John (Jack) Walter Hunter, born on January 15, 1934 at Miners Hospital in Spangler, Pennsylvania, died on December 9, 2019, in Woodstock, Vermont.

Jack, named after his grandfather, a Scottish immigrant, was the son of loving parents Walter and Maude Hunter.  Jack was raised in a Methodist household in Hastings, Pennsylvania, coal country, with his younger sister, Janet.  He was the first in his family to graduate from college. Jack cherished his roots and loved returning to the Hastings area for family visits and reunions.

Jack graduated from Lycoming College, where he majored in psychology and met his future wife, Ruth, who he married on June 1, 1956. Immediately following college, Jack studied in Denmark as a Fulbright scholar, an experience that would inform his life for years to come.  He attended graduate school at Boston University, where he received a Masters of Divinity (ordained as a United Methodist minister) and doctorate in sociology and social ethics. During graduate school, Jack and Ruth co-directed American Friends Service Committee Youth Workcamps and worked with youth from Morgan Memorial Church of All Nations in Boston. Following graduate school, he and his growing family moved to North Carolina, where he taught sociology at Greensboro College and became increasingly engaged in the civil rights movement.

In the footsteps of his father, Jack loved scouting as a boy, which formed the basis for his enthusiasm for all things outdoors and experiential education -  a constant thread throughout his life. Jack believed firmly in the importance of outdoor activity in healthy child development. Jack and Ruth worked at several summer camps. Through the American Camping Association, he met Ken and Susan Webb, who hired Jack and Ruth as founding directors of  Saltash Mountain Camp, one of the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Plymouth, Vermont. Jack then became the first Executive Director of the newly formed Farm and Wilderness Foundation in 1968. During this time, Jack was a charter member of the board and president of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science.

In 1977, Jack and Ruth began working in Quaker schools, where he taught and worked as an administrator at Sandy Spring Friends School, what was then the John Woolman School, Oakwood Friends School and  Westtown Friends School until they retired to their house in Woodstock, Vermont. Jack and Ruth found their spiritual home among Quakers, and they were active in every Friends meeting/church where they lived.

In retirement, Jack was active in local politics, served as the Farm and Wilderness Foundation archivist, served on the Boards at Kendal at Hanover, The Meeting School, and Woodstock Union High School Endowment Fund. Jack volunteered at the Woodstock Historical Society, tutored in the local school, taught in the adult education programs at Dartmouth College and in Woodstock, was an enthusiastic participant in Freelance Singers, and enjoyed the arts, gardening, stamp collecting, a good pun, loose leaf Earl Grey tea, fine chocolate and the Sunday New York Times.

Jack is survived by his wife, Ruth Laura Glazier Hunter, sister Janet Lee Bender (Richard),  in-laws Mary Lu and Charles Mathis and Bruce and Louise Glazier, five nieces and three nephews, his children John David Hunter and his wife JoAnn Coates-Hunter, Emily Lucille Hunter and her husband, Mathew Patterson, Edward Allen Hunter and Amy Elizabeth Hunter as well as his grandchildren Sadie Jane Hunter, Samuel Hartt Hunter, Hannah Ruth Hunter Patterson, Iris Montgomery Hunter Patterson, Jordan Tamura Rose and Margaret Isabel Hunter. This kind, wise, optimistic, humble soul will be missed by his family and so many more.

A memorial service will be held for Jack at Hanover Friends Meeting on March 14, 2020 at 2pm in Hanover, New Hampshire.

A memorial service will also be held at Forest Echo Farm in Mount Holly, Vermont on August 16, 2020, at 10:30am where he will be remembered at the farm memorial site. For those attending PLEASE NOTE: Face masks and physical distancing will be required. There will be accessible facilities and sanitation stations. While there will be water, no food will be served. Feel free to bring a picnic for after the service, weather permitting.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, please feel free to send donations to the campership fund at Farm and Wilderness Camps in memory of Jack, Farm & Wilderness Foundation/Campership Fund, 401 Farm and Wilderness Road, Plymouth, VT 05056 USA