Obituary of John Colville

It is with great sadness that the family of John Colville announces his passing after a prolonged illness, on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at the age of 65. John was born on October 12, 1953 in Washington DC to Robert and Catherine Colville. He received his electrical engineering degree from Virginia Tech in 1975 and joined the Navy shortly after. He married Barbara Czerwenka in 1975 in Alexandria, VA. They have two children, Kimberly and Ken. He served in the Navy for over 28 years. After Nuclear Power School, he joined the Submarine fleet, serving on both Trident and Fast Attacks. He was part of the commissioning crew on the USS Ohio and served as the Commanding Officer of the USS Cavalla. He retired from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) in Orlando, FL in 2004. He continued with NAWCTSD as a Civilian for 8 years in Hawaii as an In-Service Engineer supporting Submarine trainers until he and his wife moved back to Orlando to live near his children and grandchildren. John worked as a Systems Engineer supporting Naval Aviation programs until retirement in 2015 following his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He fought a brave battle against the horrible disease for more than 3.5 years. He passed away peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his wife, brother, daughter, and son.

John had a strong love for his family, his dogs, Hawaii, the Navy, flying small planes, cruising, and playing Everquest. He thoroughly enjoyed living near family and getting together on a regular basis with his extended family. He fought as hard as he did, for as long as he did, beating all odds of Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer due to the love he had for his family. He wasn’t ready to leave us and we weren’t ready to say good bye. Having him pass peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family, brought comfort to all of us.

John was preceded in death by his father, Robert, and his mother, Catherine. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, two children, Kimberly (Andrew) Twigg and Ken (Shawna) Colville, three grandchildren, Skyler, Paige and Clark, and brother Jim.

A funeral service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with Full Naval Honors on Friday, March 22, 2019 at 1:00 PM. For those that live in the Orlando area, a Celebration of John’s life will take place on November 3rd from 12 – 4 at his home.

The family is very passionate about furthering research towards Pancreatic Cancer Research and would love for people to consider making donations to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in lieu of flowers. We have set up a donation page at the following site: http://support.pancan.org/goto/JohnColville