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He had no family. He was not famous. Yet hundreds attended this WWII veteran’s funeral.
He had no living family.
He was not famous.
He lived alone.
Yet on Tuesday, hundreds of people gathered at the graveside of World War II veteran Stephen Kolesnik Jr. and watched him laid to rest.
“When you’re a veteran you’ve got family,” a funeral speaker is captured on video saying during the service at New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, a town 10 miles northwest of Concord, the state’s capital. “He was afraid he would died alone… and look what has happened.”
The U.S. Navy veteran died Dec. 1 in hospice care at age 97, according to his obituary, and Lebanon, New Hampshire resident Kevin Dougherty, one of more than 200 attendees at the funeral.
Kolesnik had no living relatives, Dougherty told USA TODAY Thursday, and previously told his hospice nurse, Becky Lynn, he was afraid he’d die forgotten.
“He had told her he feared no one would attend his funeral,” Dougherty said. “She’s the person who got the ball rolling.”
“Considering a messy snowfall last night and more coming overnight, a nice crowd of New Hampshire veterans showed up, representing all the services and one World War 2 vet to recent Iraq (and) Afghanistan war vets,” Dougherty posted Wednesday in a tribute on his Facebook page to the late veteran. “Fair winds and following seas Stephen.”
His hospice nurse did not expect the mass community response.
“Honestly, I thought it was another service. I didn’t expect this at all,” Lynn told KCRA-TV. “He had no living family. His friends were staff at his nursing home and hospice.”
Who was Stephen Kolesnik?
According to his obituary, Kolesnik was born Feb. 28, 1927, in Winchester, Massachusetts to the late Stephen Kolesnik and Ella May Kolesnik.
Before he turned 18, Kolesnik enlisted in the Navy, serving during World War II as a Fireman Second Class.
In 1946 he was honorably discharged and awarded the World War II Victory Medal, the American Theater Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal.
For nearly three decades after his military service, he worked as a mechanic with the Boston and Maine Railroad.
“He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed hiking, fishing, hunting, and walking − frequently covering more than 30 miles a week.”
In addition to his parents, Stephen is preceded in death by his wife Lillie Ellen (Anderson) Kolesnik, his brother and sister, and longtime companion, Priscilla Sherman.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Navy.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
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