John Patrick Eagan

Be great in act, as you have been in thought. –William Shakespeare, King John

John Patrick Eagan, who embodied the power of seizing second chances, slipped peacefully away from this life on March 1, 2026 at MyMichigan Medical Center in Alpena, a blazing sunset burning out as he gently drew his last breath.

Born in Columbus, Ohio on April 3, 1944, to Edward Walter Eagan and Grayce Marion Eagan (Keller), John spent his earliest years growing up in Lakewood, Ohio. He was an only child and was doted on by his parents, but especially his father, who noticed early how dearly "Chip" (for "chip off the old block") loved dogs and promptly went out and got a dachshund named Frank for his son. This set off a lifelong love of dogs for John, who went on to own 15 over his life, the majority of which were English bulldogs and English springer spaniels. He was never happier than when he was in the company of dogs.

John's life was marked by adversity, which started in his childhood when at 10 he lost his beloved father to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and his mother entered long term hospitalization for a serious condition. Effectively orphaned, John lived with his grandmother, Alice Thurston Keller, in Sturgis, MI until he was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Indiana, where he had to memorize his Latin grammar books each year.

A brilliant student with a gift for learning languages (he taught himself Italian so he could read Dante untranslated), John started his collegiate studies at Xavier University before transferring to Western Michigan University to major in political science and minor in medieval studies. He worked there as a janitor to help pay his tuition and was supposed to be cleaning a classroom one day in January 1965 when Ellen Alexander Runkel, a raven-haired young woman from Alpena wearing bright red boots, walked into her classroom to find the janitor doing Greek homework on the blackboard. They struck up a conversation and eventually fell in love. That Valentine's Day, Ellen came downstairs in her dorm to find a pewter bowl monogrammed with her initials filled with red roses from John. The "card" that came with it was a stolen street sign from a town in Indiana with "my" painted above the name of the street: Valentine.

Ellen and her family welcomed John into their family, where he found second parents in The Reverend Gilbert A. Runkel and Emily Beth Runkel (Tillier) and de facto siblings in Ellen's sisters, Mary and Suzanne. While he was once a Catholic Republican, Ellen and her family turned him into an Episcopalian Democrat. So inspired by his future father-in-law, John decided upon a career as an Episcopal priest.

After graduation from Western Michigan University, John and Ellen, by this time engaged, both entered graduate school. John went off to Cambridge, Massachusetts to study at the Episcopal Theological School and Harvard University, while Ellen stayed in Kalamazoo to earn her Master of Speech-Language Pathology. Before he left, John went to a local florist and arranged to have one long-stemmed yellow rose sent to Ellen each week that they were apart. He wrote and left a card for each week, often including poetry.

Married on August 26, 1967, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Alpena, John and Ellen lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts until he took a sabbatical from seminary and went to work in college publishing, including at Little Brown, Prentice Hall, and Holt. They moved to Columbus, OH where their son, Joshua Murcott Eagan was born, and then to Ann Arbor, where their daughter, Mary Thurston Eagan was born, the day before the Michigan/Ohio State game. Season ticket holders (now for 52 years), John used Ellen's ticket to take his friend, Ohio State professor Bradley Richardson, to the game while Ellen and Mary watched on TV from the hospital.

In 1980, John and Ellen returned to Ellen's hometown of Alpena for her to take a job she coveted. John opened the State Street Bakery, where he sold incredible baked goods. A person who showed love through acts of service, John would bring fresh-baked doughnuts home for breakfast whenever his daughter had sleepovers, always including her favorite chocolate-frosted cake doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles.

In 1984, at the age of 40, John found sobriety and, with it, he became the person he was meant to be. Closing the bakery, John became a substance abuse counselor with Catholic Human Services, helping innumerable people like him get and stay sober and, in the process, discovered that being of service to others was his life's work.

