John “Rock” Urban Rockcastle, 92, went to be with the Lord March 7, 2023. He was born August 19,1930 in Evanston, IL. Rock lived in Oxford, FL for the last 29 years with his wife of 52 years, Ruth.
Rock was a man of faith and was a deacon at Faith Presbyterian church where he enjoyed opening the church every Sunday, making the coffee for fellowship time and greeting the worshipers.
Rock loved God and country. After graduating from Evanston High School, he joined the Navy and served for 40 years, Active and Reserves. He was primarily in the Submarine service.
Rock worked in the Marine business for years and retired from Chrysler Marine. After moving to Florida in 1994 he joined SimCom Flight Training Center for 22 years until his retirement at age 90.
Rock became a Flight Instructor in 1982 and his wife Ruth was his first student. He held an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, Certified Flight Instructor certificate with Gold Seal, Ground School and Remote Pilot certificates. He was an ‘impassioned public speaker’ on many topics of aviation safety. He was the winner of many awards, including National CFI of the Year in 1989, National FAASTeam Rep of the year and in 2022 he received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, the highest award for pilots conferred by the FAA. Rock was the World record holder of WINGS Phases, 353 Basic, 307 Advanced and 256 Master. According to the FAA “no one else will ever beat that record.”
Rock is survived by his wife Ruth, his daughter Colleen (Ben) Wermes, his step-son Dale (Amy) Fraysur, 5 grand-children and 4 great grand-children.
In Lieu of Flowers, Donations can be made to Faith Presbyterian Church in Oxford Florida.
