Jack L. Easterling

Jack Easterling, of Falmouth, MA, passed away suddenly on Saturday, May 25, 2024. He was 84 years old.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri on July 23, 1939, to Sam and Frances (Brown) Easterling, Jack grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a boy he loved Little League baseball and chess; by high school he was a champion debater and a passionate multi-sport athlete whose love of tennis, especially, spanned his life. He graduated from Wyoming (OH) High School in 1957 and went on to Amherst College, where he majored in History, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and also kindled his great love of English literature.

After his graduation in 1961 and while awaiting an expected draft notice, Jack took a job teaching English at St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. This was a fortunate and formative decision that would set the course of his life, giving him a teaching vocation, friends and mentors who would become lifelong, and a deep love for the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

In summer 1963, Jack had another life-changing experience when he met Marcia Pears while they both were taking classes at Harvard Summer School. Jack and Marcia were married in August 1964 and headed to the University of Minnesota, where Jack intended to pursue an M.A./Ph.D. in English, but within a year they chose to return to northern Vermont and St. Johnsbury Academy, where both took teaching positions. In 1966, Jack and Marcia spent several weeks in England, sparking a lifelong love for Europe and travel, and a special affection for England.

Jack earned his M.A. in English from the Breadloaf School at Middlebury College in 1967, and in 1968 he and Marcia were offered jobs at the Emma Willard School for girls in Troy, NY. Though this meant leaving their beloved Vermont, the opportunity to join the faculty at EWS, under the leadership of its dynamic young head, Bill Dietel, was irresistible. So began Jack's remarkable 40-year career at Emma Willard: Emma became a happy and deeply satisfying professional home as well as the place where he started and raised his family and forged lifelong and transformational connections with colleagues and literally generations of Emma Willard students. Over his years as a teacher at EWS, Jack taught English, Art History, and Economics; he acted in campus theater productions and was a beloved coach of basketball, tennis, and debate and a founding co-coach of the school's track and field program. Jack was named Academic Dean of Emma Willard School in 1981, becoming one of the school's essential leaders for the next 17 years. Returning to full-time teaching in his later years was a great pleasure for Jack; his love of working closely with students in the classroom never diminished.

Upon Jack's retirement from EWS in 2008, he and Marcia retired to Falmouth, MA, where they had first visited their dear friend Bruce Buxton, former head of Falmouth Academy, and had subsequently bought a small house in 1994. By the time Jack and Marcia moved to Falmouth in 2008, this home had become a summer gathering place for the whole family; it has been a source of great delight for them both that all three of their grandchildren have spent part of every summer of their lives in Falmouth at "Nana and Jack's house." Jack and Marcia threw themselves into community service as full-time Falmouth residents. They both were active members of Neighborhood Falmouth, including serving two terms on the NF board, and were longstanding volunteers at the Falmouth Service Center. Jack was an active leader at the Falmouth Unitarian Universality Fellowship, leading Adult Education programming for many years. And he was a longtime member of the Friends of the Falmouth public library, relishing bringing his immense literary knowledge to vetting book donations for the library's wildly successful book sales. Above all, and alongside these diverse and meaningful contributions, Jack was simply a good friend to many. Whether at the Classics Book Club, the daily gatherings of the crew at Coffee-O, or through his many volunteer roles, Jack made friends of depth and significance; was quick to laugh, to debate, to comfort, and to care.

First and last, Jack was devoted to his family. He loved and was endlessly proud and supportive of his two daughters, Alison and Heather, and their growth, successes, and unfolding lives, careers, and families. He was close to both of his sons-in-law, Pierre and Gordon; for each he was a cherished father-figure, mentor, and friend. Jack loved being a father and found perhaps even greater pleasure in being a grandfather to his two grandsons, Louis and Theo, and his granddaughter, Gemma. Jack's love language always was teaching and coaching, and he expressed his love over many years with his grandsons on the basketball court and the tennis court and in long letters of advice about sports and school. He took both pride and delight in granddaughter Gemma's theatrical endeavors and her academic achievement and interests, especially in English class. Jack and wife Marcia were married for 59 years and were true companions, their partnership grounded in their deep love for their children and grandchildren and in their many shared values, interests, and commitments: consummate hosts, always ready for adventure, full of intelligent curiosity, critically minded but ever-optimistic, quick to welcome others, to advocate for justice, to respond to and to serve those in need.

He will be missed by his family and by so many.

Jack is survived by his wife, Marcia of Falmouth, MA; his daughter, Alison Easterling and son-in-law Pierre Sardain, and grandsons Louis and Theo, of Dedham, MA; and his daughter, Heather Easterling Ritchie and son-in-law Gordon Ritchie, and granddaughter Gemma, of Spokane, WA.

A Celebration of Life is planned for later this summer in Falmouth.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Jack Easterling to the Falmouth Service Center or to Neighborhood Falmouth.