ETNA, NH — John Bacon was a listener, whether to testy members of a teacher’s union or calls of a loon on a Vermont lake. His ability to listen made John vital, fair, and gentle.
Most recently of Bradenton, FL, John, 71, died of heart failure at Blake Hospital on March 16th. Of the half-dozen homes he shared with his wife Mary, Bradenton was their “paradise,” a sun- flooded house shared overhead with a nesting osprey, and John’s collection of antique mermaids within. Two dogs from a long history of Jack Russell Terriers actually own the house but not the mortgage.
Born in Pittsburgh, John grew up in Concord, MA, graduating from the Belmont Hill School in 1967 and Dartmouth College in 1971. In 1982 he earned a Doctorate of Education from UMass Amherst.
Until he retired in 2015, John devoted his professional life to education, serving as Principal in Hartford and Bethel, VT, then Superintendent of Danville and Barre, VT, school systems. He took tremendous pride negotiating teacher contracts, which tested another talent in his ability to find the middle.
John was a ski instructor, an accomplished equestrian, an avid fly fisherman, a windsurfer, a hiker/camper/whitewater canoeist, a Boston Whaler afficionado, a sailor, a Serengeti Safari photographer, and a grown man who could launch a potato 50 yards with nothing more than a PVC pipe, hairspray, and a match. There was a lot of little boy left in John Bacon.
His heart was always close to a summer home of his youth on Vermont’s Lake Willoughby. It was more a camp, its wealth found in the wildlife, extraordinary beauty, and a lake that reveled in silence. John listened – with exception. For example, the distant neighbors who did not know him, heard him – actually his signal cannon – which fired each sunset.
Cut too short, his life was well lived indeed.
Along with his wife Mary, he leaves his son Alex and daughter Kate, and sister Heather. His brother Sandy pre-deceased him. A celebration of life will be held in the near future.