Jean Lythcott

1939 - 2025

Jean Lythcott

January 30, 1939 - March 1, 2025

Dr. Jean "Jeannie" Lythcott, passed away peacefully at home in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 1, 2025 after battling cancer and cognitive decline. She was 86 years old. Her legacy lives on in the countless students she taught, the teachers she inspired and their students in turn, the institutions and lives she helped shape across the globe, and the family she protected and held together through thick and thin.

Born Jean Snookes on January 30, 1939, in the coal mining village of Ryhill, in Yorkshire, England, Jeannie's early childhood instilled an unyielding work ethic and a reservoir of resilience. Her academic gifts and leadership skills were noted early on. She was selected Head Girl at Hemsworth Grammar School and was the first in her family to attend college, earning a degree from Manchester University in 1960 with honors in Botany and Chemistry. While at university, she gave birth to her son, Ian Forrester 2d.

Life took Jeannie far from the North of England, and she became a legendary science educator who was beloved wherever she taught. In 1962, she accepted a fellowship at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in the newly-independent West African country of Ghana, where she taught math and science to promising young women. It was there that she met Dr. George I. Lythcott, an African-American physician, diplomat, and single father of four. Despite the strictures against interracial marriage prevalent in that time, the two married in 1966. George's work as the Regional Director for Smallpox eradication in West Africa, sponsored by CDC, WHO, and USAID, led them to Nigeria where she gave birth to their daughter, Julie. In 1969, they moved to New York City.

Jeannie became a U.S. citizen and took pleasure in honoring the obligations of citizenship including engaging with elected leaders, participating in civic processes, and voting in every single election. She joined the faculty of the Rockland Country Day School in New York, where she taught high school science courses and became Headmistress. Her husband's public health career next took them to Wisconsin and then to Washington D.C., where he was a member of the Carter Administration. In the early 1980s, Jeannie was once again able to prioritize her own professional goals, ultimately completing a PhD in Science Education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1987. The couple then returned to New York and Jeannie joined the faculty at Columbia University's Teachers College, where she devoted herself to shaping the next generation of science educators. Each summer, she taught for the Peace Corps in an African or Polynesian country. Jeannie resigned from the Columbia faculty in 1994 when George became terminally ill. The couple moved to the woods of Martha's Vineyard and lived a quiet life there together until his death in 1995. After George passed, Jeannie co-founded the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School, where she taught math and science and engineered a consensus-based method of decision-making that is a model to this day.

In 1999, Jeannie left the island for Silicon Valley to help her daughter and son-in-law raise their children. Most at home in a classroom, she became a Lecturer with Stanford University's Teacher Education Program (STEP) in 2000, where she taught and mentored future science educators. In 2009, the university made her the inaugural Geballe Family Clinical Associate for Science Education. Upon her retirement from STEP, Jeannie devoted considerable energy to the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto, where she was best known for her enthusiastic and high-leverage work in voter registration and access. Her story of choosing to become an American citizen and the privilege of being able to vote inspired Palo Alto teenagers to register to vote in record numbers.

Jeannie embodied strength, resilience, kindness, optimism, and curiosity. She was devoted to education as a tool of liberation and science as the deepest source of understanding. She navigated cultural complexities with intention, always holding an unwavering belief in the inherent value of all people. She cherished the promise and challenge of democracy, and in the imperative of serving others particularly those whom others saw as expendable.

Jeannie is predeceased by the two loves of her life, Ian Forrester (d. 1958) and George Lythcott (d. 1995); a stepson, Stephen Lythcott; and her brothers, Trevor Snookes and Melvin Snookes. She is survived by her children, Ian Forrester 2d. of Centerville, Ohio and Julie Lythcott-Haims of Palo Alto, Calif.; her stepchildren, Ngina Lythcott of Provincetown, MA, George Lythcott of Oakland, Calif. and Michael Lythcott of Marlboro, N.J.; her sisters, Carol Snookes and Patricia Williams of the United Kingdom; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Jeannie's family invites the community to celebrate her extraordinary life on March 29th at 10:30 a.m. at the University AME Zion Church, at 3549 Middlefield Road, in Palo Alto, with a reception at the family home afterwards. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Stanford School of Education STEP Fellowship Fund (give.stanford.edu/graduate-school-education - select STEP from the drop-down), the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto (lwvpaloalto.org), and the University AME Zion Church in Palo Alto (universityamez.com/giving).