Harvey "Mack" Abbott, age 91, of Gainesville, Georgia, passed away Thursday, June 19, 2014 at Summer's Landing.
Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 pm Sunday, June 22, 2014 at the First United Methodist Church in Gainesville with Reverend Hugh Cauthen officiating.
Mack was born in Birmingham, Alabama on October 16, 1922. The only child of Matthew and Alice Abbott, Mack lived in several states as he grew up during the Great Depression. He decided to join the Marines at the age of seventeen. After boot camp at Parris Island and additional training, he was moved to the 3rd Defense Battalion and was shipped to Pearl Harbor. The morning of December 7, 1941 changed his world and forced him to become a hardened Marine at the age of nineteen. Over the next few years he was shipped to Midway, Guadalcanal, Saipan, and Tinian, and was the security detail for the Enola Gay used for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
After the war he moved to Houston, Texas and met Janie Nell Reagan, the love of his life. They got married and started a family with their son Carl, their daughter Pam, and another son Paul. A natural salesman, Mack spent over 40 years in various sales and sales management positions until his retirement at age 70. In his later years, Mack went on to write The First and Last Shots Fired in World War II, a book about his experiences in the war, and played a large role with the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. He was instrumental in establishing and maintaining the Pearl Harbor Survivor Memorial at the Marietta National Cemetery, and is recognized as a veteran in the Circle of Honor at the Freedom Garden at the Northeast Georgia History Center. He was an active member of Gainesville First UMC and enjoyed boating, fishing, playing the guitar and recorder, and occasionally impersonating Elvis Presley.
Mack was preceded in death by Janie, his beloved wife of 54 years, and is survived by their children Carl (Karen) Abbott, Pam (Wayne) Mock, and Paul (Sherry) Abbott. He is also survived by his grandchildren Brandi (Charles) Bradshaw, Kimberly (Phil) Tyree, Russ (Beth) Abbott, Shelley (Spencer) Randolph, Mallory (Rory) Kiefer, Nathan Abbott, and great grandchildren Christian & Josh Bradshaw, Jonah, Cody & Madelyn Abbott, Janie & Jack Tyree, and Reagan Randolph. He will be remembered by his family as "Pop" or "Pop Pop," a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.
Memorial Park North Riverside Chapel 989 Riverside Drive Gainesville, GA 30501. 770-297-6200 or for online condolences at www.memorialparkfuneralhomes.com.
