Stockbridge — On Sunday, February 19, 2017, John Haines Spencer, Jr. passed away. And the world will never be the same.
Born September 15, 1936 to John Haines Spencer and Pauline Simmons Spencer, Jack was raised in Adams, Massachusetts. After graduating from Williston Prep School and Amherst College, he received a Masters in Education from Purdue University. While teaching at Williams High School in Stockbridge, he had the good fortune to meet and fall in love with Social Studies teacher Judith Leahey. On February 20, 1965, he had the good sense to marry her and continue a love affair that spanned more than fifty years.
Mr. Spencer was an educator for 47 years. He taught Social Studies at Williams High School and Monument Mountain Regional High School and was Principal of Searles Middle School. He encouraged students to be conscious seekers and doers, to be disturbers of the universe. He was chair of the Monument Social Studies department from its inception in 1967. The department created the first Holocaust curriculum for high school students in the country. Jack and Roselle Chartock coedited the anthology that came out of that curriculum.
Of her colleague Roselle Chartock, who taught at Monument Mountain from the fall 1971 to June 1986, commented: “Put simply, Jack Spencer had a warm heart and a keen mind. But what I most appreciated about him — and this is unusual among department chairs — was his willingness to trust teachers with the freedom to follow their creative and intellectual passions.”
Another colleague, John Beacco, recalled working with Jack for more than three decades.
“I first met Jack in 1967 when he was teaching at Williams High. He was six years ahead of me at Amherst,” he writes. “I took over for his wife who was pregnant with first child, teaching 8th grade. I moved to high school with him the following year. We taught together at Williams and Monument for more than 30 years. Under his guidance, we developed a unique history department requiring three years.
“Being Amherst grads, we used the Socratic method of which he was the master. There were never answers, just more questions. Writing (thinking) was emphasized exclusively with no rewards for rote. He was the force in setting up a ninth grade Holocaust study and edited an anthology of primary and secondary sources entitled “Man on Trial.” Jack and I also worked very closely in Stockbridge where he was chairman of the Planning Board and I chairman of the Selectmen. As chairman, he guided the writing of the zoning bylaw and master plan. We used to tease each other about ‘ … not wanting to see the grass grow in Stockbridge.’ In 53 years, there was never an angry word between us. He was my mentor and will miss his sage counsel.”
Jack had a love of Stockbridge and its citizens, community activism and participation in government. He served on numerous committees and boards, including the Stockbridge Planning Board (chairman) and Zoning Board of Appeals, The Stockbridge Library (president and member of the Board of Trustees), and The Fund for Excellence and School Center, Inc. He was instrumental in writing the zoning bylaws for Stockbridge.
Jack is survived by daughters Ann Marie (Scott) Miller, Kathy (Fred) Erickson, sisters Judy Burbank and Cyndie Spencer (Denny Lund), Pat and Buz Hanley, Mike and Sally Leahey, Fred Wigge an exchange student who became part of the family, grandchildren Eric, Kristen and Amanda Miller and Emily Erickson, many close cousins, nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews, the lucky 13 and generations of well-educated students, an astounding number of loving friends and a grateful community.
He is predeceased by his parents Haines, Pauline and Louise Spencer, his wonderful wife Judy, and his step-mother Pat Swann.
A Ceremony of Celebration will be held Saturday, February 25 at 1 p.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington. The family will receive friends following the ceremony at The Stockbridge Library.
Those who wish to remember Jack can perform a random act of kindness, be informed and active members of local and national communities or make a donation to The Stockbridge Library or the Jack Spencer Scholarship Fund through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230. To send remembrances to his family go to www.finnertyandstevens.com.
