Sylvia Rankin

Sylvia Poast-Noblet-Rankin passed away May 19, 2022. She was born to Robert Herman Poast and Grace (Baird) Poast near Iberia, Ohio on May 24, 1925. Since both of her parents died while she was still a child, she and her three sisters were raised by their grandmother Clara (Burt) Poast of Iberia; her brother Dale by the Baird grandparents near Caledonia. Graduating from Iberia High School in 1943, she continued her education at Muskingum College and graduated in 1947. She financed her own education by winning the Mansfield Presbytery Scholarship and worked at war plants in the summers. During the time she was in college, her fiance Thurman Noblet was serving in the European theater of operations. She attended the Iberia Presbyterian Church and it was there that she married her childhood sweetheart, on May 26, 1946. The couple had four sons, Eric (Kathy) of Mt. Vernon, Stephen (Bonnie) of Grand Rapids, Ohio, Joe (Ruthann) of Galion, and Scott (Kathleen) of Sunbury. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren, Aaron (Kassy) Noblet, Audra Noblet, Susan Noblet, Kristen (Rick) Shumate, and Megan (Jason) Hatfield, Jenae(Adam) Smith, Joshua (Kelsey) Noblet, Ryan (Jen) Noblet, Seth (Maggie), Ben Noblet, and Tyler (Ann)Noblet, and Abbey (Ryan) Bales also 20 great-grandchildren. She out-lived all of her siblings, three sisters and brother, Dorthy Predmore, Barbara Sipes, and Betty Edgar, and Dale Poast. Always interested in journalism, she wrote “personals” for local papers The Galion Inquirer and The Marion Star, at the age of eleven. She was the editor of her college newspaper and later was a freelance writer and photographer for The Lima News, The Kenton Times, and The Marion Star. For twelve years, she ran a shopping guide in Hardin and surrounding counties. At that time, she founded an organization called “The Kindermoms,” who funded and out-fitted a kindergarten for the Ridgemont district in 1964. While her husband was attending Ohio Northern University, she taught English and Speech at the former Harrod High School in Allen County. Later, she taught junior high and high school in Mt. Victory, Ridgeway, and Ridgemont districts. Her next project was to complete a year of further education to be a librarian, and served in that capacity for 19 years at Wynford School District. In 1978 she was awarded a master's degree in education from Bowling Green State University. Her Master’s Thesis was a handbook for group counseling pregnant teenagers. In 1999 she started working with the Crawford County Genealogical Society, compiling a book about the local rural schools from their origins until 1930. She spent three years researching and writing the book, which was formatted and published in 2002. After her husband's death in 2003, she married Colonel James Rankin, USAF, Ret., formerly of Crawford County. For seventeen years the couple spent winters in Las Vegas and summers at her home near Bucyrus until James passed away in 2020. She is survived by, a stepdaughter Leslie Leeder of Nampa,Idaho, a stepson Lon Rankin, NM, step-grandchildren Jamie and Julia Yanchisin, and Aerel Rankin. Interested in doing research, she often gave slide programs or PowerPoint presentations for local organizations. For years she belonged to the New Era and former Clionian Study Club of Bucyrus. She dearly loved both of her families and was happiest at the many get-togethers she often hosted. In later years, through the computer, she kept in touch with beloved family and friends.