John was awash in loneliness and grief after the passing of his wife of more than seven decades. At 92, the Coast Guard veteran decided that his life’s story was still being written. He visited our partners Baltimore Humane Society and adopted a cat named Lilly who—just like John—was a senior in need of a lifeline.

This is John’s story, told in his own words.

Facing the draft

When I graduated from high school in 1951, the Korean War was well underway, and the thought of taking an active part of it was not high on my list of things to do.

My brother and brother-in-law were each Army officers in WWII, so I was rather well educated on Army life. I thought that it be wise to join the Maryland Army National Guard, which I did. Ha! Now, I was not on the draft list. Wrong! After a year in “The Guard,” I was informed that I was still on the draft list.

What to do next? I visited the recruiters of the Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard. I did well on the tests of each, but those hours that I spent on the Bay pointed me to the Coast Guard.

Living near the Chesapeake Bay, my father, who grew up on the Bay, spent many hours enjoying fishing and cruising there. As a result, I learned a great deal about seamanship. So I returned to the Coast Guard recruiter to enlist.

I was then given a physical and told that I must have a small filling in a tooth. My eyes were 20/20 without glasses, and other requirements were met. Off to boot camp at Cape May, New Jersey.

Childhood sweethearts

Like other branches of the services, recruits are passed through each week. Our one company consisted of only 42 men.

While there, each recruit was given tests to determine their skills. From those skills, they could select a skill they could prefer.

I chose electronics.

The electronics school was in the midst of a six-month training course, so I was assigned to Norfolk on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Absecon, a 211-foot Navy seaplane tender during WWII. It was used by the Coast Guard as a weather patrol and air/sea rescue cutter.

After about two weeks in Norfolk, we sailed to a 10×10 mile station along the Atlantic shipping lanes to remain 35 days.

These stations are manned by the Coast Guard to aid any ship or aircraft that may be in distress and to collect weather information.

A few weeks after returning to Norfolk, my orders to electronics school were given to me. During my schooling at electronic technician school, I married a very sweet lady who I met in the first grade, and [who] was with me for 71 years.

School’s out

Six months later, I completed school and was ordered to the Cape Hatteras Loran Transmitting Station.

In conjunction with Loran Stations at Nantucket, Massachusetts and Foley Beach, South Carolina, [it] provided very accurate navigation locations to ships and aircraft in a large segment of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The station consisted of six electronic techs, an engine man and two seamen. We operated 24 hours a day every day to keep the one-million-watt transmitter on the air.

Shooting the sun, if visible, with a sextant was now obsolete.

When my three-year enlistment was up, I joined the Coast Guard Ready Reserve in Baltimore which met each Monday evening and served two weeks during the summer. This was a port security unit, and since I was now an electronic technician 1st class petty officer a platoon leader, it was very enjoyable. Not only that, but the extra income was appreciated.

After a few years we were blessed by receiving a baby daughter, and another, four years later.

I was fortunate to have been hired by [a major telecommunications company] where I remained for 30 years.

“…a tremendous void in my life”

After retirement, we designed our home and had it constructed in Hampstead, Maryland. After twenty-two years and our daughters having married, my wife and I decided to move to a retirement facility in nearby Westminster, Maryland.

My wife, Kay, pasted away in December, 2023 and left a tremendous void in my life.

My two daughters’ families live within fifteen miles of where I live so I get to see them often. Even with them and the six hundred or so residents at our facility, I was very lonely.

Each of my daughters is the owner of a cat and felt that I would be less lonely if I had one.

A new lady in life

I was talked into visiting the Baltimore Humane Society to see if I could find a cat that I thought I would like.

I was very fortunate in finding a beautiful twelve-year-old. We seemed to hit it off at first glance.

In the evening after I wash the dishes, I sit in my recliner and turn on the TV.

She, Lilly, immediately rises from her bed and comes to my chair near my leg and remains there until I reach for the remote. She will then get up and go to her bed.

The help from Pets for Patriots has been remarkably helpful to Lilly and me to become acquainted. Their help and friendship are remarkable and are greatly appreciated.

As I said earlier, Kay’s passing has been hard on me. Living as I do in a location of many elderly people, I got many fellow residents who would ask how I was doing.

I would say, as “well as I can” or something of that nature.

A day about six weeks after Kay’s death, I was asked by a lady resident how I was doing. I couldn’t help but say, “I have a female living in my apartment with me. I don’t feel as lonely.” It’s interesting to watch their eyes widen.

Then I say, “It’s a cat.”