Colonel (Dr.) William Kenneth Stockdale was born on October 11, 1928, in the back bedroom of the house in which he grew up in Rock Island, Illinois. His parents were Robert F. Stockdale, Jr., and Irene Mildred (Kail) Stockdale. He attended Catholic and public schools in Rock Island and graduated from the Rock Island Senior High School in 1946.
He enlisted in the US Army in August 1946 and was assigned to the USMA Preparatory School at Stewart Field, Newburgh, New York. He was admitted to the United States Military Academy in July 1947 and graduated in June 1951. He was awarded the General Robert E. Lee Memorial Award for standing number one in his Class in Mathematics.
On the Saturday after graduation, he married Alice Marie Carr from Jersey City, New Jersey, at the Catholic Chapel at West Point on June 9, 1951.
His first duty assignment was at the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. After a short troop assignment at Fort Belvoir, he was assigned to Germany with duty station at Fulda, Germany. His assignment there also involved serving in Hersfeld, and Giessen, Germany with his Engineer Battalion. In Fulda, Alice and he adopted two young German children, Sharon and David.
Upon returning to the United States, he again was assigned to Fort Belvoir, first, with a test unit and, later, to the Engineer School for advanced training. During this tour, Alice and he welcomed their third child, Mary Alice.
In 1957 he was assigned to the University of Illinois for graduate training in Civil Engineering. In 1958 he was awarded a Master of Science degree and in 1959 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering. During this period, Alice and he had two more children born: William (Bill) and Jacqueline (Jackie).
After completing his PhD, he was assigned to South Korea where he directed construction of a fall back supply depot in Waegwan. Here he directed the efforts of approximately 500 American and South Korean workers, both soldiers and civilians. During this tour, Alice and he had another daughter, Barbara, born.
Returning to the United States (Virginia), he was assigned to the Defense Atomic Support Agency responsible for studying the blast effects of nuclear weapons on structures, both above and below ground. In 1963 he was assigned to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon completion of the instruction, he was assigned to the Engineer Section of the Headquarters, United States Army, Europe, in Heidelberg, Germany. He participated in planning the major relocation effort for the Communication Zone facilities out of France at the direction of President Charles de Gaulle.
Returning to the United States in 1967, he was assigned to the faculty of the United States Military Academy in the Department of Civil Engineering. He served as an instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. In 1970 he was approved as a permanent faculty member. The family was completed here with the birth of daughter Theresa.
He retired from the United States Army in 1978 and began working for the Washington Public Power Supply System in Richland, Washington, as the Chief Civil Engineer for a commercial nuclear public power company. He was responsible for design changes to the nuclear facility under construction and continued for a period after the facility began commercial operations.
In 1987 he left the Supply System and was employed by Kaiser Engineers in Oakland, California, as an Engineering Manager. He worked on such projects as the Super Conducting Super Collider to be built in Texas, a Basalt Nuclear Waste Storage facility in Washington State, the storage of high-level waste in Idaho, and a confidential project for Lockheed Company. His last assignment was as Vice President and Chief Engineer of Kaiser Engineers, Hanford, Washington.
He retired from engineering in 1994, and Alice and he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Alice and he were founding members at St Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church where they volunteered to count the weekly collection. He also served as an Extraordinary Minister of Communion. They enjoyed visiting their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren around the United States and Europe and did some ocean cruising. Alice passed away in 2010 after being a loving partner for almost 59 years.
In 2011 he volunteered with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in their handicap parking enforcement patrol. He recently earned his 2000+ hours’ epaulets from the department. On 14 November 2015, he married Katherine Rebecca (Geller) Watkins, originally from Oklahoma, whom Alice and he knew from their time in Richland, Washington.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert Stockdale III, sister-in-law Marjorie Stockdale and his first wife, Alice Stockdale. He is survived by his second wife Kathy, 7 children (Sharon (Henry), David (Carol), Mary Alice, Bill (Kathy), Jackie, Barbara (Eric) and Theresa (Nick)), 2 stepsons Richard (Kalene) and Eric (Blanca) Watkins, 16 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren, and 18 nieces and nephews.
He will have a memorial Mass at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. He will be buried at the Military Cemetery at West Point, New York, following a Mass of Christian Burial at the Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests you donate to Tunnel to Tower in support of disabled US military and first responders and their families.
A funeral service for William will be held Friday, November 4, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, 1811 Pueblo Vista Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89128.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.palmcheyenne.com for the Stockdale family.
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