The Sun/Sunday, February 16, 2014


LOCAL/REGIONAL NEWS


www.sunnewspapers.net


C OurTown Page 7


 By AL HEMINGWAY
 SUN CORRESPONDENT
 PUNTA GORDA -
Every night before he
went to bed, Harold
Marcou would kiss his
wife Evelyn three times.
 Even though she was
struggling through
advanced stages of
Alzheimer's disease, he
wanted to make sure
she remembered him.
That tradition contin-
ued until he suffered
a massive stroke that
eventually took his life.
 On Feb. 5, Marcou,
89, a decorated World
War II Navy veteran,
passed away at his
Punta Gorda home.
 Born and raised in
Berlin, N.H., Marcou
enlisted in the Navy
and was assigned as
a boatswain's mate
aboard the USS Santee,
CVE-29, a light escort
carrier. The ship was
destined to see exten-
sive action in both the
Atlantic and Pacific
theaters of the conflict.
 "My uncle's ship was
in Africa, Casablanca,
South America, the
Middle East, the
Philippines, New
Guinea, the North
Atlantic and Okinawa,"
Maureen Strange, his
niece, said.
 On Oct. 25, 1942,
Marcou and his
shipmates narrowly
escaped injury while
steaming toward the
coast of Africa, when


"...J:: ""


 PHOTOS PROVIDED
Every night until he suffered from a stroke, Harold Marcou
would kiss his wife Evelyn, living with Alzheimer's disease,
three times before going to bed.


a 325-pound bomb
accidentally was
discharged from a U.S.
Marine Douglas SBD
Dive Bomber, while the
aircraft was attempt-
ing to take off from a
catapult.
 The bomb rolled
off the deck and
exploded near the
port bow, rocking the
Santee, destroying the
range-finder and a
searchlight base, and
damaging the radar
antennas.
 Strange said her
uncle was wounded on
two separate occasions,
when he received
shrapnel while man-
ning one of the ship's
guns, and on another


when he was blown
down an elevator shaft
when the ship was
struck by a kamikaze.
 "He had to walk with
special shoes and two
canes after that," she said.
"He used to say, 'I'm put
together with springs,
wire and metal plates.'"
 After the war, Strange
said, her uncle de-
signed jewelry and
retired as a sales man-
ager for the W.T. Grant
Co., before relocating
to the Deep Creek
section of Punta Gorda
in 1985.
 "He became very ac-
tive in veterans affairs,"
Strange said. "He was
a life member of the
Veterans of Foreign


Wars, American Legion,
Disabled American
Veterans, AMVETS,
Florida Sheriff's
Association, U.S.
Naval Institute, Non-
Commissioned Officers
Association and the
Tailhook Association."
 Strange said her
uncle also held the
position of assistant
chaplain for the
National Association
of Police Chiefs, and
chaplain for Florida
National Cemetery and
the Charlotte County
Veterans Council.
 "We come from a real
military family," she
added. "There were
10 children, and
seven of them and their
children served during
World War II, Korea,
Vietnam, up until the
1980s."
 According to Strange,
Marcou was a great
man who gave so much
of himself to his fellow
veterans. He was fun to
be around and would
share that sense of hu-
mor by visiting hospi-
tals and nursing homes
nearly every day, until
he suffered his stroke,
to cheer up veterans
who were bedridden or
in wheelchairs.
 "His daughter took a
picture of him kissing
my aunt," Strange said.
"It's hard for me to look
at it without crying.
We will miss him so
much."


Harold Marcou, pictured with his wife Evelyn. The couple
moved to Deep Creek in 1985. Harold passed away Feb. 5 at Harold Marcou served aboard the USS Santee, a light cruiser,
the age of 89. during World War II. He was wounded twice.

