John Albert Flinn

John Albert Flinn, Sr., of Reston, Virginia, died at home peacefully on July 20, 2026, just two months shy of his 94th birthday. He was preceded by his wife, Grace, in August 2004, and by his parents and siblings.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on September 28, 1932, he grew up on Long Island with his parents Dave and Lulu, brother Dave, and sisters Marilyn and Linda. John was in the Army stationed in Washinton, DC, when he met Grace Maggi, of Georgetown, and married her (and into a large and boisterous Italian family) in 1955.

John and Grace moved to Long Island where he attended Hofstra College on the GI bill, going to classes at night and working fulltime during the day. The couple moved back to the District and soon started their family while living in Arlington. Christine (Wolf), Beth (Krauser), John Jr., Allison (Markell), and Jennifer (Roth) were soon sharing a starter home in then-rural Chantilly, Virginia, before the family moved to a young Reston in 1972. Both John and Grace passed away in that same house.

An economist by degree, John spent more than 30 years working in the U.S. government, primarily with the Navy and in the Department of Defense, retiring in 1995 as Director of Operations for the Department of Defense Comptroller. In a tribute published in the Congressional Record in February, 1995, Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania noted John’s key role in formulating and presenting the Department of Defense Operation and Maintenance budget for more than 20 years, saying: “The high esteem accorded Mr. Flinn by myself and my colleagues is reflected in the many times he was requested by name to testify before the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He always provided candid and accurate testimony.”

At home, that budgeting expertise was nowhere to be found – without eight or nine zeroes on the end of a number, it seemed to lose its meaning. But John managed all the bills and Grace kept everyone’s spending in check while raising the kids and, later, working in the office at St. Thomas a Beckett catholic church in Reston. Retirement gave him more time to spend with his family and friends in the neighborhood, play much more golf and keep in shape running and going to the gym. He was active until the end, traveling to Santa Barbara, Calif., for Thanksgiving last November.

He is survived by his five adult children, their husbands, and 11 perfect grandkids. We will inter his ashes alongside Grace and, at his joking and then serious request, the ashes of several beloved family dogs. No formal service is planned.