Proving F. Scott Fitzgerald wrong that there are no second acts in American lives, John went back to school and earned a Master of Social Work through intense summer sessions at Catholic University of America, where he roomed at a monastery. He was honest with the brothers there about not being a Catholic, but rather Episcopalian. They answered, "So you're a cousin." When Phil Richards, former publisher of The Alpena News, wrote him a letter jokingly addressed to "Monsignor Eagan", domestic staff within the monastery began addressing him as such. This mistaken identity caused much upset when Ellen came to visit her husband and stayed overnight in his room.

Specializing in gerontology, John became a psychiatric social worker and worked for nearly 30 years in behavioral health MyMichigan Medical Center – Alpena providing group and individual inpatient and outpatient therapy and discharge planning. John was a fierce advocate for his patients and went above and beyond the typical therapist role to ensure their rights were respected and they received the services they needed. Beyond his work in behavioral health, John also counseled patients in MyMichigan's cancer center, provided homecare visits, supervised student social workers earning their licenses, oversaw the medical center's discharge planning, served on the institutional review board, and helped found and chaired the hospital's ethics committee for decades. In addition, he and Dr. Avery Aten worked together to provide informational presentations in the community about advance directives, ensuring the people of Northeast Michigan had the information they needed to make their final wishes known to their families.

John was a devoted scholar of Shakespeare and enjoyed researching each play before traveling to Canada's Stratford Festival with Ellen to enjoy a production, even if it was the tenth time he'd seen the play performed.

He read voraciously-everything from mystery novels, James Thurber, and David Sedaris to classic Greek comedies and tragedies in the original Greek. His dedication to his patients meant that he was constantly reading about the latest theories and practices in therapy. He specialized in grief therapy and left behind a library of literature on the subject for his family.

John retained his fluency in Latin and continued to read it throughout his life in his free time. He famously had to take a remedial Bible class in seminary but at the same time excelled in a medieval Latin class at Harvard in which he was the only student who was not a Jesuit monk. Later, he tutored his daughter when she enrolled in Latin classes at the University of Iowa, though he lamented her poor pronunciation of the dead language.

John was a passionate advocate for social justice and, when he and Ellen lived in Ann Arbor, was active in politics, serving as campaign manager for Al Wheeler, the city's first Black mayor, and working on several Congressional campaigns for prominent Democrats.

In their retirement years, John and Ellen took many Viking cruises throughout Europe. Their dueling texts back to their children about their adventures were hilarious, with John often proclaiming himself a saint for putting up with Ellen and Ellen sending texts saying John was trying to kill her by making her climb dozens of steps to get to the top of some monument or historic place.

John loved music across a wide variety of genres. He enthusiastically consumed Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, traveling with Ellen to Ann Arbor to attend the Gilbert & Sullivan Society's productions at the University of Michigan. He thrilled at Motown music and Aretha Franklin. He was passionate about the blues and went through a Latin jazz period that made Ellen dread their four-hour drives to Ann Arbor for Michigan football games, as they turned into Tito Puente concerts.

John is survived by the woman to whom he brought breakfast in bed every morning until he started his decline, Ellen Runkel Eagan, his wife of almost 59 years. He also leaves behind his children, Joshua (Julie), and Mary, as well as his grandson, Max Eagan, and springer spaniel, Snug. In addition, he is survived by his sisters-in-law, Suzanne Runkel Robinson (James), and Mary Runkel (Lee Eisemen), as well as a niece and three nephews.

In John's memory, give your dog an extra treat and maybe a few bites off your plate at dinner. If you're in recovery, attend an AA or NA meeting in his memory. Go have a double dog platter at North Coney Island. Help someone who's struggling if you have the means to do so. Be generous of heart and of pocket. Have that second scoop of ice cream. Tell an inappropriate joke and find humor in even the saddest times. Read a book. Go on a bike ride. Do something nice for someone you love. Root for the maize and blue. And, finally, internalize that it's never too late to become the person you're meant to be.

A memorial service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Alpena on Saturday, March 21 at 11:00 a.m., with a luncheon to follow. Cremation arrangements have been handled by the Bannan Funeral Home. Memorials: Huron Humane Society and Trinity Episcopal Church's Sunday Supper Food Program