Thirty-six years ago, a young man brought his guitar to Proctor for a Friday evening of folk music. An Assistant Professor of English at Vermont College, and house musician at Stowe, Vermont's Trapp Family Lodge, he spent the night on campus to offer workshops with students the next morning. By the time he departed Andover Saturday afternoon, Tom Eslick had been hired to Chair the English Department at Proctor starting in September, 1974. Over thirty-four years, Tom served the school as Department Chair, dorm parent, advisor and coach. He was--first and foremost--a passionate and dedicated teacher with a gift for literary analysis and writing.
 

The 1970s and early '80s were years of foment, transition and change at Proctor. Head of School David Fowler had empowered the faculty to define the nature of school policies, and faculty meetings featured animated debates in which we hammered out policies and structures (many of which endure): How shall the academic schedule work? How do we respond to lateness? What is the dress code? 

 

Tom was an active, articulate participant in these discussions. He raised the tone of meetings with his command of Roberts' Rules of Order, occasionally interrupting a derailed debate with "Point of order!" He was opinionated and passionate, but his position was balanced by brilliant wit which could reduce a faculty meeting to riotous laughter. It's possible that no teacher had more impact on the nature of the community--its structures balanced by non-adversarial style--than Tom.

He served as the first Dean of Faculty. In 1982, along with his close friend David Fowler, he coached the first girls' ice hockey team.

 

He employed his musical talent and acting ability in many school drama productions and collaborated with Dale Parry and Paul Silverman to write the words and music to an original--entitled Firefly--in 1980.

 

But Tom's greatest dramatic role was that of Tevye in Fiddler On the Roof, which he played with inspiration twice during his career!

 

He initiated the Advanced Placement program at Proctor, but unlike some AP English teachers who limit enrollment to an elite student population, Tom advocated a Jeffersonian approach that encouraged many students to benefit from that curriculum. Knowing that we learn best by teaching, he structured peer review of student writing, grading kids on the quality of their analysis. He was, in fact, an exam reader for the Advanced Placement English Board.

In recent years, he authored four novels which received critical acclaim.

Tom never stopped performing in school assemblies, mixing Jimmy Buffett with his own thoughtful, clever tunes and lyrics. His command of the fretboard was superb.

 

On the occasion of his retirement in 2008, Tom delivered a Commencement address that hailed the value of academic pursuit, critical thinking, reading and clear, focused writing.

 

This past Saturday morning, Tom Eslick succumbed to cancer at his home in Wilmot. Some--knowing Tom's fate--lament that so much of his brief retirement was absorbed not by leisure, but by illness. This is true. But let us balance that sentiment with the knowledge that he adored work; he adored teaching; he loved Proctor; he was singularly devoted to his wife Susan; that he was proud of his sons, and that the births of his grandchildren completed a circle in his life.

We will miss him, indeed, and the love of a whole community goes out to Susan, John and Jason.