John Charles "JC" Feaster

John Charles (JC) Feaster, a man who never met a stranger, passed away on August 13, 2024. JC loved deeply, served selflessly, and adored his family above all else.

JC was born in Virginia to Gerald and Becky Feaster. As an agricultural economist, Gerald's work took him around the world, and JC and his sister, Lina, grew up in Egypt and Jamaica. His mother, Becky, a middle school social studies teacher, remembers him from those years as a captivating little boy who made friends everywhere he went.

When the family moved to St. Augustine, Florida, JC attended St. Augustine High School, where the Nintendo-playing teenager became fascinated by computers and technology. He loved to tinker with everything and often helped Gumps, his maternal grandfather (with whom he shared a name, a bond, and a birthday), fix things around the house.

He enrolled at the University of South Florida in 1993 to explore engineering and eventually graduated with a degree in Management Information Systems. A lifelong learner with a passion for knowledge, JC would go on to get two Masters degrees (Business Administration and Management Information Systems), as well as many professional certifications. He was excited to learn about AI and Machine Learning, and was currently studying for the Project Management exam.

He worked at the University of South Florida for 20 years in several Technology positions, and was proud of the many impactful projects that he implemented in all the classrooms and auditoriums. He was delighted that both Elaine, a sophomore at USF, and Andrew, who plans on attending USF, were joining his alma mater and the place where he loved to work. He had also been employed by Citi. Not only a volunteer within the community, he volunteered endlessly with networks and committees, ranging from Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, to Mentorship programs, to sustainability initiatives. Like his father, he was very passionate about the environment and conservation.

While JC loved his work, his life was defined by love.

In 1994, he joined a chat room in the brand-new World Wide Web, where he became enthralled with Jane, a charming Canadian University student. His handle was Pezman; hers was Giggles. Their chats became letters, and the letters became gifts, mix tapes, candy, and eventually, phone calls.

Being friends with a possibility of a more serious relationship, and under the guise of wanting to spend a white Christmas together, in December 1996, JC went to Ontario to meet Jane in person. On her 21st birthday, she picked him up from the airport. Already smitten, this meeting sealed the deal. Because there was no snow that December, he returned for spring break in March, where he experienced his first blizzard. That May, Jane flew down to meet his family in St. Augustine.

After a couple of years of long-distance dating and many visits, Jane moved to Tampa in July 1999. In March 2002, JC and Jane were married in a fairytale ceremony in St. Augustine, complete with a horse-drawn carriage around the historic city and riding on a nearby carousel. In July 2002, they moved into their home, where they were joined over the next few years by daughter Elaine, now 19, son Andrew, now 16, and a series of four much-loved cats and a hedgehog.

Nothing was more important to JC than the children he adored. A fixture at their elementary school, where he volunteered as an All-Pro Dad and helped Jane set up for PTA events, he was the kind of father who attended every school event with a smile and a willingness to pitch in.

When Andrew joined Little League, JC wanted to help. Although he didn't know much about baseball, he served as an honorary coach for several years, fetching balls, raking the clay, and doing anything he could to help the team. He served as Den Leader for Andrew's Cub Scouts troop and was currently an Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 180, where he stayed busy helping with merit badges and mentoring the boys. Camping was his favorite activity with them, and he enjoyed the camaraderie of the other leaders. Most recently, he was working with Andrew on his Eagle Scout project: building and installing 3 Little Lending libraries around his community.

JC was his daughter Elaine's number one fan. He cheered her on as she became a Gold Award Girl Scout for starting ScoutingForBooks.com, where she collected more than 11,500 books for children in need. As her webmaster and her champion, he helped connect her with hundreds of people on LinkedIn, so her passion for literacy awareness and helping others could spread across Tampa and beyond.

He was the kind of man who mentored his children's friends and spoke with manager to praise the server after a meal. But perhaps JC's heart and generosity of spirit are best understood by a glance at the photographs on his cell phone. He was always capturing events and moments of life.

There's one of a tiny fish: He loved the outdoors and enjoyed catch-and-release in the pond behind their house and to feed the swamp chickens that lived there. There are pictures of pots of tomato-seedlings, birds perched in trees a copper-colored hibiscus. He spent hours tending to his garden and the shrubs and bushes that fringed their idyllic backyard and patio. Pictures of rainbows and rockets in the sky, and one of his cats standing on a perch, wearing a "push me" sticky note he wrote, are testament to his love of science and his goofy sense of humor. There's the injured crow that he wrapped in a towel and drove to the emergency vet. There are the inspirational sayings that he screenshotted and texted Jane. There's a video of Andrew jumping rope in slow motion, and of Elaine eating breakfast. On an ordinary morning. In their ordinary kitchen. Filled with extraordinary love.

John Charles may be gone, but he will be deeply missed forever by his wife Jane (nee Thompson), his children Elaine and Andrew. His mother Becky, sister Lina, brother-in-law Eric, niece and nephew Saffron and Cyrus. His father-in-law Frank, brother-in-law David, and niece and nephew Amelia and Konrad, and a myriad of aunts, uncles, and cousins. His father, Gerald Feaster, and mother-in-law, Helen Thompson, predeceased him.

A Celebration of Life was held Saturday, September 14, at St. James United Church in Tampa. To see the service (pictures before, service starts at 1:20): https://stjamesunitedmethod.subspla.sh/h9w6vm5

We celebrated his colorful life, so we asked people to honor him by wearing their favorite color.

To help the family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-feaster-family-in-their-time-of-loss

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Cat Haven Rescue or the National Alliance on Mental Illness.