa and Iwo Jima.

Bill never served in the military — the Marines turned him down because of his eyesight — but his cheerful courage in battling a lifetime of difficulties and physical challenges has inspired many of his friends and family. After struggling with cancer, a heart condition, kidney failure, and other medical issues, Bill was still able to produce a cartoon for his dialysis unit titled "10 Reasons I Am Grateful to Be on Dialysis."

His loving and generous nature was evident during his time here as he freely donated his money, his time, his writing, and his art to all, from formal organizations such as the Kidney Foundation and the Heart Association to total strangers on the street, in hospitals, wherever he went.

Courageous and Loving: Bill Lumpkin was truly a Brave Heart, and he will truly be missed. Mr. Lumpkin's survivors include seven brothers and sisters: Dallas Lumpkin Garbee and her husband, Richard Garbee of Columbia, S.C.; Dr. Arthur Lumpkin and his wife, Karen Taylor Lumpkin of Columbia, S.C.; Dr. Alexander Lumpkin and his wife, Dr. Janice Park Lumpkin of Chicago, IL; Anne Lumpkin Beach and her husband, Robert Beach of Raleigh, N.C.; Elisabeth Lumpkin Gregory and her husband, John Gregory of Columbia, S.C.; the Reverend Michael Lumpkin and his wife, Ellen Bennett Lumpkin of Summerville, S.C.; and Julia Lumpkin Kana and her husband, Dr. Tim Kana of Columbia, S.C.

Lumpkin is further survived by 21 nieces and nephews, and many great-nieces and great-nephews. And finally, he is survived by his beloved companion, Faye Watts of Covington and Richmond, VA.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, May 22, at 11:00 a.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, with the Reverend Michael Lumpkin officiating and celebrating Holy Communion. There will be a reception in the Emmanuel Church parish hall after the service. Interment at Trinity Episcopal Church, Edisto Island, S.C., will be at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Emmanuel Episcopal Church, P. O. Box 709, Covington, VA 24426; The Salvation Army, 115 Lexington Avenue, Covington, VA 24426; or The American Heart Association, Memorial Chairman, 2212 Dressler Drive, Covington, VA 24426.

Arrangements are being handled by Loving Funeral Home; www.lovingfuneralhome1913.com.