At Jon Daniel Franklin’s funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery on April 8, 2025, U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt.) Everett Fraley said that when Franklin was growing up in Oklahoma, adults would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. According to Fraley, he would tell them, “I want to change the world, to make it a better place.”
Franklin became a well-known pioneer of literary journalism, which utilized literary and creative techniques in nonfiction. He also taught journalism, worked as a writing coach and earned two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting for the Baltimore Evening Sun.
Franklin’s remarkable career began with his service in the U.S. Navy. He dropped out of high school to join the Navy in 1959. His writing skills earned him a reporting job with All Hands magazine, the Navy’s journal of profiles and photographs. He reached the rank of journalist petty officer 1st class after eight years of exceptional work. Using the GI Bill, he became the first person in his family to attend college, earning a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland in 1970. He wrote first for the Prince George’s Post and then the Baltimore Evening Sun. He also taught at both University of Maryland and Oregon State University.
Franklin received his first Pulitzer for “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster,” an article about a woman fighting cancer and the doctor who tried to save her. “When she died on the operating table, Jon was devastated,” recalled Franklin’s wife of 43 years, Lynn. “He was hoping the story was going to have a happy ending.” He received his second Pulitzer for an article, which eventually became a book about the science of molecular psychology.
At the funeral service in Section 73, Fraley spoke about how much Franklin’s family mourned his loss, but added, “We gain solace in the fact that he has left precious memories that will live on forever in their hearts.”
Afterward, Lynn fondly remembered her and her husband’s mutual love of writing. “He wanted to be Shakespeare, and I wanted to be Mark Twain,” she said. “He really did make an impact with so many people.”
Lynn wanted her husband to be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery so his readers and students alike could visit his final resting place. “He was so proud of his work from the Navy,” she said, “so it just seemed very appropriate.”
During the service, Fraley addressed Franklin’s childhood desire to change the world. After reading a list of Franklin’s accomplishments, Fraley told the family, “I think it is safe to say today, that mission was accomplished.”
► To learn more about journalists, writers and other cultural figures laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, explore our Education Program materials on Culture and the Arts.