Frank D. Coon was known for his strong work ethic and equally strong love of his family.

“He was an excellent husband. Everybody wanted him,” said Verlane Coon, his wife of 63 years. “He was a worker. He didn’t have hobbies. He didn’t go fishing. He worked.”

Mr. Coon died on Thursday, March 3, 2022. He was 80.

Born in June 1941, he was the son of Raymond and Iola Roberts Coon. His mother sold Stanley home products and his father worked for General Electric.

Mr. Coon grew up in Delanson and graduated from Duanesburg Central in 1959. He was “the baby,” his wife said, the youngest of four siblings, each spaced a year apart.

As a teenager, she said, Mr. Coon had many jobs — all to help his family: He had three paper routes; he dug graves; and he worked at his school, helping the janitor.

The couple met at the Knox Cave roller rink. Mrs. Coon remembers it as if it were yesterday. “He looked really cool with black pants and boots and a white T-shirt with Lucky Stripes rolled up in his sleeve, and he had a little curl on his forehead,” she said.

They skated together and he gave her a ride home, to the farm in Berne where she lived, in his red Chevy convertible. “The top was down and I couldn’t hear in the wind, so I moved over on the bench seat to be near him.”

They married the next year, on July 27, 1959 when she was 17; he had turned 18 on June 23.

Early in their marriage, Mrs. Coon said, her husband told her, “The one that cooks doesn’t have to clean up.” So she cooked, and he washed the dishes. He also cleaned the bathroom, scrubbed the floors, and washed the windows.

“He liked to shop and he’d bring home surprises,” said Mrs. Coon. “He brought me flowers all the time — not just flowers but plants.”

The couple lived their first 14 married years in mobile homes, she said. Mr. Coon was employed by Agway for 43 years, living 30 of those years in Russell, Massachusetts. Mr. Coon was a plant manager in the egg division.

On weekends, he had his own business, installing and maintaining automatic egg-packaging equipment. “He went all up and down the East Coast,” said his wife, as she stayed home, caring for their children. She has told people that the secret of their long marriage is: “My husband works all the time.”

“He never wanted me to work,” said Mrs. Coon. “I brought up the children,” she said, adding, “We’ve always been a Christian household.”

Mr. Coon was a devoted father, she said. “He was the entertainer. He had a tremendous interest in the circus and he’d do tricks with them on the floor, balancing them on his feet.”

She also said, “He was supportive of what we wanted to do.”

Mrs. Coon described her husband as easygoing. “We never fought,” she said. “I had the attitude he was always right.”

“His health brought us to Florida,” Mrs. Coon said, explaining that her husband had Renaud’s so his doctor advised moving to a warm climate.

The couple went on a trip to Florida since a friend was “bugging” her husband to retire, said Mrs. Coon. “Frank had no intention to ever retire.”

While eating breakfast at a restaurant, a vacationing postman suggested they look at a mobile home community in Venice, Florida. The couple had a few hours to kill so went to Venice, found a mobile home for sale, and that same day put down a deposit on the place — then lived at the resident-owned park for 20 years.

“It’s a wonderful community,” said Mrs. Coon who on Thursday had just returned from her knitting group. “It’s like living in Knox. We know everybody, and everybody cares for everybody. If you’re sick, someone brings you soup.”

In Venice, Mr. Coon worked for NAPA (the National Automotive Parts Association) another 12 years until his health stopped him from working.

“He was a people person. He loved people,” said his wife. “He drove a truck, delivering auto parts. And he was their go-to man if somebody wasn’t paying up. He had a look about him that meant business.”

Mr. Coon ended every communication by saying, “Keep in the good warm sun.”

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Frank D. Coon is survived by his wife, Verlane, and their three children, David, Lynaire, and Todd, and their adopted son, Zayne Beaumier, and by their grandchildren, Alex, Justin, and Victoria, and by their great-grandson, Gavin.

He is also survived by his two brothers, Raymond and Wayne, and his sister, Alice.

Memorial messages may be left at www.altamontenterprise.com/milestones.

A celebration of his life will take place in New York over the summer.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer

Verlane Coon: 941-223-7633