Richard Charles Stempkovski

RICHARD C. STEMPKOVSKI, SR. of Elkridge, MD and Moultonborough NH, cherished Husband Father, Grandfather, Brother, Uncle, In-law, and Son passed away in peace on September 5, 2025, with his wife of 26 years, Kathleen Turyn Stempkovski, holding his hand.

He is survived also, by his children Kathy and Rick, son-in-law Robert, stepdaughter Rebecca, and grandchildren Jenna, Owen, Ivy, and Marlee. He is also survived by siblings Mary Anne Garner, Jeane Kerrivan, and Philip. Not to be forgotten are extended families the Turyns, Simpsons, and Eichelroths.

Parents Charles Stempkovski and Mary (Kulibaba), brothers Bob and Charlie, and first wife Jean (Carita) pre-deceased him. Son Rick’s well-loved wife, Anna (Giacomini) passed away just a short while ago, much too soon.
Dick had an adventurous childhood with too many experiences to name here. He wrote an autobiography, titled “The Opportunity – Take It”, which he wishes his wife to edit and publish. It is still being edited but excerpted below are key passages in his own words.

The Beginning Days
I was born June 10, 1938 at the Boston Lying in Hospital. My mother’s name was Mary (Kulibaba) and my father’s was Charles. We moved into my maternal grandfather’s farmhouse in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Early Years
We were living on the farm when the great hurricane of 1938 was blowing through New England. My grandfather had bought the farm at auction from the Government; the government had seized it while closing down an illegal whisky-running operation. It consisted of a farmhouse, barn and five outbuildings. It also had large field acreage including a cranberry bog.

I remember visiting Grandma and Grandpa Kulibaba. We would drive up on Sundays and my mom would catch up with her mom. My dad was very mechanically inclined, so he enjoyed working with Grandpa on his tractor and truck.

Meanwhile, Grandma taught me how to milk cows, collect eggs from the chicken coop, and spread hay around the cow pen. Grandpa raised pigs for food, to smoke for himself and to take to market. I worked with him in the garden fields where they grew corn, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, and strawberries. There were apple trees, cranberry bushes, and old blueberry trees which yielded plenty of fruit.

The Bitter Years
The war was still on in 1943. By then, we lived in Hyde Park, Massachusetts with my paternal grandparents. At night when there was an air raid, the sirens would sound, all lights would be shut off, the window shades would be drawn, and the civil defense patrol would come around to check that all were following instructions. After about thirty minutes or so, the all’s clear would sound; this was a frequent occurrence. Our car had its headlights painted black halfway across so aircraft could not see it at night.

We were lucky because of my maternal grandfather’s farm. There were lots of vegetables and home-smoked meats. They had plenty of milk, eggs, butter and chickens so my grandparents shared with the family, and we ate well in this time of rationing.

To help out with the war effort we would fill cans with old cooking oil and bring them to the store for collecting. Also, we would take old metal cans and cut the tops and bottoms off, then step on them to flatten them out, and they would give five cents for each item. I also collected milk, soda, and bleach bottles. They gave five cents for milk and soda, ten cents for bleach. This is how I could have some pocket cash.

The Learning Years
I was five years old getting ready to start a whole life of learning. My best friend was my dad because we did so many things together. He taught me all about the science of the automobile engine and all of its running parts. When he was working on the car, I was his helper/runner for tools and parts.

During the summer we would go fishing for freshwater fish or salt water, and he taught me all the different techniques for catching them. During the summer my friends from my neighborhood would cut up, and we would invent activities to keep us out of trouble. I was always the leader. We had no money to buy toys, so we made our own.

Because we lived between two rivers the Mothers Brook and the Neponset River, fishing for me as a young kid was good time. I would cut a sapling about six feet long for a fishing pole. My mother had a sewing box with some button thread that was pretty strong. I would take about twenty feet of it and wrap it around the pole on the thin end. There you go-- a fishing pole but no hook! The best hook that I could come up with was a safety pin. For a bite detector I would use a small piece of wood tied about three feet from the safety pin. For bait there were plenty of worms around the flower beds.

