11/18/2025
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our longtime member and friend Jack Waldron. Jack’s association with the WODC began as a hiker and culminated in taking on the presidency for 20 some years, during which time he recruited new officers and envisioned and carried through an impressive breadth of projects. True to Jack’s vision, he handed off the president’s responsibilities in August of this year. We are immeasurably grateful for the strength of the organization he left.
We will celebrate Jack’s life in the summer in the Wonalancet Chapel Grove. In this moment we are sharing his obituary:
John Kevin (Jack) Waldron, passed away on November 17, 2025, at Golden View Health Care Center in Meredith, NH, from the effects of prostate cancer. Although prostate cancer did bring an end to his life, Jack enjoyed and profited from those six years: he grew grateful in all ways, especially to learn about himself, learn about others, and learn about prostate cancer.
Jack was born November 18, 1946, in Boston, MA, to John and Mary Waldron. He was educated in the Boston public and parochial schools, where, by the time he graduated, he had studied six years of Latin and five years of Greek. He then matriculated at the College of the Holy Cross, graduating with a BA in modern languages. It was the Viet Nam era, a complicated time for a young man. He was drafted twice, though eventually deferred, and he spent three years working in the medical laboratory field, as he had done part-time during college. After this time of turbulence and uncertainty, he pursued further studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he achieved 70% of the credits required for his Master’s degree in the even newer languages of computer science, before realizing he was already sufficiently gainfully employed and didn’t need the degree!
Jack worked for 25 years as a software engineer for a number of companies throughout eastern Massachusetts, thoroughly enjoying the work, and was able, at the age of fifty-three, to retire comfortably. Then he decided to pursue full-time something else that really appealed to him: in his forties, he had become an avid hiker, and became deeply involved with various hiking organizations, most notably the Wonalancet Out Door Club, for which he eventually served as president for twenty years. During those years, the WODC concentrated on making the trails as sustainable as possible and approximately $380,000 was spent from grant money to achieve this goal. He found this to be some of the most satisfying work in his life.
He had a life-long interest in education, and appreciated its value, which had been cultivated early and at home, and which had so successfully molded his life. He had a great desire to pass this on to others, and pursued a seat on the Tamworth School Board. He was elected, and served for fifteen years, twelve of them as Chair. Although Jack was not a professional educator, he tried to provide leadership in the school district by bringing everyone onto the same page – Board, administrators, staff, students, parents, and taxpayers. This provided quite a challenge, which he relished over those fifteen years.
He leaves behind his close friend Jennifer Hocking Wiley, whom he thought of more as a sister than a friend; his close friend Kathi Padgett, who also served with him on the school board; his dear friend Mark Albee, of whom he said: “I don’t have a religious bone in my body, but Mark … Mark is my pastor; ” his brothers Tom (Cathy), Michael, and sisters Patricia Waldron (Bill), Eileen Hanafin (Bill), and Frances (Michael). He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Mary Ann Staudter (Dale), and their son, Danny.
In lieu of flowers, Jack encourages a gift to the Waterman Fund of VT or another hiking organization. There will be a memorial service next summer in the grove of the Wonalancet Union Chapel in Wonalancet, NH. Stay tuned for details.
