Wonder

 

John "Jack" C. Eckels, IV March 21, 1937 - October 04, 2021

 

John "Jack" C. Eckels, IV

March 21, 1937 - October 04, 2021

John (Jack) Eckels died peacefully in his sleep on October 4, 2021 at Helen Porter Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Middlebury VT.  He was born, the youngest of three children, in Littleton NH on March 21, 1937. He, his sister Ann, and brother Don spent most of their young lives in Laconia NH.  There he developed a love of skiing and enjoyed competing on the ski team.  Jack attended the University of New Hampshire (UNH) where he continued to ski competitively and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  After working as a mechanical engineer, he decided that he wanted to work with young adults and not machines.  So he went back to UNH, obtained a Masters Degree in mathematics, met Carol, his wife of 56 years, and obtained his teacher’s license.  He also spent eight years in the Marine Corps Reserve.

In 1969, Jack and Carol moved to Middlebury, where they raised their family.  Jack taught math and coached skiing at Middlebury Union High School (MUHS) for 30 years.  His ski teams won numerous State ski championships including 13 Girls Nordic Skiing titles and also one New England ski championship.  He and Carol started the first Bill Koch Ski League for young skiers in the Middlebury area. Jack’s skiing and coaching were statewide. He also served as a judge for the biathlon ski event at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Upon retiring, Jack became a beekeeper, worked at a vegetable farm, and kept a fairly large garden. He and Carol also spent much time traveling, particularly to visit their children and grandchildren. Jack spent a lot of time catching his grandchildren’s kicked soccer balls in small apartments, building train tracks while sitting on floors, cutting out big boxes for the grandchildren to crawl into, playing dominoes and Uno as the kids grew older, following the kids going trick or treating in various cities, and many other activities that created happy memorable moments.

He is survived by his loving wife Carol (Jones) Eckels; his children Richard Eckels, William Eckels (Michelle), Catherine Lang (Larson), Jane Eckels (Hans), and Michael Eckels (Oxana); his grandchildren, Alex, Meredith, Bee, Ellie, Crispin, Felix, Bo, Stanley, Robert, Ben, and Bailey; his great-granddaughter Harper; and his sister Ann Eckels Bailie.  He was  pre-deceased by his parents, his brother Don, his granddaughter, Wren, and his daughter-in-law, Beth.

A Memorial Mass will be held on Tuesday October 12, 2021 at 1:30 P.M. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Middlebury, with the Rev. Luke Austin as the celebrant.

The Family request if you are attending the service to please wear a mask.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Elderly Services, P.O. Box 581, Middlebury, VT 05753 or the American Parkinson Disease Association, Parkinson Plaza, 135 Parkinson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10305-1425.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Sanderson-Ducharme Funeral Home.

Online condolences at www.sandersonfuneralservice.com

Beekeper Jack

 

http://www.vvoice.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=807&format=html

