Leon Blackmon

Leon Albert Blackmon, age 92, of Center Point, AL passed from this life on earth on January 25, 2017. He was a retired U.S. Air Force officer with 27 years of active duty military service, attaining the rank of Lt. Col. and serving as Field Maintenance Squadron Commander at Blytheville Air Force Base in Arkansas. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, a nephew and two grandchildren. Known as "Blackie" by his friends and "Grandpa" by his family, Leon grew up in a Navy family stationed primarily in Pensacola FL, Long Beach CA and the Panama Canal Zone. He was an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Pensacola High School in 1942 and enlisted in the Navy where he served during WWII as an Aviation Machinist in the South Pacific. Following the war, he entered the Navy V-12 program at Howard College in Birmingham and completed his degree in Building Construction at Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn AL. While at Auburn, he married his sweetheart, Jenny, and they began an extended adventure as a military family. In the Air Force, he piloted fighters, transports and B-47 and B-52 bombers. His tour of duty led them to many Air Force bases throughout the U.S. In 1972 he retired to Pensacola FL and later moved to Birmingham AL to be closer to family. Leon is survived by his precious wife of 68 years, Jeanette Counts Blackmon; a daughter, Margaret Louise Blackmon of Birmingham; four sons, James Daniel Blackmon of Birmingham; Harry Cleveland Blackmon of Plano TX, Charles Henry Blackmon of Charlotte NC and Kenneth Edwin Blackmon of Birmingham; eleven grandchildren; and thirteen great-grandchildren. Leon was a member of First Baptist Trussville and "the Greatest Generation". A memorial service will be held at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home, 1591 Gadsden Highway, on Saturday January 28, at 1:00 p.m. Visitation will precede the service beginning at 12:00 p.m.