Lonnie E. Pope

On August 4, 2010, at 3:10 am, Lonnie E. Pope passed peacefully, in Bartow, Florida. He joined the Navy, at age seventeen, in World War II, and then continued his thirty year career in the fire department in the Air Force, including the Vietnam War, and then in the Civil Service, as a fire inspector and as a chief. A man with a kind disposition, a generous spirit, and a meticulous thoroughness in his work, he loved golfing, fishing, coin collecting, all children, and, most dearly, his wife of sixty years, Carolyn Pope. He is survived by two children, Lona Pope, in Houston, Texas, and Alan Pope, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and two grandchildren, Hadley Rose Pope and Mateo Miranda Pope, and Syble Monroe, his sister, who resides in Homeland, Florida. Born in Opp, Alabama, on May 5, 1926, he moved to Plant City, Florida, at a young age, with his father, Burley Anderson, and mother, Ida Bell Yates, and siblings. After his distinguished military service, he spent twenty years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was admired by his many friends for his compassionate nature and his engaging, humorous manner. In 2006 he returned to his southern roots, in Polk County.