Mr. James Rex Akridge

Mr. James Rex Akridge, 86, of Tallahassee Florida, passed away on November 14, 2019, at his home. Visitation will be from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, November 18, 2019, at Culley's Meadow Wood Funeral Home at 1737 Riggins Rd. Tallahassee, FL 32308. A Celebration of Life service will follow beginning at 7:30 p.m. Interment will be the following day on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 11:30 a.m. CST at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Panama City, Florida.

Rex was born in June 29, 1933 to James Floyd Akridge and Georgia Sawyer Akridge. On June 29, 1954, he married Dorothy (Dot) Faye Baxley in Lynn Haven Florida. Proud parents of Greg and Tony, Rex was an active band parent and chaperon of many junior high and high school band trips.

From 1950-1961, Rex proudly served our country in the National Guard as a Sargent in the Machine Gun squad.

For 30 years (1958 – 1988) Rex worked as a Bridge Engineer for the State of Florida Department of Transportation until his retirement. One of his many notable accomplishments is the honor of working on the first St. George Island Bridge.

After retiring from the State of Florida Department of Transportation, Rex joined E.C. Driver as a Project Engineer until his second retirement.

Rex and Dot shared a passion for square dancing and clogging. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, Rex and Dot were the directors of the Capital City Clogger’s. Among their many events where they choreographed and entertained hundreds of families and guests, Rex and Dot were honored at the Louisiana World Exposition (1984) where they performed by invitation only. It was Rex’s greatest joy to see the children of all ages laughing and dancing along with the clogger’s.

After completely retiring, Rex and Dot enjoyed driving their RV and traveling around the Southeast with their Pekinese dogs to North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, and everywhere in between. While they traveled, they met many wonderful people who quickly became lifelong friends. They enjoyed spending their spare time enjoying the wonderful mountain air at their vacation home in Whittier, North Carolina.

He is preceded in death by his parents, James Floyd Akridge and Georgia Sawyer Akridge of Lynn Haven Fl. and Lucy Akridge Flowers (sister) also of Lynn Haven Fl. He is survived by his wife Dorothy Akridge, Greg Akridge (son), Jennifer Akridge (daughter in-law), Tony Akridge (son), Dana Akridge (daughter in-law) Andrew Akridge (grandson), Christopher Akridge (grandson), Teryn Akridge (granddaughter), Zooey Akridge (great granddaughter), Isaac Akridge (great grandson), Ava Powers- Akridge (great granddaughter), and Emery Carpenter (great granddaughter), and his family of clogger’s.