John Stackhouse celebrates 100th birthday
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 24, 2015 1:46 PM
A lot has happened in the past 100 years -- and John Woods Stackhouse has been part of nearly all of it.
Now, on Christmas Day, he'll do something else that can only happen to a person once in a century -- he will celebrate his 100th birthday.
Stackhouse will be celebrating by having a family gathering at his son's home at noon on Christmas Day, and will be receiving friends at the home beginning at 2 p.m.
Stackhouse has left an indelible impact on Wayne County and the East Coast of the United States. His electric company that he started in Goldsboro in 1945, Stackhouse, Inc., was one of the most prolific on the entire Eastern Seaboard until the company was sold in 1987 and specialized in power line construction.
Stackhouse's son, Wilson, worked with his father until the company was sold, and said the company's operation at its peak spanned from Hagerstown, Md. to Savannah, Ga.
"The way we were, we were given areas, and we did all the power companies' work in that area," Wilson said.
Stackhouse began working with electric companies from the time he was a young boy, observing the dangers of the extremely labor-intensive work.
Born in 1915, he went to work for Carolina Power and Light Co. in 1932. He worked on the ground while linemen performed dangerous feats of installing and repairing power lines above him.
Through this work, he witnessed many men get burned by the high-powered electrical lines.
This would later inspire him to become an integral part of the effort to open the North Carolina Jaycees Burn Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The burn center opened in 1981, and in 1989, he received the Special Service Award from the American Burn Association.
His drive to make the burn center a reality came from an absolute commitment to people that needed help.
Prior to starting his own power company, Stackhouse served in the Navy during World War II after he enlisted in 1942.
Stackhouse was a Seabee during his service in the South Pacific.
"After they had taken an island, the Seabees would go in and build buildings and set up electrical systems and make runways, and then it would be a base. Then they would move to the next island," Wilson said.
Stackhouse's base of operation for his electric company was on George Street after he arrived in Goldsboro. This came after he was discharged from the Navy in 1945 in Charleston, S.C. He started his company in Parkton, outside of Fayetteville, and then moved operations to Goldsboro in 1945.
His company would go on to work as a contractor for major power and electric companies in as many as seven states.
"He came from that greatest generation -- he is part of that generation," said Stackhouse's daughter, Kitty Sauls. "He has always had an extremely active life."