John Colona

SANDWICH, MA - John Edmond Colona, a former resident of Wilmington, died on Tuesday, April 5, following a period of declining health.
He was born April 28, 1939, in Cape Charles, VA. After graduating from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester VA, he began his teaching career in his hometown. Five years later he moved to Wilmington, VT, where he taught in Whitingham, VT, and Wilmington, VT. He later taught at Deerfield Valley Elementary School and Wilmington High School. He taught pre-K to 12 general music and chorus and, together with Meredith Morgan, collaborated on musicals with the high school students.
It is in Wilmington, VT, where John met his future wife Nancy Fellows, a Spanish teacher. They were married in 1979 and enjoyed almost 43 years of marriage. They left Wilmington, VT, in 1982 and moved to Cape Cod, where John changed careers and became a manager of Eldred Wheeler Furniture in Osterville. Twenty years later John returned to his education roots and enjoyed several years of substitute teaching in the Sandwich Public Schools, where Nancy taught until she retired in 2011.
John is survived by his wife Nancy; son Benjamin (Erica Canada), of Killington, VT; daughter Emily (Ariol Sharka), of Boston; and his two beloved granddaughters Ryland Colona and Eleanor Sharka. He is also survived by his sister Bonnie Colona Travis (Robert), and a niece and two nephews, of Salisbury, MD.
Besides his family, John enjoyed classical music, skiing, the beach, sailing, his cats, and driving his classic 1982 Corvette. He was known by all as a smartly dressed, true Virginia gentleman who never lost his southern drawl.
In lieu of flowers consider donating to Childhood Leukemia Foundation, PO Box 21069, Landing, MI 48909-1069.

The Deerfield Valley News

797 VT Route 100 North
Wilmington, VT 05363

Phone: 802-464-3388
Fax: 802-464-7255

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