Christopher Edward Eckl, 82, a retired journalist and communications specialist and a resident of Reston, Virginia for 39 years, died June 8th while on vacation in Seacrest Beach, Florida. The cause was a heart attack said his wife Elizabeth Doyle Eckl.
Mr. Eckl was born in Florence, Alabama the son of Louis A. Eckl and Patricia Dowd Eckl. Mr. Eckl graduated from Coffee High School in 1952. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Notre Dame in 1956, he served in the Navy for two years as a journalist on the newspaper of the Oakland, California Naval Hospital. He returned to his native Alabama and worked as a reporter for newspapers in Gadsden, Florence, and Huntsville.
In 1965, Mr. Eckl joined the Associated Press as a reporter in its Atlanta bureau during the height of the Civil Rights movement. He was named editor of The Georgia Bulletin, the newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta in 1966. As editor he worked closely with Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan and championed the archbishop’s strong efforts for racial equality and liturgical reform. He also worked closely with the Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta, Joseph Bernardin who later was named Cardinal and Archbishop of Chicago.
Mr. Eckl joined the staff of the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tennessee as an information specialist in 1968. In 1977, he moved to TVA’s Washington office as a government liaison officer and retired from that position in 1995. After a year of retirement, he was recruited by the American Public Power Association as an energy specialist and retired again in 2007.
During his retirement he tutored students in English in the Living Wages program of the National External Diploma Program in Washington, D.C. He was known to have read all of Shakespeare’s plays at least three times and was a devotee of Beethoven’s music.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years; a brother, William Wray Eckl, of Atlanta; sons, Stephen, of Reston, Christopher, of Atlanta, John, of Sterling, and Mark, of Ashburn; a daughter, Kristin Rodriguez, of Leesburg; and 11 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sister, Mary Strothman.
A Mass of Christian burial was held on Thursday, June 16, at Saint Thomas a Becket Catholic Church, Reston, Virginia. A luncheon followed at the church.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Living Wages, National External Diploma Program, c/o Sister Betsy Hartson, RSCJ, P.O. Box 6967, Washington, D.C., 20032, or the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104.
