John Penn Whitescarver, 84, died on December 3 in Stuart, Florida. He leaves behind his wife of 58 years, Elizabeth “Betty” Jones Whitescarver; sons John “Jay” Penn Whitescarver, Jr., David Andrew Whitescarver (Jennifer Whitescarver), grandson Jesse Alex Penn Whitescarver, sister Maslin Kain.
He was predeceased by his parents and a brother, Furman (Pat) Whitescarver Jr.
John was born August 17, 1936, and raised in Salem, son of the late Furman B. Whitescarver, Sr. and Lillian (Penn) Whitescarver. He was their middle child, known as Penn by family and close friends.
Penn lived his early years in Salem in a community known as Langhorne Place and attended Academy and Broad Street Schools. After graduating from Andrew Lewis High School, Penn graduated from VMI (Virginia Military Institute) and VA Tech, with degrees in civil engineering. Penn met Betty at VA Tech just prior to him entering the Air Force Flight School in Valdosta, GA. They were married on June 16, 1962.
Penn proudly served our country in the United States Air force as Captain, B-52 bomber pilot, flying combat missions in Viet Nam. Beyond his military service, Penn served his country by reducing pollutant discharges to the public waters. As a charter employee of the Environmental Protection Agency, he was awarded the EPA Bronze Medal for development of the Nation Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and an award for developing standards that cut water pollution by 700 trillion pounds.
The National Stormwater Center, LLC served Penn’s passion for clean water. Now operated by his son, David, the center has trained over 10,000 people to be Certified Stormwater Inspectors and continues to promote municipal coordination of industrial and construction activities to improve the quality of the nation’s waters.
Funeral services will be held in the spring of 2021.