Family remembers ‘Southern gentleman’ Jon Claibourne Countess in York
By Rick Lee, York Daily Record, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
It seems, his family recalls with some glee, that a class he took as a freshman at the
That class, and the only subject that Countess got less than an A in, they said, was "The Elementary Telemetry of Rocketry." The Countess family remembers he got a C.
The reason the class would not count toward his degree, said his wife of 53 years,
The man who taught the class, the Countess family remembers with laughter was
That was in
Countess practiced law -- primarily municipal law and estate planning -- for 50 years in
Recently, his wife, one of his sons,
Although
"He was really a Southern gentleman," Rosemary said.
In her husband's obituary, Rosemary wrote that "His grandfather ... would be thrilled that his Southern lineage had successfully invaded the North."
Frank said he was told that his father got out a map and used a compass to draw ever increasing circles around
"He thought that York was ideally located," Frank said, explaining it was close to larger metropolitan areas and had both industry and agriculture.
"He thought it was exotic," Frank said.
"He was the first person in his family to graduate from college,"
"He was born in 1934 in a time of, 'If you could shoot it, it was food.'"
In
Rosemary recalled that when they visited her husband's family she was known as "Aunt Yankee."
"He always loved interacting with people," Frank said.
"And solving problems," Madeline said.
"Engineering was not a people profession," Rosemary said.
With the help of an influential friend,
"Try doing that today,"
Rosemary said, although her husband practiced law until illness forced him to stop in
"It was a gentlemen's network," she said. "A handshake was all you would need.
"Today, it's all adversarial."
Her favorite example was the yard furniture at a beach house the family rented one summer. Her father, she said, was dissatisfied with the appearance of the furniture and painted it while on vacation.
She said her father was the type of person who, when he would come to visit, would bring his tools to repair things for her.
In his chosen field,
The family said
"I never remember him being angry, never remember him raising his voice," Rosemary said. "If everyone was like him, the world would be a better place."
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