Dr. Lon H. Preston Jr.
Dr. Lon H. Preston Jr., of 1130 E. Pine St., Grove City, Pine Township, passed away at 5:58 a.m. Friday in the Grove City Medical Center, Pine Township, following an extended illness. He was 81.
Dr. Preston was born Sept. 18, 1927, in South San Antonio, Texas, to Lon H. Preston Sr. and Lana Bridges Preston.
A brother, Dorian W. Preston of Belen, N.M., survives.
His lifelong medical career began in the U.S. Army, where he served as a medical technician in Korea in 1946 and 1947, earning the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal.
He graduated from the University of Texas in 1951 and worked as a pharmacist before embarking on a 36-year-long career as a doctor of osteopathic medicine. He attended medical school at the University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Mo., and received his medical degree in 1962.
During his residency at Grandview Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, he met and married Thelma Graham in 1965.
From 1969 to 1974, he was chairman of the internal medicine department at Bashline Memorial Hospital in Grove City. As a staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Butler, from 1975 to 1997, he displayed loving service to nation's veterans.
A devoted member of the Philadelphia Church of God, he also enjoyed aviation, jogging, photography, music and history.
He now returns to Jesus Christ, the captain of his salvation.
His wife of a blessed 43 years of marriage survives at home. He also is survived by his sons, Lon H. Preston III of West Palm Beach, Fla., an aerospace engineer, and Dr. David L. Preston, a history professor at The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., where he and his wife, English, are expecting a daughter.
<B>PRESTON</B> — Visitation for Dr. Lon H. Preston Jr., who died Friday, Oct. 31, 2008, will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the <B>Cunningham Funeral Home</B>, 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home with the Rev. Aaron Eagle presiding. Burial and graveside services will take place at 11 a.m. Friday at Brushy Cemetery, Bowie, Texas.Memorial donations in Dr. Preston's memory may be made to the Visiting Nurses Association, 154 Hindman Road, Butler, PA 16001.
