To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Arkansas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arkansas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 9/4/22 • Approved: 9/6/22 • Last Updated: 9/9/22 • R1446839-G0-S3
LANCE CORPORAL US Marine Corps
Vietnam
February 19, 1941 - October 6, 2018
Stirl "Mack" Lingo, passed away peacefully at home on October 6, 2018 with his wife, Paula Goode Lingo, and his daughter, Kelly Lingo, by his side. He was one of the most interesting, charismatic, strong, eclectic, patriotic, and loving men we knew.
Mack was born to Bertie and Stirl Lingo on February 19, 1941 in a 4 room house in Hot Springs, AR. He had three older sisters, Dorothy, Kathryn, and Mary, who loved him and cared for him from the moment they could hold him. Mack did all his schooling in Hot Springs and looked forward to seeing his former classmates at class reunions.
He proudly enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in 1959. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California and served in Okinawa, Japan and across the Pacific Ocean until 1963. He achieved the rank of Lance Corporal. With USMC tattooed on his arm, Mack was a dedicated Marine until his last breath and often told stories of his time with his platoon on base, on ship, and traveling through Asia.
When he returned, Mack married Lena Sabatinelli, his first wife and the mother of his beloved daughters, Kelly and Kaysie. Mack and Lena raised their family in Hot Springs, AR, and Southbridge, MA.
He trained as a journeyman and master plumber and spent more than 40 years practicing his craft. Mack was always the guy that could get the tough projects done. He was a highly talented craftsman at work and at home as well as a jovial collaborator and impressive problem solver. He worked for both plumbing companies and hospitals and also established a few plumbing companies himself. Razorback Plumbing in Southbridge and Plumbing by Lingo in Brunswick were his best successes.
Mack met Paula in Sturbridge, MA and married her in 1982, gaining two stepdaughters, Kerry and Cynthia. The family eventually moved to Paula’s home state of Maine in 1986.
Always wielding a big southern accent and southern sayings, Mack embraced and loved his adopted state and the Bath/Brunswick community. In the collective 20 years they lived in Maine, he built a strong network of friends and craftsmen who loved cars, boats, plumbing, good food and giving back.
In 1995, Mack and Paula moved to Arkansas to be closer to his family and friends. Although he was happy to return to Maine in 2008, this time spent in Arkansas let Mack enjoy all he grew up with – authentic barbeque, family picnics, time on the lake, and the comradery he found in the enthusiastic car clubs he joined. It also reminded him how much he loved to rehab classic cars.
Mack’s story would be woefully incomplete without talking about his passions, and there were many. Camping, hunting, reading, designing and building things, telling stories, yelling at the news, and helping others . . . but nothing compared to his passion for cars. His love of cars goes back to his teenage years and he often reminisced about each car he ever dreamed of owning. Most recently, he successfully sold his prized resto-mod rehab, “Dream Lover”, a 1956 Oldsmobile Holiday 88, at the Mecum Auction in Harrisburg, PA. He worked on it for 8 years and it was a beauty.
Mack also loved his dogs. In the last part of his life Mack spent his free time doting on two black and white terriers, Audrey and Maggie, who made themselves at home in his lap. More recently he enjoyed time with his grandpuppy, Sybil. Dogs just made his face light up.
Mack is survived by his wife of 36 years, Paula Goode Lingo of Bath, ME; children Kelly Lingo and Kaysie Lingo, both of Chicago, Kerry Cultice, husband Nate, and sons Craig and Jamie, of Santa Barbara, CA, and Cynthia White of Boston, MA and a sister, Mary Basilier and her husband Bob of Benton, AR. He is preceded in death by his mother and father, Bertie and Stirl Lingo, and his sisters Kathryn Killingsworth and Dorothy Davis, all of Hot Springs, AR.
A memorial service is scheduled for Friday October 12, 2018 at 1 PM at Hobbs Funeral Home in South Portland, ME with a reception to follow at the same location. A second memorial will be planned in Hot Springs, AR later in the year.
Please join the family in celebration of Mack’s life. Flowers are most welcome, as are donations in Mack’s name to the American Heart Association, 51 US Route 1, Suite M, Scarborough, ME 04074, or your local animal shelter.
The family would like to thank UPMC Pinnacle in Harrisburg, PA, Chans Hospice of Brunswick, ME and the medical community of Bath/Brunswick for their efforts and compassion.
Contributed on 9/4/22 by debbraszymanski
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 1446839