John Pope Fishburne

John Pope Fishburne, 88, of Stone Mountain, a loving husband and father and longtime AT&T manager, died Sunday September 23, 2012. Mr. Fishburne passed away at Cobblestone at Park Springs, after a brief illness attributed to heart disease. Born in 1924 in Walterboro, S.C., Mr. Fishburne graduated from Walterboro High School and later attended college at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C, but his education was interrupted by World War II. He became a commissioned officer and pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Mr. Fishburne was elected a member of the Walterboro Chapter of the National Honor Society of Secondary Schools in 1941 and in 1952 was initiated into the Beta Epsilon Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha. When the war ended, he completed his college education on the GJ. Bill at Syracuse University in 1952 and began a 35-year career with AT&T. Working in management, he transferred from New York to Atlanta in 1968, where he helped plan the telephone company's infrastructure to accommodate Atlanta's anticipated growth. He also helped integrate various computer operating languages into the company's phone system. He was very active in AT&T's United Way Campaign. He was also a member of the Telephone Pioneers. Mr. Fishburne met his wife, the former Ruth Luella (Riebennacht) Fishburne, when he was stationed at the U.S. air base in Rome, N.Y., where she was a hairdresser. They married June 6, 1949 in Port Leyden, N.Y., and had two children. His children enjoyed family trips to the beach in South Carolina. His son, David Karl Fishburne of Indialantic, Fla., fondly recalled trips to his father's office, where his dad placed him on the telephone with operators in foreign countries. They also enjoyed father-son fishing trips around Long Island and to the mountains in upstate New York. "He loved his family, his friends and his activities," David Fishburne said. His daughter, Barbara Ann (Fishburne) Milliron of Avondale Estates, Ga., said her father was a great supporter of her competitive swimming and he loved when she cooked meals for him. "His smile, you'd kill for his smile," she said. Mr. Fishburne enjoyed tinkering and home repairs, golf, fishing, football, reading, painting, and playing bridge. He was a longtime member of the Northwood Country Club in Gwinnett County.Family members recalled he was a good sport and the straight man for his wife's humor. "She was the jokester," Barbara Milliron recalled. "He had an easy smile." The couple was married for 48 years before she died of Cancer in 1997. Mr. Fishburne is also pre-deceased by his parents, Clarence Loui Fishburne and Julia (Fripp) Fishburne; his sisters, Helen Fishburne Stokes of Columbia, S.C., Katherine Fishburne Sabin of Oakridge, Tenn., and Elizabeth Fishburne Tucker of Holly Hill, S.C.; his brothers, Clarence Fishburne of Atlanta, Ga., Fripp Fishburne of Walterboro, S.C., and Ashley Fishburne of Nashville, Tenn. Survivors include his daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and David Milliron of Avondale Estates, Ga.; his son and daughter-in-law, David and Patti Fishburne of Indialantic, Fla.; and his grandchildren, Mary Katherine Fishburne of Anchorage, Alaska, and John David Fishburne of Indialantic, Fla.; and a sister, Edna Fishburne Kirkpatrick of Florence, s.c. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mr. Fishburne's honor to the American Heart Association. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 pm Wednesday September 26th in the chapel of A.S. Turner & Sons. The family will receive friends on Tuesday from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at A. S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home & Crematory.


Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033