Beekeeper Jack By Brian Bauer photo provided     Have you ever wondered what you would do after you retired and did not have your day already scheduled for you before you even wake up? Well, Jack Eckels is retired and engaged in an activity introduced to him by his father, beekeeping. Jack is originally from the Laconia, New Hampshire area where he attended Laconia High School. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Graduate degree in Math. His education credits came into play teaching at New Hampshire Prep School for 4 years. After leaving his Prep school position he and his wife Carol moved to Middlebury where he taught at Middlebury Union High School for 30 years. During that time they raised  a family consisting of 3 sons and 2 daughters. Jack coached Nordic Skiing for most of his stay at the High School and instituted the yearly Ski and Skate Sale held every Fall. Jack and his wife are now proud grandparents of 3. Jack has been gardening for decades. He has the mathematician's preciseness about his vegetable rows and the weed less landscape incorporating his garden space. It may have been gardening, in part, that sparked the interest in bee keeping. Jack likes to delve into things deeply and would not be satisfied with just planting, weeding, and harvesting. He would want to know why this or that was needed for a good harvest. Retirement gives him the time to explore and research. He certainly would have found the topic of pollination at the top of the research list. Pollination, in part, is caused by Honey Bees (the Italian variety is most common). When the bees move from flower to flower they inadvertently pick up pollen. Pollen is needed to fertilize the female flower parts so that apples and other fruits develop (owners of orchards bring in bees for that very purpose). Through his research Jack was able to construct the boxes that the bees would live in, find colonies which were for sale, and search out appropriate sites to situate the colonies on. The colonies would need protection from northern winds, good southern exposure for the warmth of sunlight during the winter, and a good food source. There are three classifications of Bee Keepers: hobbyist, sideline, and commercial. Jack places himself in the hobbyist category due to the number of hives he has and lack of income dependency on it. It is fascinating listening to Jack talk about Bee Keeping because he knows so much about the topic. For example: 1.    Nectar is made by plants to attract the bees so that pollination can occur 2.    Bees make honey, as their food source, from Nectar 3.    Their are mites (parasites) which grow in the hive and suck blood from the bees 4.    Pollen is feed to developing bees 5.    Bees have wax glands and the wax is used to create and cap the many sided cells in which honey and developing bees are stored. Jack has 2 sidelines associated with his interest in raising bees. One is that he harvests Comb Honey. This is basically taking a portion of where the bees have stored their honey (the Comb) and without processing it, wrapping it and selling it to his customers. The second sideline is candle making using bees' wax. The history of candle making using bees' wax goes back as least as far as 3000B.C. with the Egyptians. A unique fact about bees' wax is that it burns with a “clean” flame, unlike paraffin and it also burns with a “warmer”, more yellow flame than paraffin. Beeswax is a product from a bee hive. Beeswax is secreted by honeybees of a certain age in the form of scales. The scales are produced by the glands of 12 to 17 day old worker bees. This wax is then used to build storage receptacles in the hive. Since Jack has a limited supply of Beeswax he purchases what he needs in order to produce his two types of specialty candles: a 12 inch Taper and a 2 inch Votive. For those of you who might be interested in purchasing either Comb honey or candles, the Middlebury Food Coop has the Comb Honey, in season (August-September) and the 2” Votive candles on a steady basis. The 12” Tapered can be located at Sweet Cecily. If Jack's interest in Bee keeping has peaked an interest, an Internet site of note is the following: www.vtbeekeepers.org. Also, the Vermont Beekeepers Association puts out a nice booklet entitled: Vermont Honey - Simply the Best! Jack can be contacted at: Breezy Hill Apiaries, 101 Seminary Street Ext.,Middlebury, Vt. 05753-1257 or 1-802-388-6502.    Emily Dickinson composed the following about the nature of bees:   Pedigree         The pedigree of the honey         Does not concern the bee;         A clover, anytime to him          Is aristocracy.

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Jesus

 

"Jesus was no saint. The story we have about him is largely Jesus defying the legitimacy and authority of the dominant religious system and its ecclesiastical hierarchy. His noncompliance and anarchist spirit was a threat to the Roman government. Jesus was not a figure of religion. Jesus was an iconoclast. To the Romans, he was a radical – a religious fanatic who would no doubt try to overturn their social order if allowed to gain too many followers.

Jesus was not crucified for his beliefs but for his actions. People often envision Jesus as someone tiptoeing around in a flowing robe, speaking softly, patting children on the head and carrying a baby lamb in his arms. But the real Jesus of history was a lightning rod. He got angry. He was the greatest debunker of religious hierarchies and traditions this world has ever seen. The religious establishment hurriedly condemned him to death for blasphemy, while the secular powers executed him for sedition.

It's unfortunate that Christianity was pinned on Jesus. This wasn't his fault. Jesus did not die to save people from God, rescue us from ourselves, or snatch sinners from the flames of hell. Jesus is not a ticket-puncher to heaven, he's a jail-breaker for people locked up in religion.

Jesus did not start the Christian religion. Organized Christianity has probably done more to retard the ideals that were its founder’s than any other agency in the world. Should Jesus reappear, he would be a most dangerous threat to the institution of the Church originally established in his name. What are now called “essential doctrines” of the Christian religion, Jesus does not even mention.

I consider the life, teachings, and wisdom of Jesus to be universally relevant, regardless of one's religious, spiritual, or philosophical point of view. Christianity does not hold unique and absolute claim to Jesus. Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean you truly get Jesus. In fact, it may be the reason why you don't."

Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy

The peace of wild things

 

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry 1934-