Orono
Born April 9, 1937, Died October 17, 2022.
Lynn H. Parsons passed away peacefully on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, in Orono.
Lynn was a husband, father, grandfather, scholar, author and playwright. He leaves behind brother Terry, sons Christopher and Jonathan, daughter-in-law Beverly and granddaughter Alia and step-grandchildren Maegan and Dylan.
Lynn’s career as an educator spanned over 40 years, 34 of them at SUNY Brockport, where he taught American history. His enthusiasm for his subject matter and his students’ education is well noted and remembered at every institution where he taught.
Lynn’s love of history was fostered at Grinnell College in Iowa, a renowned liberal arts college. Life smiled on him there. First, he met his wonderful wife, Anne. Second, he came under the tutelage of historian Joe Frazier Wall, the well-known biographer of Andrew Carnegie. After graduation, Anne and Lynn headed to Baltimore to join an exceptional group of history graduate students at Johns Hopkins University. The next stop was University College in Dublin, where they spent two very enjoyable years. Offered a permanent position, he decided to return to the States. Anne and he returned to their beloved Grinnell College to spend a year filling in for his mentor, Professor Wall, who was completing his Carnegie biography. From Grinnell they moved to Detroit, where he joined an exceptional history department at Wayne State University. While at Wayne State relationships were created that continued for five decades.
During Lynn’s time at all of these institutions of learning, he was a consistent participant in a move for change. Change in an unjust war. Change in the racial/social injustices that were occurring as his career progressed. In 1971, after moving to Brockport, he continued his social activism, both with the Democratic Party and with a wide range of responsibilities for the college and regional community. On campus, he chaired the history department, was twice elected as president of the College Senate and became a close advisor to students, faculty and administrators alike.
In 1991, he led a campus team that garnered a major National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant that resulted in “Lest We Forget,” an 18-month remembrance of American involvement in World War II that featured a lecture series by scholars that attracted thousands, a film series hosted at the Eastman Museum, three different symposia that included both scholars and community members and a series of three museum exhibitions that opened on the same night in 1992. It became a model for the Public Humanities program of the NEH. The hallmark of the project was what had motivated much of his professional life, the relationship of a community and its history, bringing the perspectives of scholars and citizens together.
Lynn authored three books, one play and many pieces for newspapers, providing scholarly understanding for the broader reading public. His area of expertise was most notably the life of John Quincy Adams, of whom he wrote two books, one chronicling the life of JQA, and another accounting the election of 1828 between Andrew Jackson and JQA. His play “The Tye More Binding” was a wonderful account of the correspondence shared between Abigail and John Adams from 1763 to 1801. His third book was a historical account of the meeting houses/churches of Castine. In 2007, Lynn was invited by the State Department to travel to Russia to participate in the commemoration of 200 years of U.S.-Russian diplomacy. In 2009, Lynn was elected a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society (founded in 1791). For historians (and others too), this is one of the greatest honors.
Lynn and his wife, Anne, called Brockport, N.Y., their home for most of their careers, but upon retiring in 2005, they moved full time to Castine, a town they had been visiting for many years. It is in this small town that they found their second careers. Lynn was very involved in the local Unitarian Universalist Congregation as well as the Castine Historical Society and many other town groups and committees. Their love for this town and respect and care of its rich history was evident any time they spoke of it. The relationships created here are numerous and very special. It is no wonder that someone with so much history in his bones would choose a place like Castine to retire to.
Anne and Lynn did like to travel and even when the boys were young travel was a big part of their lives. After retirement the traveling continued with flags being planted from Vegas to Morocco, and from Costa Rica to Central Europe and the Danube.
Lynn as a father gave his sons so many gifts it is difficult to list them. His love for history, travel, education and the state of Maine is evident in that both his sons are graduates of Maine colleges as well as SUNY colleges. His sense of humor, sharp wit and personality were passed to his sons, and they are so thankful for this. Lynn’s care for his family was always strong and became so much stronger after Anne’s passing and his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Family communications and time together became very important to him. This past spring, he was able to travel down to Pensacola with Chris and visit with Bev’s family of which he had become a big part of. This last summer he was able to make multiple overnight visits to Castine and sit in the backyard with his feet in the grass and was present for his beloved July Fourth celebration.
Lynn H. Parsons will be sorely missed by his family, his community, his colleagues and all the students/faculty that he touched in over four decades as an educator.
A celebration of Lynn’s life will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Castine on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at 11 a.m. At 1 p.m., a continued community/potluck time of remembrance will be held at Danny Murphy’s Pub. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: The Anne and Lynn Parsons Graduate Fellowship, c/o Mike Andriach, The Vice-President for Advancement, SUNY College at Brockport, Brockport, NY 14420, and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Castine. Arrangements are under the care of Mitchell-Tweedie Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Bucksport. (mitchelltweedie-young.com)