Capt. John Simonson Ekstrom, USN

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - John Simonson Ekstrom, Capt. U.S. Navy, Retired, 79, of Locust Grove, passed away Saturday, July 25, 2015, at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.

John was born on May 12, 1936, to Swen Edmund and Elizabeth (Simonson) Ekstrom, in Ironwood, Mich. He graduated from Luther L. Wright High School, attended Bullis Prep School and received a bachelor of science in Naval Science at the U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1959. He married Rosalie Ann Lucas on Feb. 24, 1962, while stationed at Mayport Naval Station, near Jacksonville, Fla., on the USS Shangri La.

During his 31-year career in the Navy, he participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War. He was the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard in Washington, D.C., Executive Officer of the destroyers Harwood and Strong, and the Commanding Officer of the frigate Ouellet and the destroyer Escort Charles E. Brannon. He received a BS in mechanical engineering at the Naval Post-graduate School, Monterey, Calif. He graduated from the National War College in 1981, then reported to the logistics directorate of the JCS Joint Staff/Pentagon as the Chief of the Strategic Mobility Division. After retiring from the Navy in 1985, John and Rosalie formed their own company, Ocean Marine Systems, Inc., and later, Ocean Marine Navigation Company. John also worked for MAR, Inc., as vice-president for Marine Marketing.

Survivors include his wife Rosalie; four daughters, Kathleen Ekstrom Whitman, Elizabeth Ann Ekstrom Mestre, Andrea Lee Ekstrom Willey, Sarah Lucas Ekstrom; sister, Linda Arnold; and five grandchildren, Brittany Register, Dominic and Alicia Mestre, Maya Willey and Lily Whitman.

John will be remembered for his nearly lifelong devotion to serving his country, and his love of traveling the world with Rosalie; fishing, hunting, reading, dancing, spending time with his family and teaching others about music and history, as well as taking part in such complex jokes and pranks as saying, "but don't tell (insert your name here)," whenever you walked into a room.

Visitation will be held at Laurel Hill Funeral Home in Spotsylvania on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2015, from 10 a.m. until the funeral service at noon. Interment services with full military honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions in John's name to the Alzheimer's Association at alz.org.