Toys? We had plenty if you wanted to make them! One fun toy was the parachute made from a handkerchief, some thread, and weights tied to each corner. We’d throw our chutes into the air and watch them open and float to the ground.

Dick was a self-made man from humble beginnings. His childhood equipped him with many skills and interests, and the right education and experiences carried him all through is life. He taught himself computer skills so he could keep his own company’s books in the very early days of personal computing. And he continued to learn new computer skills well into his eighties. From a young age during World War II, he worked hard all his life.

Although he had trouble with reading and spelling in school, when tested, he was found to have a learning disability (dyslexia most likely), with a high IQ and gifts in art, mechanics, and visual/spatial relationships. He was able to look at things and figure them out and fix them. In High School he was given a prestigious Westinghouse Award for a science project.

Never did Dick hesitate to ask for help with paperwork and writing when he needed it. He was aware of his limitations but never let them get in the way of his goals.

Dick could do or make anything. He was mechanically gifted, a fine carpenter, could work with any material, and was a Master Electrician in three New England States. He was quite good at commercial construction and electric controls for mechanical devices like conveyor belts, or commercial production and cooling systems. Cumberland Farms hired him as their electrical controls specialist, and they sent him to all their stores from Pennsylvania and New Jersey up through the New England states.

He opened his own successful electrical contracting business in New Hampshire. Stempkovski Electric was well-known, and Dick knew all kinds of people in the construction businesses. Some of them are still around.

Dick didn’t hesitate to make use of anything he found lying around if it suited his need to make something else completely different from the item’s purpose. This practice started in childhood and continued through adulthood. He got in trouble more than once.

He was an avid fisherman, loved his boat, and used to hunt game on Red Hill in Moultonborough, NH and elsewhere. As a child, he enjoyed private aircraft (flying with Uncle Rudy), making and flying model aircraft, and fishing. As an adult Dick tied his own flies (they were works of art) and loved doing special artwork on the packages he and Kathy would send to the grandchildren for birthdays and holidays. The Post Office thought he was a pro. He was also a wonderful cook, especially Italian food he learned to make from the Carita side of the family. His antipasto was legendary to the Turyn side of the family, as well.

Because of his childhood interest in aviation, Dick served in the Army National Guard in their air target detachment called RCATS (radio-controlled air targets) for four years. He was a member of the Moultonborough Gun Club and enjoyed hitting standing targets and clay pigeons.

Dick was also one of the first Presidents of the Kilnwood-on-Kanasatka Homeowners’ Association. He installed the electric bubbler at the original community dock and volunteered for many projects throughout the years.

Dick had a wonderful sense of humor, a great smile and laugh, was immediately likable, and was welcomed wherever he went. He loved his family, all of them, both blood relatives and other extended family by association or marriage.
After Dick relocated to Maryland in 1998 to recover from bypass surgery, he married Kathy and ultimately returned to work down there. He went to work for Howard County Electric as the foreman. He taught the apprentices and kept plans up to code. When he retired, Kathy and he were able to split the year between the two states.

Dick had two great romantic loves of his life. His first wife was Jean (Carita Stempkovski), whom Dick met and married in Boston. They worked together during all the building years and the hands-on parenting experiences, and they did a fine job of everything.

His second wife, Kathy (Turyn) Stempkovski met him by serendipity in Ogunquit, Maine in 1997. They were both lonely, found each other and shared more than twenty-six years together. He was a wonderful stepfather to Kathy’s grown daughter. He was very proud of his children Richard C. Stempkovski, Jr., a successful patent attorney in Minesota, and Kathleen Eichelroth, Vice President, Division of Administration and Finance at Worcester State University in Massachusetts. His grandchildren gave him joy and love.

His wife Kathy always says she felt as though she wanted to put her hand in his the very first day they met. And they were holding hands at the last.

The Roman Catholic Mass will be live-streamed from the Church of the Resurrection website https://www.resurrectionmd.org/. Select the "Live Stream" Button on the Home Page

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