Ken Babione

Philomath High School

Class of 1968

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Ken Babione - Class of 1968 - Philomath High School

First Name	Ken
Last Name	Babione
Graduation Year	Class of 1968
Gender	Male
City	N/A
State/Province	OR
Country	United States
Occupation	Retired
Married	Widowed
About Me	I joined the Navy in 1968, made 3 war time deployments to Vietnam, and 1 to the first Gulf War. Making ten deployments altogether and 24 years of sea duty in a 30-year career. I was stationed in Oakland, Hawaii, Guam and San Diego, retiring in 2000 as a Master Chief Submariner. After retiring from the Navy I lived in Bishop, Ca and managed Inyo County's four airports until 2018. In 2017 I reconnected with the most wonderful and smartest woman I've ever known. Jeanne Cox/Koberstein was my girlfriend and best friend in 1967. She moved to Guam when her mother took a teaching job there. We never got back together; 8000 miles of ocean was insurmountable. In December of 2017 Jeanne contacted me on Facebook. We had been apart 50 Years to the month. Two minutes into the first phone call we knew the magic was still there. For the next 2 years we spent every waking moment making up for the 50 Years we'd been apart. We lived our life together to it's absolute fullest. We had no premonition of what was to come. We'd missed a lifetime being apart and we weren't going to waste a moment of the life that we may have left together. Even with COVID's ugly presence we managed to travel, and we talked. We would find ourselves talking until 3:00 am. (Some things never changed). Jeanne was a chocoholic; I baked her a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting at midnight. I married my best friend and the love of my life on Nov 5th, 2020, Jeanne was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer five days later. A week later we moved 2300 miles to Pearland Texas so Jeanne could be treated at MD Anderson in Houston. I slept every night in her room in the hospital for 20 days. I lost Jeanne on September 20, 2022, I was right where I was always meant to be, by her side holding her hand. In spite of Jeanne's illness, we had the best 4 years of our collective lives. We made a lifetime of wonderful memories in four years. I am saddened that we only had four short years together, but I am so happy that we were able to have them at all. Jeanne will always be in my heart and mind. and will always be the absolute love of my life. I am in the...(read more)