Tuesday, October 10, 2006
George StalkAir Force Colonel
George Stalk, 82, a retired Air Force colonel who served from World War II to Vietnam, died of respiratory failure Sept. 26 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He lived in Springfield.
Col. Stalk was born in Detroit. He entered pilot training with the Army Air Forces in 1943 and soloed that year. During World War II, he trained pilots in Arkansas and flew many types of aircraft, including B-25 bombers and C-7 Caribou transports in Vietnam.
He graduated from Purdue University after World War II and received an advanced degree in structured aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
Col. Stalk served in several Air Force aeronautical and structural engineering research labs and worked on the U.S. atomic test programs at Eniwetok Atoll and the Nevada test site. His last military assignment was at the Air Force aeronautical office of scientific research in Rosslyn, where he retired in 1973.
Among his military awards was a Distinguished Flying Cross for flying under fire in Vietnam to pick up wounded soldiers at a remote field.
In retirement, he bought a private plane. He and his wife, also a pilot, spent many hours flying their two Piper Cherokees and a Cessna.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Joan F. Fleming Stalk of Springfield; two sons, George Stalk Jr. of Toronto and Bruce Stalk of Tacoma, Wash.; and seven grandchildren.
John Mark LacovaraSenate Staff MemberJohn Mark Lacovara, 56, a former staff member of the U.S. Senate, died Oct. 3 at Inova Fairfax Hospital of multiple organ failure after an aortic dissection, a rupture in an artery of his heart. He had a congenital heart condition and had received a heart transplant several years ago.
Mr. Lacovara, who was born in Washington, grew up in Rockville and was a graduate of Richard Montgomery High School. He graduated from Prince George's Community College and received a bachelor's degree in American history from the University of Maryland. He was a member of the Air Force Reserve for several years.
After becoming a Senate staff member in 1969, Mr. Lacovara held several positions, including enrolling clerk and congressional records clerk. When he retired for health reasons in 1997, he was assistant recording secretary of the Senate. He sat on the dais near the Senate's officers, recording the vote on every measure.
From 2000 to 2005, he served as a substitute teacher at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, teaching history and physical education. He also had a part-time business, Classic Gold DJ's, and worked as a disc jockey and host at weddings, parties and charitable events.
Mr. Lacovara had lived in Alexandria since 1983. He enjoyed golf, model railroading and playing the drums. He was a member of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America.
Survivors include his mother, Patricia L. Ingold of Springfield, and two sisters, Dale Monno and Joyce Lacovara, both of Alexandria.
Henry F. VollmerPlanning Specialist
Henry F. Vollmer, 78, who served for 18 years as academic planning specialist for the Maryland State Board for Higher Education before retiring in 1990, died Sept. 24 of congestive heart failure and diabetic complications at his home in Bowie.
Before that job, Dr. Vollmer was a faculty member at the University of Maryland in College Park from 1972 to 1976. While based in Heidelberg, Germany, from 1963 to 1972, he headed the foreign language department of the European division of the university, which was the first college, contracted by the Defense Department, to send faculty and staff to Europe after World War II to teach military members there.
Dr. Vollmer, a Chicago native, graduated from the University of Illinois. He also received a master's degree in German from the University of Chicago and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Maryland.
He served in the Army during the occupation in Berlin in the early 1950s. Afterward, he taught English to Germans in the German school system and German to U.S. citizens there.
He had lived in the Washington area for 34 years.
He volunteered with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Maryland State Board of Elections.
Dr. Vollmer had a vast knowledge of American and European literature, art, music, history and culture. He was well versed in about 10 foreign languages and enjoyed extensive traveling.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara Vollmer, of Bowie; three sons, Mark Vollmer of Bowie, Thomas Vollmer of Tega Cay, S.C., and Daniel Vollmer of Edgewater; a sister; and two grandchildren.
Sinclair S. 'Sandy' MartelState Department OfficialSinclair S. "Sandy" Martel, 68, deputy assistant secretary of state for politico-military affairs in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, died of cardiopulmonary arrest Oct. 4 at Prince William Hospital in Manassas. He lived in Gainesville.
A retired Navy captain, he led a team of U.S. experts in 1992 to Israel to inspect that nation's Patriot missile holdings, investigating charges that missile equipment had been improperly sent to China.
Capt. Martel, a native of Hartford, Conn., graduated from Trinity College in 1959. He was commissioned into the Navy in 1960 and served 27 years as a naval intelligence specialist. In 1977, he graduated from the Naval War College, and among his military awards were three Legions of Merit.
He worked in the 1988 presidential political campaign for the Bush-Quayle ticket and served in the office of the president-elect and the office of presidential personnel. In October 1989, he was appointed to the State Department. He retired in 1993.
Capt. Martel was an Eagle Scout, scoutmaster and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He enjoyed golf.
His first wife, Ellen Jean Martel, died in 1999.
Survivors include his wife, Madeleine "Maddy" Cullinane Martel of Gainesville; two children from his first marriage, Elizabeth Marie Monroe of Springfield and Charles Sinclair Martel of Atlanta; a sister; a brother; and five grandchildren.