I WEEKLY RECORD


Charlotte County
 births
 Kathryn Elizabeth Auger,
to Nikki D. and John E. Auger of
Punta Gorda, at 11:58 a.m. Feb. 6.
She weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces.
 Derrec Leah Harvey Bass,
to Oceana and Shaun Bass of
Punta Gorda, at 1:08 p.m. Feb. 7. He
weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce.
 Zayden Lenn Martinez, to
Brittany Koger and Pedro Lee
Martinez of Arcadia, at 2:40 a.m.
Feb. 8. He weighed 6 pounds,
13.8 ounces.
 Jalisiah Luther, to Stacy and
Jeremy Luther of Arcadia, at
8:50 a.m. Feb. 10. She weighed
7 pounds, 13.7 ounces.
 Jack Dennis Creech, to
Angela D. and Billy R. Creech III
of Port Charlotte, at 7:37 p.m.
Feb. 10. He weighed 9 pounds,
2.7 ounces.
 Levi Taylor McCarthy, to
Haley and Craig McCarthy of Port
Charlotte, at 10:57 a.m. Feb. 11. He
weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces.
 Michael Allen Hughes, to
Sarah and Glen Hughes Jr., at
8:08 p.m. Feb. 11. He weighed
8 pounds, 3.5 ounces.

Charlotte County
 marriages
 John Anthony Sanders of Punta
Gorda, and Linda Jane Tyler of Punta
Gorda
 Phillips Lynn Pittenger of Port
Charlotte, and Anna Christine Collins
of Port Charlotte


 Jamie Michael Hunt of Arcadia,
and Stephanie Maria Norton of
Arcadia
 Yuriy Volodimirovich Gulenko of
North Port, and Larisa Vladimirovna
Smirnova of North Port
 Paul Robert Schiller of Port
Charlotte, and Angela Carol Crookes
of Port Charlotte
 Mark Hugh MacDonald of
Clinton Township, Mich., and Judy
Susan Hallin of Clinton Township,
Mich.
 Clarke Augustus Winston of Port
Charlotte, and Clare Sibylla Williams
of Port Charlotte

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 Scott Edward Kline of North Port,
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 Daniel Paul Bornstein of Port
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 Matthew Sean Chanza of Port
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 Michael Lee Pitts of Port Charlotte,
and Rachel Lynne O'Neal of Port
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 Alfred Wilson Adkins of Port
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 Steven Michael Korpa of North Port,
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Charlotte County
 divorces
 John M. Barna v. Georgia
Cullen Barna
 William Dar Daniels v. Patsy
Suzanne Daniels
 Derrick Gassman v. Amber
Gassman
 Edward F. Knopp v. Kathleen
J. Knopp
 Gina Rose Newell v. Joshua
Hollister Newell
 William Reid v. Joanne Reid


FAMILY ALBUM


Dyes celebrate 70 years


John and Anne Dye celebrated their 70th wedding
 anniversaryWednesday, Feb. 12, 2014. At 90, both are
 active members of the South Port Square community.
 While John was still in the Army, they married in
Akron, Ohio, in 1944. Following their wedding, they
moved to Fort Jackson, S.C., where John attended Officer
Candidate School. Following OCS, then-Lt. Dye and
Anne moved to Camp Fannin outside Tyler, Texas, where
John helped to train infantrymen prior to deployment
duringWorldWar II. He deployed to the Philippines for
combat duty in 1945, and returned the next year.
 John spent most of his professional life in the insur-
ance industry in Medina, Ohio. Anne and John raised
their family at Chippewa Lake, Ohio, until moving to
Florida and eventually settling in Cape Coral, Fla. They
were avid boaters for many years.
 John and Anne have four children, Jake (Pat) Dye of
Punta Gorda, Fla., Anne (Clayton) Brinker of Hatchbend,
Fla., Hester (Paul) Bixler of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Hope
(Steve) Myers of Thonotosassa, Fla.; they are blessed
with 10 grandchildren; and they try to keep track of 17
great-grandchildren around the world, from Japan to
England.


 FAMILY ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENTS

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A farewell kiss


F