Capt. John S. “Jack” Slaughter, a retired career naval officer who at his death was the last surviving member of the Naval Academy Class of 1937, died Feb.1 at Roland Park Place of complications from a fall.

He was 103.

The son of John James Slaughter, a co-owner of the Oklahoma Rig and Supply Co., and Anna Bradley Slaughter, a homemaker, John Sim Slaughter was born and raised in Muskogee, Okla., where he graduated in 1932 from Central High School.

“Growing up in Muskogee was fun. This was the days before TV, and organized activities were minimal,” Capt. Slaughter wrote in a family memoir. “We kids entertained ourselves playing outside, weather permitting. I always felt I had lots of freedom to play, to roam and just do what I wanted to do.”

He wrote of the Great Depression: “We had to really tighten our belts. I can’t say how much I was aware of it, but I do know that we made many cuts on all non-essential items.”

Knowing his family would be unable to afford to send him to college, Capt. Slaughter planned to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. His congressman informed him that he did not have any appointments available for West Point, but he did have one for the Naval Academy.

“Heck, I didn’t even know what that was,” Capt. Slaughter wrote.

“During the Depression, the only way to get an education was to go to a military academy. He didn’t know anything about the Naval Academy, much less he had never seen the ocean,” said a daughter, Anne Kern of Oakenshaw. “So, on the way home he stopped off at the local library to read about it.”

After traveling across country by train, he arrived in Annapolis. “I was thrilled and excited: Midshipman John S. Slaughter, 4th Class, United States Navy!” he wrote.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1937, he was commissioned an ensign.

“All four years, I was so thankful to be at the Academy. Of course, it wasn’t always fun: we had to work like dogs, we couldn’t do this, we had to do that, we had precious little time we could call our own, military discipline and restrictions were omnipresent,” he wrote.

“I must have thrived on it. When I entered, I had zilch idea what Navy life or a Navy career would be like,” he wrote. “The Academy did not teach us that. At the end of the four [years], I was game, I was open-minded and determined to find out, I wanted to give it a try and I was not going to let anything stand in my way.”

He began his career aboard the USS Chester, a cruiser stationed in Long Beach, Calif. In 1939, he joined the USS John D. Ford in Manila as a junior officer. He would come to command the ship as a 26-year-old.

He was aboard the ship when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“We kept expecting to see Japanese warplanes, but none came,” he recalled in the memoir. “We were glad the Japanese planes didn’t show. ... Although as I’ve already stated, we did not know the extent of the damage to the fleet at Pearl Harbor, we did know we were expendable.”

He was named commander of the destroyer USS Welles in 1944 and participated in the campaign for Anguar and Peleliu Islands, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

During the war, Capt. Slaughter served aboard naval vessels in both the Pacific and Atlantic, and went on to command four other ships.

While commander of the cruiser USS Northampton in the early 1960s, the ship was designated NECPA — the National Emergency Command Post Afloat —also known as the president’s “floating White House.”

Departing for a naval review from Norfolk, Va., with President John F. Kennedy and other dignitaries aboard, Capt. Slaughter, as is Navy custom, turned to the president and asked, “Permission to get underway and proceed on duty assigned?”

“His response was, ‘Permission granted’ then after a pause, ‘Incidentally skipper, if you need any help, I’ve had experience.’ I thanked him, thinking but not saying he had lost his command,” Capt. Slaughter wrote.

He retired in 1967 after 30 years in the Navy. Among his decorations were the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

“It was a very sad day,” he recalled in the memoir regarding his retirement. “I loved the Navy.”

He later obtained a master’s degree in international affairs and a real estate license, and while living in Northern Virginia he worked for Holley Realty, first as a salesman and later managing the company’s office in Leesburg, Va. He and several other partners purchased the company in 1980, and later sold it to Long & Foster.

He retired again in 1991.

Capt. Slaughter and his wife of 74 years, the former Bess Brewster, moved to the Colonade Condominiums on University Parkway in 1990, where he served as a member of its board.

His wife died in 2014.

He enjoyed taking courses at the Johns Hopkins University and volunteering with AARP, helping senior citizens with their income taxes.

He was a member of the Baltimore Council of Foreign Affairs.

He ended his memoir with this admonition: “Never Lose Your Sense of Humor.”

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a son, John S. Slaughter Jr. of Fredonia, N.Y.; another daughter, Mary Frank Slaughter of Frankfort, Ky.; a sister, Margaret Ann Yeakley Buck of Houston; nine grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

frasmussen@baltsun.com