Harry Kone, who survived wounds at the Battle of Guadalcanal and was a public school teacher before moving to East Cobb to be close to family, died on Dec. 30 at the age of 102, according to a notice posted on social media by his church.
Unity North Atlanta Church announced on its Facebook page that Kone passed away Friday at 2:30 p.m. “mid way through his 102nd year of blessing this world and this church.”
His full obituary can be found by clicking here. A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for Unity North on Feb. 4 at 3 p.m.
Kone had been featured in local media outlets in recent years and was interviewed elsewhere about his military service during World War II.
Shortly before his 100th birthday in August 2020 Kone told East Cobb News that “I never worry about tomorrow” because of his experiences as a Marine.
“From then on, I never worried about much. I had plans, but I didn’t worry about what I’m going to do tomorrow,” he said.
“This is what worries a lot of people,” Kone said, but “if I’m dead tomorrow, I don’t have to worry.”
Kone and his late wife Marjorie raised two daughters and a son in the Chicago area, where he was a teacher for 40 years.
They moved to East Cobb in 1995 to be near their children, including daughter Sue Lind, who later became her father’s caregiver.
He got active in local veterans organizations, including the Squire “Skip” Wells Marine Corps League, and was a member at Unity North Church on Sandy Plains Road.
In 2021, the Cobb Board of Commissioners recognized him for his 101st birthday and declared Harry Kone Day in the county. He was a supporter of ongoing efforts to establish a Cobb Veterans Memorial.
His centenary birthday came during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he was able to meet with family members in a socially-distanced fashion.
Kone was born Aug. 16, 1920 in Baltimore, Md., the only child of a railway clerk and a homemaker, Kone was an avid reader, the habit instilled by his mother.
In 1939, he moved to Milwaukee to work as a welder, and attended a branch of the University of Wisconsin on a scholarship to help develop children’s programming in the very early days of television.
He was living in a boarding house there when he met his future wife.
After the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Kone enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was a machine-gunner. He was wounded after being strafed by Japanese fighter planes.
Kone was honorably discharged in 1945 and also was awarded a Purple Heart.
A bout with tuberculosis kept him in a Veterans Administration hospital for two years.
In 2019 he was profiled by the American Veterans Center, and the year before, he spoke with the Atlanta History Center (see video below).
He and Marjorie Kone were married 65 years until her death in 2011.
In addition to his daughter Sue Lind, Kone is survived by a son, Stuart Kone of Douglasville, four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
He also was preceded in death his other daughter, Barbara Bechely, who also lived in Marietta.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Kone’s honor to Unity North Atlanta and the Marine Corps League National Headquarters.
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