Lover of literature, published poet, and Shakespeare aficionado John Michael Stanko passed through nature to eternity on Saturday April 28 2018. He leaves behind a loving family: his wife Johanna (Tomasello); five daughters Heather, Rebecca (Matthew) Weiland, Seneca (Mateusz) Gawlik, Suzanne Kline, and Jeanelle; five grandchildren Siana, Ty, Merrick, Abigail, and Jacob; two sisters Virginia Graney and Irene Hutchinson; and his dalmatian Max. John was predeceased by his brother Ed Stanko, sister Alice Kiesewetter, and daughter Jennifer Kline.
John cherished his memories of playing high school football at both Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern High Schools. He attended CCSU and completed his higher education with a master’s at Trinity College in Hartford.
He had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of students, cross country teams and colleagues an educator and coach with 30 years devoted to academia. In Simsbury he inspired literature and drama students’ involvement in philosophy, slam poetry, creative writing, and theatre, most notably directing the groundbreaking production of “The Shadow Box” in 1991. An early adapter of technology, he taught himself to design computer systems and websites in the 80’s and 90’s and was later able to combine his love of education and technology as a network specialist in Bloomfield.
In his spare time John enjoyed running, officiating races for Westminster School, cooking, canoeing, photography, and redesigning his home. You could often find him at Stratton Brook Forest where he loved to bring his teams to practice, or walking his Dalmatians around town in Winsted.
A warm thank you to all who helped care for John during his battle with ALS, the condition named for Lou Gehrig of his beloved Yankees.
His family will receive friends on Saturday May 5th from 10am to 12pm at the Vincent Funeral Home, 880 Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury. Reception and celebration of life to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be submitted to the ALS Association Connecticut Chapter, 4 Oxford Road Unit E4, Milford CT 06460, or www.alsact.org. To view John’s permanent online memorial and express your own thoughts, please visit: www.vincentfuneralhome.com.
In the words of Hamlet - The rest is silence.