Joseph Bernard "Bernie" Dove

Joseph “Bernie” Dove, 88, a longtime resident of Solomons, MD, passed away peacefully at his home on October 3, 2026, surrounded by the family he so dearly loved. A cherished husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend, Bernie will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

Born on April 23, 1938, Bernie grew up in the Four Corners area of Silver Spring, MD. A gifted athlete, he excelled in basketball and baseball at Archbishop Carroll High School, graduating in 1956, and was later honored as a member of the inaugural class of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. It was during those high school years that he met the love of his life, Margie Deffinbaugh. They were married in 1961, beginning a partnership of love, faith, and adventure that spanned more than six decades.

Bernie spent his life at the helm. He served six years as a U.S. Air Force aviator, flying KC-135 tanker jets for the Strategic Air Command, and went on to a distinguished 32-year career as a pilot for American Airlines, retiring in 1998. Flying was never just a job to him: he owned and flew a Beech Debonair purely for the joy of being in the air.

Retiring from the airlines simply meant trading one horizon for another. Bernie and Margie designed their own 46-foot Bay-built boat and had her custom built locally in Solomons. They named her the Margie D, and she became the heart of their charter business, Margie D Charters. As a charter boat captain, Bernie found his greatest joy fishing the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Keys with Margie by his side. True to their generous hearts, they donated many trips to their church, to veterans, and to children facing serious illness, sharing a day on the water with those who needed it most.

Bernie was a respected member of the waterfront community. He belonged to the Calvert County Watermen’s Association and the Charter Boat Captains Association and was an active member of the Solomons Island Yacht Club for 25 years. He also founded the Solomons Island Table of the Brotherhood of the Coast, an international fraternal organization for those who love the sea.

To his grandchildren he was “Cappy,” a name that fit him perfectly, because he was the captain wherever he went: in the cockpit, at the helm, and in his family. Yet on the water and in life, Bernie and Margie were a true partnership of equals. Bound by a shared love of fishing and boating and by the same deeply held values, they built a marriage that only grew stronger with every season on the Bay. Together they taught their children and grandchildren how to fish and how to drive a boat, and together they passed their love of the water on to their entire family.

Bernie’s lessons went well beyond knots and tides. He taught his children to be authentic, to accept all people, and to remember that everyone is simply doing their best to find their own happiness. Those lessons, as much as any day on the water, are the legacy he leaves behind.

Bernie was a man of principle and deep faith, a lover of life and of Jesus, grateful for his blessings and authentic in everything he did. He was also a great deal of fun. He had a wonderful sense of humor, loved a good practical joke, delighted in a witty turn of phrase, and never minded a story that wasn’t quite fit for polite company. Wherever there was laughter, Bernie was right in the middle of it.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harold and Bernadine Dove, and his brothers, Bobby Dove and Jimmy Dove.

Bernie’s legacy lives on through his loving wife, Margie; his children, John Dove (Kim), Barbara Whalen (Pat), Bill Dove (Audra), and Marian Rupp (Joe); his sister, Joan Bottom (Gordon); his eight grandchildren and four step-grandchildren; his four great-grandchildren; and his twelve nieces and nephews.

Family and friends are invited to join in a Mass of Remembrance at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 23, 2026, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Solomons, MD, followed by a Celebration of Life at the Solomons Island Yacht Club.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Fair winds and following seas, Cappy.