John Paul "Jack" Freeman

1937 - 2024

At the age of seven, John Paul "Jack" Freeman was invited to sing in the Choir of Men and Boys at the Washington National Cathedral while attending the St. Albans School on the cathedral grounds. That training, plus his experiences as a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout, were formative in a life engaged in hiking, caving, mountain climbing, and singing baritone parts in Liturgical and bluegrass music.

Jack was born on August 30, 1937, in Washington, D.C., the elder son of Mary Paul and John Elmer Freeman. In the spring of 1948, the family of four moved to Atlanta, where Jack soon joined Troop 59 at Peachtree Road Methodist Church. He attended North Fulton High School from 1952-55 and there met his future wife, Martha "Tillie" Page. In 1963, Jack obtained the BS degree in organic chemistry at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, meanwhile exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains. A few years later he earned the Masters in organic chemistry from the University of Washington while also hiking in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains and singing in the Compline Choir at Seattle's St. Mark's Cathedral.

Jack pursued his PhD in chemistry at Ohio State University. There he met other adventure enthusiasts and became active in the Cave Research Foundation at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, exploring, mapping, and finding connections to other nearby caves. In 1965, he was invited to be a field assistant of polar studies at the Kaskawulsh Glacier in the Yukon Territory in Canada. This led to an invitation from the Institute of Polar Studies at Ohio State to work as a field assistant at Byrd Station in Antarctica.

After completing his PhD, Jack accepted a position as research chemist at Eastman Kodak. While living in Rochester, NY, and Beverly, MA, he continued volunteer activities with the Cave Research Foundation and made camping and backpacking ventures in the Adirondacks and mountaineering excursions in Switzerland. He served as chairman of the Rochester chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) as well as a board member of the ADK. He climbed all 46 Adirondack High Peaks and then repeated the endeavor in winter. Then, looking for a new challenge, Jack joined various friends around the U.S. to experience the high point of each of the 50 states. On one of the lesser state challenges, he happily escorted an elderly retired public-school teacher and lifetime resident of Hartselle, Alabama, to the top of Mississippi's Woodall Mountain. In 1978, Jack and several of his close friends reached the summit of Denali (Mount McKinley), an excursion lasting four weeks up and four days down.

After retiring from Kodak, Jack relocated to Glens Falls, New York, and took a job with the ADK in outreach and conservation, meanwhile paying special attention to the formation of volunteer groups to restore the fire towers in New York State mountains. This led him to write the book, Views from on High: Fire Tower Trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills, published by the ADK, which has since revised and expanded it in a second edition. Eleven years into his second job, he retired again and became a volunteer.

At the age of 70, Jack married Tillie, his long-ago high school prom date and classical Oboist, and together they rounded up their 1950s Boy and Girl Scout friends into a group they called Ancient Scouts of North Atlanta. The Ancient Scouts continued to meet annually, reinforcing old friendships and enjoying new adventures.

Jack died March 9, 2024, in Ogdensburg, New York, while in the diligent care of Tillie and the staff of the nonprofit St. Joseph's Home.