John B. Makinson

Stephentown – John Bruce Makinson, 84, died Monday, January 18, 2010, at Springside of Pittsfield, MA, health care facility. Born on September 23, 1925, in Queens, NY, he was the son of Marie DuPlant and Bruce Makinson.
John was raised in a bilingual family and spoke French fluently. Few outside his family knew of his interesting family. His uncle was Cardinal Gregory Peter XV (Agagianian) of France, and another uncle, Eugene DuPlant, was an international businessman with many ties to Southern Asia. John’s father was a secretary/scribe during war crime trials after WW I.
John served in the US Army in the Central European Campaign during WW II. He was a graduate of Pratt Institute with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. In his early professional life, he assisted in the development of the Jupiter IRBM guidance systems. He retired in the late 1980s from the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory where he served as Principal Engineer for Radioactive Material and Shipment Safety.
John and his wife, Myrl (Swisher), whom he married on May 24, 1952, lived in Brooklyn, NY, until they moved to Stephentown, NY, in 1962. He was a member of the Stephentown Veterans and attended the Stephentown Federated Church.
They had no children, but they served as an additional set of parents to their nieces, Janet Atwater Torello, Susan Atwater Cooper and Bruce Staples and Georgiana Atwater Beebe as well as their nephew John Atwater and his wife Ellen, all of whom survive him. He and Myrl introduced the children to cultural activities available in Manhattan and the fun of Jones Beach and Coney Island. He was pre-deceased by his wife on April 20, 2008. He is survived by a sister, Cecile Hogan of Ann Arbor, MI, a brother, Robert Makinson of Brooklyn, nephews, Walter and wife Wendy of Ann Arbor, and Glenn Hogan of Plymouth, MI, and a niece, Josephine Bender and husband David of Cheverly, MD, great-nieces and great-nephews, Kelly Beebe, Jason Cooper, Jeremy Hogan, Daniel, August and Avielle Bender, and great-great-niece and great-great-nephew, Carlie Quinn and Joseph Ingram.
Funeral services are on Thursday evening, January 21, at 7 o’clock in the Hall & Higgins Funeral Home, 457 NY 43, Stephentown, where family friend Rev. Susan Schultz will officiate. Private burial will take place in the Garfield Cemetery. Relatives and friends are invited to the funeral home on Thursday from 5 to 7 pm for visitation. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department or an Alzheimer’s Association.
The family offers grateful thanks to the staff of Springside of Pittsfield, all of whom treated John with the greatest respect and cared for him as if he were a member of their family.