Obituary of James F McGlone

Lt. Colonel James F. McGlone, US Army (Retired) Obituary

Lt. Colonel McGlone was born in Rome, New York on February 19, 1927, the son of Thomas James McGlone and Mary Odelia Plunkett McGlone. He attended grade and high schools in New York, New Jersey and Missouri, graduating from Kirkwood High School in Missouri in 1943 at the age of 16. He completed three semesters at Washington University in St. Louis before entering the Army for specialized training in 1944 and finally received his Bachelor or Arts degree with a history major from the University of Maryland in 1957.

His Army service included occupation duty in Germany in 1946-47, during which he received a direct commission as a cavalry second lieutenant. Subsequently transferring to the Army Finance Corps, he served during the Korean War with the 40^th Infantry Division, followed by a finance and accounting tour in Washington, DC. In 1957 he was awarded a Regular Army commission in the Army Ordnance Corps, followed by assignment to the Army’s Ordnance Industrial Center in Mannheim Germany. While on this tour, he married Nell Carmela Vacca of Poughkeepsie, New York, whom he first met while both were working in Washington DC a few years earlier.

He received an MBA from Syracuse University in 1962, after which he completed the Regular Officers’ course at the Army Command and General Staff College. He subsequently completed tours of duty at the Los Angeles Army Procurement District, the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the Army General Staff in Washington before retiring from active duty in July 1968. His military awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Korean Campaign medal with two battle stars.

Following retirement, he worked for ten years as an audit manager and fiscal analyst with the County of San Diego, California, during which time he received his CPA certificate. He then spent several years with a La Jolla, CA CPA firm before completely retiring from full time employment in 1988. He subsequently maintained his own limited CPA practice until finally completing the retirement process in 2004.

After many years of serving the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and the several parishes to which he and his wife belonged, they were invested as Knight and Lady of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 1986 and subsequently promoted Knight Grand Cross and Lady Grand Cross in 1996. He was appointed Treasurer of the Order’s Western USA Lieutenancy in 1990 and served in that capacity until appointed Lieutenant in 1998.

On retiring as Lieutenant shortly after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2002, he was given a lifetime appointment as Lieutenant of Honor in the Order and subsequently awarded the Gold Palm of Jerusalem decoration by the Order’s Cardinal Grand Master.

After residing in Southern California for 42 years, the McGlones moved on July 20, 2010—their 50^th wedding anniversary—to Libertyville, Illinois, in order to spend their remaining years closer to their daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. There Lt. Col McGlone was able to spend many relaxing hours watching his favorite sport of baseball (he remained a loyal San Diego Padres fan but also eventually warmed to the Chicago Cubs), listening to his favorite John Philip Sousa marches (while frequently conducting from his recliner), and voraciously reading World War II history books and various religious publications. He never met a dad joke he didn’t love, it became a favorite family pastime to see who could get him to laugh the hardest at a bad joke.

Lt. Colonel McGlone was thrilled to celebrate his sixtieth wedding anniversary in July 2020 with his beloved wife Nell who had moved into memory care shortly before that—she passed away the following February, 2021. He had the great good fortune to be cared for by a phenomenal caregiver named Martha Amador for the remaining years of his life as a resident of StoryPoint Libertyville, first in independent living, then assisted living and finally memory care. After a series of health setbacks in the last couple years of his life, Lt. Colonel McGlone passed away on February 20, 2025, one day after his 98^th birthday. He is survived by his daughter Eileen and son-in-law Lochlan of Highland Park, Illinois, and his three grandchildren Spencer, Maisie, and Liam James, who live in Highland Park and Chicago.