Rankin, James Kirkpatrick, 2000 June 19

This is a living history interview with James K. Rankin, class of 1936, conducted by Marilyn Somers on June 19, 2000. The subject of the this interview is his life and experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. Rankin was raised in Atlanta and attended Boys High. He entered Tech in 1932 as an ME. Mr. Rankin was involved in many campus activities, including ASME and the Oil Can Club. He ran in the Freshman Cake Race and was on the track team coached by George Griffin. Mr. Rankin was active in Naval ROTC and was president of his fraternity, SAE, his senior year. He remembers that he had to study all week, but had a social life on the weekends. After his graduation, Mr. Rankin worked for Westinghouse until he was called into active duty. He worked in shipyards throughout WWII and ranked as a Commander. After he got out of the military, Mr. Rankin ran a Carrier air conditioning office in Augusta for 8 years. He worked in Higgins Shipyard for the next four years and then finished his career at Reynolds Metals. Mr. Rankin married Margaret Wright before he was called to active duty in WWII. They have two sons and three granddaughters.