Edward Frost Stacy

Edward Frost Stacy, a retired U.S. Navy commander and aviator, died of natural causes on October 12, 2021 at the age of 96 years. Cdr. Stacy was born on September 25, 1925. He was a native of Marietta, Ohio and a descendant of an early pioneer family of that state with roots in colonial Massachusetts. He grew up on the family farm and apple orchard in Oak Grove, on the outskirts of Marietta. He attended Marietta College and was a 1948 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. At the Academy he was a varsity fencer (saber) and always enjoyed pointing out the star he earned for beating Army, to go with his letter “N.” On February 3, 1951, as a young naval aviator, he married Mary Elizabeth Gregory, of Washington, DC with whom he raised four children. During his service years he attended the Armed Forces Staff College and received a graduate degree from George Washington University. As an aviator he flew anti-submarine aircraft and had duty with the U.S. Navy Hurricane Hunter squadron based in Jacksonville, Florida. Over three years he flew weather reconnaissance missions into twelve named storms. One of his most vivid memories as a naval aviator was observing from the air as a powerful and devastating Hurricane Audrey made landfall in southern Louisiana in June 1957. Other assignments included tours as a shipboard navigator in the western Pacific and as a navigation instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy. He had staff duties in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Norfolk, Virginia, and at the Pentagon from which he retired in the late 1960s. He remained a resident of the Washington, DC-area, working as a consultant with two defense contractors into the 1990s. Most recently he was a long-time resident of a retirement community (Buckingham’s Choice) near Frederick, Maryland.
In retirement, among other activities, he pursued a renewed interest in family history and genealogy with other family members. He was a hereditary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati representing a direct ancestor (Lt. Col. Wm. Stacy) who served as an officer in the Massachusetts Continental line and who fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, among others. He was a long-time volunteer in the research library at Anderson House, the national headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati in Washington, DC. As a retired naval officer, he was particularly pleased to discover that two Stacy ancestors had sailed with John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War (William in the Ranger and Samuel in the Bonhomme Richard) and had personally participated in the earliest exploits of the U.S. Navy.
Cdr. Stacy (known as “Jack” to family and close friends) was preceded in death by his parents, Dewey Dee and Edythe Gertrude (Weinstock) Stacy. He was one of six children, including an older brother, Robert D. (wife Pat), and sisters Iris McClure (James), Betty Carr (Max), and Ruth Dick (James), and younger brother John D. (“Jake”, Jean). He had, as well, a close brother-in-law John J. Gregory (Capt., USN, retired, and wife Shirley). Cdr. Stacy is survived by his beloved wife of 70 years, Mary, and their four children: John Gregory (“Greg”, and wife Jeanne), Karen, David (Amy), and Timothy (Lisa). He was blessed with nine grandchildren, and (at last count) six great-grandchildren.
Following private funeral services he will be inurned at the U.S. Naval Academy Columbarium overlooking the Severn River in Annapolis.
Arrangements are with the Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, Frederick, MD.