n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 6
Jonathan, back row, second from right, with the Sigma Delta Pi in 1940.
Jonathan was a quiet, unassuming young man, living with his family
in Huntingdon Valley. His father had a large homeopathic medical practice
there. Jonathan was a member of Sigma Delta Pi in the Boys School. Since
there was no yearbook during the war years, there are no surviving pictures or
information on the Class of 1942. There is a picture in the 1940 yearbook. In
surveying a number of his classmates, they affirmed that he was very shy and
no one I could find had any contact with him after graduation.
We know that Jon joined the Navy just as World War II was heating up.
While stationed in Miami, he met his first wife, Mildred Dabney Hudson, and
they were married in June 1945. One week later, Jon was transferred to the
Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia. Then he was transferred to the USS Adonis, a
Landing Ship Tank that had been converted to a repair ship, where he remained
until the end of the war.
He returned to his new wife in Miami and was hired by Pan Am World
Airways. He was also studying at night at the University of Miami. Jon spent 37
enjoyable years with Pan Am, as Chief Project Engineer and Director for new
aircraft, as well as Director for Communications.
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