Dr. John Duke Stackpole, a retired meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service and a professional parliamentarian, died on January 12, 2020, at his home in Solomons, Maryland at the age of 84. The cause was pancreatic cancer.
John Stackpole was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Milton Academy (1953), where his father Pierpont Stackpole taught English Literature. He received his Bachelor’s in Physics from Amherst College (1957) and his Ph.D. in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1964), where he also served as president of the M.I.T. Graduate Student Council.
In 1960, John Stackpole wed Laurie Jean Eveleth of Falls Church, Virginia. In 1964, John and Laurie moved to District Heights, Maryland, where John began a 30-year career at the Weather Service. After his retirement, he focused on his second career as a registered and certified parliamentarian.
John and Laurie’s life together spanned 59 years. They were both avid readers, were active at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Forestville, Maryland, enjoyed family camping trips when their children were younger, summers in Maine as they grew older, enjoyed square dancing, the arts, and attending lectures. John was also an accomplished calligrapher and bicycle rider.
They were loving parents of three children: Mark Stackpole and wife Laura Strom, Paul Stackpole and wife Lessley, and Jean Brown and husband Dr. Jeffrey Brown. They were cherished grandparents to six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. John is also survived by his sister Antoinette Stackpole Russin.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for both John D. & Laurie E. Stackpole on Friday, July 30, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 22800 Washington St., Leonardtown, Maryland. Interment will be held at Saint James Catholic Cemetery in Falls Church, Virginia at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund—UNICEF—125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038.
