Harold L. “Harry” Gnong

Harold L. “Harry” Gnong of Weymouth, passed away January 22, 2014 at the age of 93.

“An honorable soldier stands down today. We said goodbye to a man of honor and dignity, a WWII Air Force Lieutenant, Harry Gnong, our dear father. We salute you, Harry and we thank you for all your service to your country and to our wonderful family. Our hearts are so full of sadness today. We all love you and will miss you sorely.”

He was the loving husband of the late Madeline A. (Long) Gnong and the father of David E. Gnong of Punta Gorda, FL, Karen A. Doherty and her husband Tim of Yorktown, VA, Jan Greeley of Weymouth, and Nancy Germain and her husband Dan of Braintree. He also leaves seven grandchildren: Eric, Shannon, Andrea, Erika, Krista, Meghan, and Danny; and five great grandchildren: Morgan, Madelyn, Charlotte, Raegan and Charlie.

Born in Quincy in 1920 but grew up in N. Abington, Harry graduated from Abington High School with the class of 1938 and began a varied working life with National Shawmut Bank of Boston. Interrupted by the call of World War II, he volunteered into the Air Force, saw combat with 16 heavy bomber missions of European skies before being shot down over Brunswick, Germany and became a Prisoner of War for fifteen months. He was discharged from the Air Force in 1945 as a 1st lieutenant. As a civilian again he worked for the NYNH&H R.R. as a ticket agent in the Back Bay Station in Boston. Retiring after two years he apprenticed as a photo engraver, became a Journeyman, joining The Folsom Engraving Co. for the next 19 years. Developing this expertise with pre-press requirements for the printing business, he became a Sales and Technical Representative for Chemco Photoproducts Co. of Glen Cove, NY, covering New England and eastern New York State. Twenty years later Harry retired at 65. He was a founding member of a Boy Scout Troop at St. Jerome Church in N. Weymouth, a member of The Lithographers Union, The Abington Historical Society, The Disabled Veterans and the V.F.W. and proud of his historical devotion to the Boston Red Sox dating back to pre Tom Yawkey days. He was an amateur gardener, an amateur historian and an amateur writer, having written a weekly column for the Weymouth News. Mostly Harry was a proud father and grandfather. All his children and grandchildren made his world a happy place to live his long life.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the visiting hours on Tuesday 4-8 PM in the McDonald Keohane Funeral Home NORTH WEYMOUTH at 40 Sea Street (off RT.3A-Bicknell Sq.)  Relatives and friends will gather in the funeral home at 9:45 AM on Wednesday prior to the Funeral Mass in St. Jerome Church, Weymouth at 10:30 AM. Burial in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Weymouth.