Dr. Joseph E. Stockwell, Jr.
Longtime Starkville resident Joe Stockwell died February 20, 2022. He was 96 years old. The Funeral Service will be held on March 28, 2022, at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Starkville, MS. The Church Service is at 10 a.m. and the Interment with full military honors is at 11 a.m. in the Church’s courtyard Columbarium. There will be a Celebration of Life for both Joe and Becky onsite immediately thereafter.
Joe was preceded in death only 44 days earlier by his beloved wife of 43 years, Rebecca S. Stockwell. He is survived by his children: Anne Stockwell (Rita) of Los Angeles, CA; and, Joseph E. “Buddy” Stockwell III (Melissa) of Mt. Juliet, TN.
Joe was born in Knoxville, TN and was reared in New Roads, LA, where, on his 18th birthday in 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as an infantryman in the European Theater of Operations. He achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant and earned the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the EAME Ribbon with two battle stars. He was subsequently awarded the Legion of Honor (Knighted) by the government of France for his acts of heroism on the battlefield. He was a prominent member of what we deem our “Greatest Generation,” the citizen soldiers who won WW II.
After the war, he attended Tulane University in New Orleans, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1949. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
During the decade of the ‘50s he was employed in the sales departments of Eastern Airlines, Air France and Continental Airlines. During the ‘60s he was an instructor of English at LSU while completing his Ph.D at that institution. Thereafter, he completed his teaching career as a member of the Mississippi State University English faculty from 1968 to 1986.
He was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in West Point, MS. He was a patron of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Pushmataha Council of the BSA, and the Starkville Public Library.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in the name of Joe and Becky Stockwell to the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation at 505 W Broad St., West Point, MS 39773.