Jean K. Aull
Jean K. Aull, of Lyme, NH, died Sunday, November 13, 2011 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, from complications of lung cancer.
Jean was born February 14, 1941, in Philadelphia, PA, the daughter of James Aull and Helene Longacre Aull. She grew up in Norristown, PA and graduated from Norristown High School in 1958. She attended Hood College in Frederick, MD, where she played field hockey and basketball, and in 2008 she was inducted into the Hood College Athletic Hall of Fame. She graduated from Hood in 1962 with a BA in English.
In 1963 Jean moved to the Upper Valley, where she had spent summers as a camp counselor at Camp Farnsworth. She worked in a variety of jobs, including spending one year as a customer service representative for the telephone company, and presenting workshops to school children on the art of nature photography. She was a passionate naturalist throughout her life. She was the first special education teacher at the Ray School in Hanover, and her experience teaching special education in the public schools motivated her to explore an alternative model of education for elementary age school children. She felt that all children were capable of doing anything they wanted to do, academically, and she sought to develop a program that would inspire a life-long love of learning while providing children with the skills they need to be successful in any setting.
In 1971 Jean started an alternative elementary school for children in grades K-6, located on Thetford Hill, VT. For the next forty years she served as the Director of Open Fields School. During that time she taught reading, writing, arithmetic and Latin to hundreds of children. She also taught them good table manners, how to work well together, how to raise hyacinths, how to play four-square, and appreciation and respect for the natural world.
In addition to her role as the founder and director of Open Fields, Jean was the inventor of Aquarian Gladiator and a Red Sox fan. She will be remembered for her irrepressible curiosity and her wry wit. She was an accomplished photographer, an enthusiastic equestrian, and an avid reader and gardener.
Jean was predeceased by her parents, and her partner of many years, Trina Schart Hyman. She is survived by her brother, Jim Aull, 332 Wesley Ave, #2C, Oak Park, IL, 60302, her nephews Bradley Aull, also of Oak Park, and Gino Bradley, of Naples, FL, her stepdaughter Katrin Tchana of Norwich, VT, two step-grandsons, Xavier Tchana of Norwich and Michou Tchana-Hyman of Olympia, WA, and many faithful friends and supporters.
A memorial service is planned for the spring. Donations in her memory may be made to Open Fields School, Thetford, VT 05074.