Alexander G. Medlicott Jr.

PIERMONT NH-Alexander “Joe” Medlicott, Jr. died on 6 October at the Kendal Retirement Community. His passage was eased considerably by the presence of family, friends and his Kendal caregivers.
He was born 15 May 1927 in Longmeadow, Massachusetts to Allethaire Estey Medlicott of Brattleboro, VT and Alexander G. Medlicott, Sr. a longtime Longmeadow resident. He attended the local grammar school and Springfield Technical High School. His fondest memories from those years were family gatherings, time spent at a lakeside summer cottage in NH and fishing trips to Maine with his father and uncles.
After High School he enlisted in the US army initially as a “typist” but then went on to complete training and service stateside with the 82nd Airborne Paratrooper Division. He and Suzanne Rykken Medlicott of Bellingham, Washington were married in 1949 and he received a BA in English from Dartmouth College in 1950.
The early years of family life and child rearing were spent in Longmeadow, Massachusetts working in sales for the Springfield Packard Automobile Dealership. He then returned to academic life as an English and American Literature graduate student at Trinity College by day while preserving an income as a night shift police reporter for the Springfield Union. In both arenas, he learned the value of clear thinking and concise prose.
In 1958 the family moved to Seattle where he enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Washington. At its completion, he began a two-year search for a University level teaching assignment while teaching English at Seattle’s Lakeside School.
In 1964, he was hired as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Connecticut. By the early 1980’s, as a Full Tenured Professor, his career path led back into secondary education. He spent the last 10 years teaching at Deerfield Academy. There, he taught, coached, and welcomed the advent of co-education to this traditional all boy’s school. With the help of wife Suzanne, they supervised a student dormitory floor from their adjoining apartment.
In 1992 he and Suzanne retired to Piermont, NH where they spent many active years overseeing the restoration of an historic Federal house, raising dogs, and tending the horses which were the focus of Suzanne’s passion for riding. Their two grandchildren, also living in Piermont, spent many an after-school hour with their grandfather in his study or with their grandmother in the riding ring.
But the pull of the classroom could not be ignored. Since “retirement”, he has been a popular faculty member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth. In particular, students packed his classes in American Literature and Memoir Writing. He gave his last course in the spring of this year and had been busily preparing for another this fall.
He was pre-deceased by his wife Suzanne and his sister Allethaire Medlicott Chase. He is survived by his three children Susan Medlicott and her partner Jan Stenson of Whately, MA, Peter Medlicott of Frankfurt, Germany, Alex Medlicott and his wife Kristi Medill of Piermont, NH and his long-time friend and partner Stephanie Reininger of Hanover, NH. He has two granddaughters and four great-grand children. He was able to enjoy the company of all of them during his final days.
Beryl Markham in “West With The Night” wrote: “If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work". This couldn’t have been any truer for this family man, father, teacher, mentor and friend. The work is done and now it’s time to rest.
Calling hours are scheduled for 5-7PM on October 30th at the Hale Funeral Home in Bradford, VT. A memorial gathering will take place at the Kendal Retirement Community in Hanover, NH in early November. Contact family for details.