- Morning Sun, Pittsburg, KS
Retired U.S. Navy Captain Randall F. Kennon, 80, of 2602 S.Taylor, died at 2:30 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 24, 1993, at his home. He had been ill the past year.
Mr. Kennon was born Jan. 13, 1913, in Red Oak, Iowa the son of Fred LaRue and Emma Madison Kennon. He attended schools in Red Oak. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served 30 years retiring Jan. 1, 1959, with the rank of captain. He was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 when it was bombed by the Japanese. A pilot in the Navy Air Force, he participated in the Battle of Midway and in 1942 was ordered to Guadalcanal. He was awarded the usual air medals, but his most treasured was a Unit Citation he received from Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey for locating the Japanese forces coming down the slot at Guadalcanal. When he was selected for test pilot*school, he was four classes ahead of John Glenn and Alan Sheppard, who later became astronauts. He was promoted to lieutenant commander while he was attending this school.
After retiring in 1959 he came to Pittsburg and attended Kansas State Teachers College, now Pittsburg State University, graduating with a bachelors of science degree in accounting. He stayed on the staff at PSU for five years. He also, was employed at the Army Ammunition Plant at Parsons where he retired in 1974.
He married Phyllis E. Armstrong Jan. 18, 1946, in Kansas City, Mo.
Membership was in the Sigma Tau Fraternity, the Melrose Masonic Lodge No. 602 and, Consistory in California, Mirza Shrine in Pittsburg, a former member of the Lions Club and a member of the Silver Eagle Association.
Survivors include the wife, of the home; one son, Fred L. Kennon of Overland Park; three daughters, Donna M. Cory of Plattewood, Mo., M. Susan Pierce of Shawnee, Kan., and Karen J. Kiss of Piqua, Ohio; one brother, Maurice Kennon of Stanton, Iowa; one sister, Patricia Kugler of Inavale, Neb., and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters.
Services will be 10:30 a.m.Tuesday at the Brenner Chapel with Dr. Wayne Black of the First Christian Church officiating. Flag-folding services conducted by Jimmie Friend and Ben Moore of the Benjamin A. Fuller Post No. 64 of the Pittsburg American Legion will follow the services. The body; will be cremated and the cremains will be buried at a later date in the National Cemetery at Fort Scott. The family will receive friends, from 7 to 8 p.m. today in the Brenner Chapel with masonic services by the Pittsburg Masonic Lodge No. 187 at 7:30 p.m. Friends may call at the Brenner Mortuary, 114 E. Fourth St., Pittsburg, after 2 p.m. today.
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1913 - 1993 (80 years)
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