John "Jack" Stringer

John "Jack" Stringer of Poolesville passed away on June 17, 2011 after a heart attack and respiratory failure. Jack, whose family was from Poolesville, lived at his home on Beall Street for over thirty years. He was well-known in the community as a concerned citizen and activist on various causes in the late 1970s and 1980s.

His mother and father, Harry R. and Marguerite K. Stringer, his brother Harry R. Stringer, Jr. and sister Joan Miles preceded him in death.

He was born in Washington, DC and graduated from Wilson High School. He was a graduate from the University of Maryland majoring in English and Journalism. He was a member of Gamma Chi Chapter of Sigma Chi while there. Jack's interest in journalism came from his father who was a writer for the old Times Herald in Washington and eventually with the Washington Post.

Jack's father wrote a popular racehorse column called String Along with Stringer in the 1930s.

Mr. Stringer served in the Korean War in the beginning of his three years of service and finished his military service in Japan with the 4th Mobile Radio Company. While in the army in Japan he was stationed at Camp Zama north of Tokyo as the radio disc jockey for the military Far East Network, which broadcast music and news throughout the far east. His daily show aired from dawn to mid-afternoon primarily to military families and others interested in an English language broadcast. At the end of his service in Japan he served at Supreme Headquarters in Tokyo under General Maxwell Taylor, as a public information radio reporter. In that position he produced radio interviews of soldiers serving in Japan that would be sent home to their families for broadcast on their local radio stations

After the military Jack began his writing career with the New York Daily News bureau located at the National Press Club in the early 1950s. Eventually he had a twenty-two year career as a public information writer for the Federal government working for various departments, including Health, Education, and Welfare, Federal Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He is survived by his niece, Geoya Stout, her husband, Glenn Stout and children Kathryn, Nikolas, Timothy and Gabriel Stout.

A memorial service will be held at Hilton Funeral Home on July 1 at 11:00 a.m. followed by a reception of friends at his home in Poolesville.