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John H. Cole


John Herbert Cole was born on April 4, 1929 to Dennis and Dove (Largent) Cole in Winchester, Virginia. He passed away on May 29, 2021 in Reston, Virginia at the age of 92.

Family

John was married to Laura Kathryn McIlwee for 66 years until her death in 2018. Together, they travelled the U.S. as well as the world. In 1952, they married in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had two long tours in France (all together nearly seven years) and a stay at Kagnew Station, in Asmara, Eritrea (then Ethiopia), and lived in North Carolina, Maryland, California, New Jersey, and returned to Virginia to call Sterling their home.

John is survived by sons Juan Ricardo (Shahin), Eric Gregory (Cindy); daughter Angela Priscilla (Randy); as well as grandfather to Shirrin (John), Matthew (Angela), Arman (Laura), Sierra, and James; and great grandfather to Brady, Teagan, and Gage. He is also survived by his loving sisters, Mary and Nancy (Bill); his nieces, Sharon, Becky (Ralph), Alice Jean (Joe), Diane (Junior), Nancy (Hank), Darlene, Debbie, Dinah, Dawn and nephews, Gene (Donna), Kevin (Julie) and Scott and many special cousins.

Life

John was a terrific athlete and worked out three times a week until the last week of his life. In 2004, John won the Gold Medal in the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics tennis championship. He played tennis up into his late 80’s. He often told the story of how the local high school tennis team learned of how good he was and that they would take bets on who would be the first one to beat “that old man”. Much to their embarrassment he never lost to any of them. In high school, he was a triathlete, he played baseball, football and ran track.

In 1995, at the age of 66, he climbed all 14,505 feet of Mount Whitney in California and is registered as having done so at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.

John was an active member of the Cascades Senior Center. He valued friendships and was always eager to share fellowship with his friends. After retiring at 84 years old, John became an active volunteer and was celebrated by Loudoun County for his volunteer service at 90 years old. John held bingo every Tuesday morning at the Center until the pandemic. He also held a pot luck dinner once a month at the Senior Center.

Military

John served in the United States Army for 20 years, from 1948 to 1968, finally retiring as a Staff Sergeant (SSG). Over the span of twenty years, John served all over the world during the Korean and Vietnam as well as the Desert Storm time period as a contractor. He served with the Army Military Police in Okinawa, Japan in 1948 and Sandia Base in New Mexico from 1950 to 1954. From 1954 to 1958 John served at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Paris, France. John then served in the U.S. Army Microwave School in Fort Meade, Maryland in 1958. From 1959 to 1961 he served with the U.S. Army 102nd Signal Battalion in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1962 he served at Fort Detrick, Maryland, Coligny Caserne Orleans in France from 1963 to 1965, Hughes Satellite School in Los Angeles in 1965, U.S. STRATCOM in Fort Dix, NJ in 1966, U.S. STRATCOM Kagnew Station Asmara, Ethiopia from 1967 to 1968. Lastly, John served as a defense contractor during Desert Storm Operations in Saudi Arabia as an Aviation Electronics Specialist.

Awards and Decorations

At the time of his retirement from the Army John was able to wear the National Defense Service Medal, six Army Good Conduct Awards, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Army of Occupation (Japan), the Korean Service Medal, as well as his designation as an Expert with the carbine on his uniform.

Services

A graveside service with military honors presented by the United States Army is scheduled for Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 11:00 am at Winchester National Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia. All guests planning on attending should plan to arrive no later than 10:30 am. The Patriot Guard Riders of Virginia will be in attendance as honored guests.

Special Acknowledgements

In lieu of flowers, the Cole family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization or your favorite charity in memory of John Cole.

Friends, family, and those who served with John are invited to share a memory and sign his guestbook below.

 

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