John Underwood

John Williams Underwood died on Sunday, January 26, 2025, in Oakland, Maryland, at the age of 100.

He was born to Sallie Pearl (née Williams) and James Archie Underwood on August 27, 1924, in Mount Rainier, Maryland, the youngest of five children. A child of the Depression, he started delivering newspapers at the age of 11 to contribute to the household. Upon receiving his license, he drove a delivery truck for a pharmacy during the week and for a kosher butcher on Saturdays. He was graduated from Hyattsville High School in June 1942.

On his 18th birthday, John entered the U.S. Navy. He served on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (aka "The Blue Ghost") as a radio operator and tail gunner on a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber. Among his many medals, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "heroism and extraordinary achievement in aerial flight" during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

John met the love of his life, Angela Bergling, when he was 16 and she was 13. They were married on December 26, 1945, and lived as soulmates for 69 years. A loving father to his five children, he encouraged and supported each child's aspirations, whether personal, academic, or professional. By example, he taught them to value honesty, act with integrity, practice generosity, but show no mercy at the card table.

John began his professional life as an accountant. He subsequently became an FBI agent and then a lawyer. Drawing upon strong ethical principles, and with a deep reservoir of compassion, he mentored lawyers subject to professional discipline to help them reestablish their careers.

In 1981, after Angela survived a life-threatening illness, John retired. They eventually established themselves near St. Augustine, Florida, and lived there happily for 30 years, taking time to travel extensively in the US, Canada, and Europe. They delighted in spoiling their grandchildren, continually reconfiguring the garden, and thwarting their opponents' stratagems at bridge.

John was an active community leader, who spear-headed a successful effort to ban recreational vehicles from St. John's County beaches for the safety of the beachgoers and to protect vulnerable species and habitat. He was instrumental in establishing a community association to fund a fire department and emergency vehicle, which saved his wife's life on two occasions.

After Angela passed away in 2015, John returned to Garrett County, Maryland, where they maintained a second home on Deep Creek Lake until 1982. There, he created a life with the companion of his last years, Helen West. He was an avid pickleball and bridge player until the very end.

He is mourned by his five children, Michael Underwood and his wife Janis of Silver Spring, Maryland; Jan Underwood and her husband Brad Groelsema of Fairfield, Pennsylvania; Jalene Kolb and her husband Marvin of Accident, Maryland; Mark Underwood of St. Augustine, Florida; Julia Underwood and her wife Teresa Cloutier of Hallowell, Maine; three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and Helen West of Oakland, Maryland.

The family will mourn privately. Friends and acquaintances so moved are encouraged to make a donation in his name to the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, or the charity of their choice.



We will always remember an extraordinary life well-lived.