John Haines Spencer Jr., 80

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — John Haines Spencer Jr., 80. passed away on Sunday, February 19, 2017.

Born September 15, 1936, to John Haines Spencer and Pauline Simmons Spencer, Jack was raised in Adams, Mass. 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.

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 Zone of Appeals, The Stockbridge Library (president and member of the Board of Trustees), 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 and Kathy (Fred) Erickson; sisters Judy Burbank and Cyndie Spencer (Denny Lund), Pat and Buz Hanley, and 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; and 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 stepmother Pat Swann.

Funeral notice: A Ceremony of Celebration will be held Saturday, February 25, 2017, 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.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that those who wish to remember Jack 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.