Joseph Wyne Hungate

Joseph Wyne Hungate, age 85, died June 7, 2024, at The Lodge at Countryside Village.

A memorial service with Navy Military Funeral Honors will begin at 2:00 p.m., Friday, June 21, 2024, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church with Rev. Ernestein C. Flemister officiating. Private interment will be at the Princeton Cemetery of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey.

Joe was born June 15, 1938, in Oberlin, Ohio to Joseph Terpening Hungate and Dorothy Elizabeth (White). Joe’s father was a Piano-Forte professor at the Oberlin Conservatory where students studied piano and music composition. 

Joe’s university studies started at Princeton University in the 1950’s where he majored in English and participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Later, he earned his law degree from the University of California – Berkeley. After law school Joe joined the Navy and served in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. It was during this time that Joe came to recognize the need for change in Naval policies that were adversely impacting the private lives of naval personnel. He served for a time in Vietnam and upon his return to the States Joe developed and submitted updated Naval policies. These policies won recognition and awards for the positive impact they had on the lives of those serving in all branches of the Navy. Joe retired from active duty as a Captain but continued to serve in the Navy Reserves while practicing international law for TRW Corporation.

Family was always Joe’s primary focus. While attending college, he married Rita Gyakum and had two children, Joseph Wyne Hungate Jr and Kara Elizabth Hungate; the couple later divorced. On New Year’s Eve 1995 Joe married Virginia Starr Kohlsaat-Morgan. Joe and Starr moved to Southern Oregon in 1996 where he taught English at Brighton Academy in Grants Pass.

Joe was an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Grants Pass and volunteered his time to the Stephen’s Ministry. All who knew Joe will remember him as a compassionate, generous spirited, and kind man.

Survivors include his beloved wife, Virginia Starr Hungate of Grants Pass; son Joseph Hungate Jr. of Apex, North Carolina and daughter Kara Hungate of Cleveland, Ohio; sister Nancy Elizabeth Hungate of Green Valley, Arizona; and two granddaughters Molly and Maggie Hungate of North Carolina.