Doug Rithmire

Doug Rithmire was born in a cotton patch in Anderson, Alabama on a late summer day in 1933.  He was the youngest of six children born to sharecroppers in a shack with no running water or electricity.  He grew up dirt poor, yet very loved and learned the value of hard work and family early on. During his early years, a young Doug would find himself doing whatever he could to help make ends meet when he and his siblings were not working in the fields.  He worked a wide array of jobs as a young man including working for Brown’s Service Funeral Home in Alabama driving flower trucks, ambulances and sometimes the Hearse…all while underage!  He stocked shelves and did inventory at May’s Grocery near his childhood home and even worked and lived for a while on barges on the Tennessee River working for Tennessee Valley Sand and Gravel. Doug was also known to run moonshine from time to time before taking a job at Brooks’ Service Station in Rogersville, AL.  He also had a short career as a welder for Yellow Freight Line in Atlanta before going to work for Ed Samples Transmissions…which would prove to be the springboard for his first career as he would go on to own and operate Rithmire’s Transmission in the heart of downtown Atlanta for nearly 30 years.

The poor boy from the cotton patch would go on to eat suppers with Governors in the Governor’s mansion, had private tours of the White House, helped Dan Rather and CBS News expose unscrupulous auto repair shops along the tourist route to Florida in the early days.  He taught Powder Puff clinics for women to empower them to be able to do small repairs to their own vehicles and avoid being taken advantage of when he served as President of the Automotive Service Council.  He rubbed elbows with the likes of Ted Turner, Atlanta mayors, and countless other icons of Georgia including peanut farmers who would become President.  He even found himself in the company of movie stars from Hollywood, once even putting transmissions in a Trans Am so the Bandit could outrun Smokey on the big screen.  As a business owner in downtown Atlanta for nearly 30 years, he was known as a tough, but generous entrepreneur and was known to dole out much of his earnings to help those less fortunate.  When he wasn’t running three different businesses or helping right the wrongs he could change in the early days, he was most likely hunting or fishing somewhere with friends and family.  He was an avid outdoorsman from his early days in the Great Depression to just this year when he was killing turkeys in Georgia and catching sheep head in South Carolina.

He hunted elk in Colorado, nearly dying after getting trapped in a blizzard, but making his way out days later on horseback…with an elk.  He hunted mule deer in Michigan, gators in Georgia and every imaginable game in between, but was never too proud to hunt a squirrel or rabbit with his many grandchildren.  He fished nearly every major stream and lake in the southeast and hundreds of ponds and creeks as well.  He braved the coastal waters and slept on sandbars with grandkids along the Ogeechee River even in his late 70s in search of red breast and adventures to be shared with little ones he loved so dearly.

He tried to retire once in the 1980s, moving to Cedar Bluff Alabama and Lake Weiss where he had the idea of running a fishing guide service in the crappie capital of the world.  It was a fantastic few years, but after fishing every hole on that lake and reading every Louis Lamoure book, he knew he had more to do.  He headed back to Atlanta and took over the Georgia Wildlife Federation (G.W.F.) where he served as board member, president, and eventually show director for over three decades….finally retiring at the age of 87!  It is impossible to measure, or even list, the contributions he made to conservation in the state of Georgia.  He became a champion for clean water and air to preserve the natural resources so that all future generations could enjoy hunting and fishing in the great outdoors.  He helped create and supervise more modern trade shows for hunting and fishing in order to raise money to benefit the many programs run by the G.W.F.  These shows are now ingrained in millions of peoples’ pasts as they attended (and still attend) the great Buckaramas, Turkeyramas, Fisheramas or Great Outdoors Shows held around the state since the 1980s, raising millions for conservation programs and bringing together the general public year after year with vendors from all over the world.  This vision that he helped to create came to fruition by sheer will and determination and encompassed the second half of his life.

Doug, known as PawPaw to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, ended his days much the same way they began in that cotton patch.  As he went to meet his Maker, he still valued the bounty of nature, hard work, honest friends and most of all…his family.  Though our hearts are broken, we take comfort in the many “feelings and memories” he seemed to always find time to make with so many.  Anyone who spent time with him likely has an adventure and story or two to share. We know he is at peace now and it is our turn to go live life to the fullest and keep his legacy alive.

Doug was preceded in death by his mother Arie Poss Rithmire, his father James Garfield Rithmire, his son Larry Rithmire, and his daughter Carolyn Oneill, as well as his sisters Nadine and Iva, along with his brothers Hershell, Dillard and James, and wife Nancy.  He is survived by his daughters Debbie Albright (Rob) of Salisbury, NC, Susan Jones (Steve) of Debary, FL and Candice Gorman of Jackson, GA; as well as his sons Dee Rithmire (Tiffany) of Cedar Bluff, AL and Phillip Oliver (Kascie) of Brooklet, GA along with his many nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

A private service will be held at a later date.