Hamilton County

Glenn Devere Maxon

 

 

 

Glenn Devere Maxon was born July 2, 1918 to Glenn H. and Frances Warren Maxon. He died Aug. 17, 2006 and is buried in the Episcopal Church of the Ascension Memorial Garden, Pinellas County, FL.

Glenn served with the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II.

His Obituary: South Hamilton Record News, Jewell, IA - Sept. 6, 2006

Glenn (DeVere) Maxon, 88, of Belleair, Florida died Thursday, August 17, 2006 at home. He was born in Story City on July 2, 1918 and graduated with honors from the University of Iowa in 1939.

He belonged to Sigma Nu Fraternity and was the roommate of Nile Kinnick, one of the early Heisman Trophy winners who died in an aircraft crash in W.W.II while a pilot in the Navy. Glenn later resided in an Iowa rooming house where Ronald Reagan then a young radio announcer, also lived. When later asked what that was like, he responded that he did not know him well but knew he was going to be someone special because “he always won at poker.”

Glenn joined the U. S. Marine Corps in 1940 and attended the First Reserve Officer’s Class at Quantico, Virginia. From there he was sent to Dunedin, Florida as a member of a detachment of Marines charged with conducting operational trials on the “alligator,” an amphibian vehicle originally designed by Ronald Roebling of Clearwater to operate in the Everglades. This was the forerunner of today’s assault amphibian vehicle, the means by which the Marine Corps uses to this day to facilitate ship-to-shore movement of Marines in combat. The detachment concluded its business in Dunedin one week after Pearl Harbor was struck in 1941.

Subsequently, he spent 39 continuous months with the first Marine Division landing on numerous Japanese held islands in the Pacific, including the initial assault on Guadalcanal. Throughout his lifetime he was especially proud of his Marine Corps heritage and he remained close to the many friends who were his comrades.

Upon his return from the Pacific he married Hallie Thomas Stone at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Clearwater on November 7, 1944. They moved to Washington DC where he would conclude his military service. He was ceremoniously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel upon his discharge in 1945.

Glenn spent the next 21 years as a regional manager for Montgomery Ward. In 1966, the family returned to Clearwater where he became a commercial real estate developer, founding the Maxon Company. He was the managing general partner of the original Clearwater Mall and coordinated numerous other commercial property development initiatives in the Tampa Bay area. He was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension and served as chairman of the board of directors for St. Paul Episcopal Schools in the 1980’s. Other memberships included the Belleair Country Club, Casado and the Carlouel Yacht Club.

Glenn is survived by Hallie, his wife of 62 years; a sister, Phyllis Reister of Ames; two sons, Warren (Suzy) and Eugene of Palm Harbor; a son Michael (Kim) of Belvidere, Tennessee; two daughters, Pamela Maxon and Deborah (Christian) Geffraid of Portland, Oregon; six grandchildren and three great granddaughters.

Moss-Feaster Funeral Home, Clearwater, The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Clearwater.

Source: ancestry.com