Robert A. Penn

Robert A Penn, 84, passed away Friday, April 14, 2023. Born and raised in Cynthiana, KY, Robert graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1960 and worked for the office of surface mining, Department of the Interior in Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia before retiring as director of the Big Stone Gap, VA, office after 28 years. He was a great lover of sports cars and the University of Kentucky. Robert was known to come home from a round of golf, which he loved, bragging about getting scratched-up in the fairway hitting a little white ball with a stick. He raised a family with tenderness and love. All of us could spend days talking of his wonderful sense of humor, as he was one, ever so funny, man.

He was preceded in death by his parents, W.O. Penn and Evelyn Byrd Faulconer Penn.

Robert is survived by his wife, Darla Griffin Penn; children, Carolyn (Jody) Hendricks, Brent Penn, Travis (Lindsey) Penn, and Sabrina (Harold) Kelly; grandchildren, Ryan Penn, Nathaniel Brown, Kyle Penn, Erica Powell, Micah Penn, Maggie Kelley, and Laurel Kelley; great-grandchildren, Hayden Brown, Emma Sawyer, Piper Penn, and Corinne Gomez.

The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport. The funeral service will follow at 1 p.m.

Burial will follow.

Please visit www.hamlettdobson.com to leave an online condolence for the family.