NORMAN — Retired Chief Master Sgt. Edmond John, age 86, died at home in Norman on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, after a long illness. He was born Jan. 14, 1927, on the family farm in the Springdale community, near Ardmore, to George John and Minnie Rasha John.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Craddock Memorial Chapel in Ardmore, with Pastor James Ehrlich officiating. Full military graveside rites will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.
Growing up in the Springdale and Mary Niblack communities, he attended and graduated from the Dickson School in 1944. He served two years in the Navy. Then he returned home to Ardmore, during which time he entered service in the United States Air Force.
On March 2, 1948, he married his sweetheart, Martha Roe, in Gainesville, Texas, and had celebrated 64 years of marriage.
He served 26 years in the Air Force, for a total of 28 years in the military. His military service included war time in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. After retirement from the military, he attended and graduated from East Central University in Ada with a master’s degree in education and continued to work in the public school system until his retirement.
Edmond was an ordained deacon in the Southern Baptist Church and was a member of Bethel Baptist Church in Norman. Edmond was a man of great character and was loved by his wife, children, grandchildren, family and many friends. He was a member of the Ardmore Masonic Lodge and a member of the Norman Chapter of the Eastern Star.
He was preceded in death by his parents, George and Minnie; his sister, Louzella John; and son-in-law, Jimmy Dale Barnes.
Edmond is survived by his wife, Martha of the home; two sons, Donald Hugh John and wife JoAnn of Wichita Falls, Texas, and Edmond Mark John and wife Beatrice of Villa Park, Calif.; three daughters, Allison Jan Epperson and husband Randall of Modesto, Calif., Ann Denise Barnes of Norman and Kim Elizabeth Hume and husband Thomas of Noble; brother, Donald Lavern John and wife Opal of Dickson; sisters Georgia Faye Antuna of Ardmore and Delores Vaughn and husband Alfred of Dickson; 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Daniel J. Roe, Richard C. Roe, Jimmy Joe Antuna, Jerry Antuna, Tom Roe, and Robert Mobbs.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Online condolences may be made at craddockfuneralhome.com.
Norman Transcript, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013
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