JOHN PATRICK KANE

At one point in his life, John Kane was known as "�The Double-barreled SOB'. His family is not exactly sure how he earned that nickname, because to them he was a wonderful husband, loving father and squishy, smiley Grandpa, a.k.a. "Grumps". However, they do agree that his life was spent in honor and protection of his two great loves, family and country. Colonel John Patrick Kane, Retired, 85, of Canton, GA, went to be with his heavenly Father on Friday, April 3, 2020, after a brief illness. He was born in Lawrence, MA, to John Joseph and Kathryn Conley Kane on St. Patrick's Day, 1935. As a whopping 12-pounder, he held the unchallenged title of World's Largest Leprechaun. The fourth of five children, and the only boy, he was from a proud Irish Catholic family. He entered Boston College in 1952, hitchhiking daily to class and earning a bachelor's degree in Physics in 1956. John then entered West Point in 1956 as part of K2 Company, the Kappa-Deuce fraternity as he called it, where he was affectionately known as "�Killer' Kane. As an older cadet, he was also known as one of the few with a beer belly. After graduating West Point with the class of 1960, the first half of John's life was an adventure of travel and service. He started his military career overseas during the Cold War. As a young communications officer in Augsburg, Germany, he participated in training and preparations for a possible Soviet invasion during the 1961 Berlin Wall Crisis. In 1965, John was assigned to Vietnam where he served two tours early in the conflict. He acted as a liaison to Special Forces and Marine Corp units as a Signal Corp officer, earning a Bronze Star. In 1967 he relocated to Fort Bliss, TX, for service as a development officer in "�Unclear' Physics with the USACDC Institute of Nuclear Studies. His world tour continued in 1969 when he was reassigned to the Middle East as a communication's advisor to the Shah's Army in Kermanshah, Iran. So how did a world-traveling, hard-charging soldier retire as a squishy grandpa in Canton, GA? That's the next part of his story. John earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1972. While there, he met a beautiful redhead named Nancy. With a not-so-smooth pick-up line, he fell hard, and soon became a husband and beloved stepfather to Nancy's three children, J, John Paul and Scarlett. Married in 1973, John and Nancy tackled new adventures together. His expertise in ballistics tables and early computing technology lead to an assignment at West Point's Academic Computer Center supporting the Academy's burgeoning computer science program. John retired from active duty as a Major in 1974 and became a dedicated civil servant and Army Reservist earning a MBA from Georgia State University in 1983. Two sons, Joe and Michael, soon joined the family, and the world travels continued with assignments to Heidelberg and Stuttgart, Germany in the late 1980's. John eventually retired from the Army Reserve as a Colonel in 1991. He retired from civil service with the US Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL, in 1995. He and Nancy retired to Navarre, FL, before moving back to Georgia and settling in Canton in 2000. Never able to sit still, he retired a third time from Marietta Power and Water as a Utility Analyst in 2011. He also taught Business Math and Computer Science at Chattahoochee Technical College until 2012, where he really enjoyed teaching disciplined, mature students returning to Higher Education later in life. After his last official retirement, he worked with his son, Joe, painting and striping hundreds of parking lots and garages throughout the Atlanta area. Always striving for the elusive employee of the year award, he was helping Joe until early February of this year. John is preceded in death by his parents, and 3 sisters. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Nancy Driskell Kane; children Fred J Allen, John Paul Allen, Scarlett Goldfine, Joseph Kane, and Michael Kane; and his sister Mary Breen. As tribute to his joyful career as Grandpa, he is also survived by 15 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. A service with military Honors will be held at a later date, for eventual inurnment in the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, GA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.