John Anderson Myers, Jr.

Savannah- John Anderson Myers, Jr. died Saturday, April 21, 2007 at his home on Wilmington Island after a short illness. He was the son of the late John Anderson Myers and the late Carolyn Krenson Myers of Savannah.

Known all his life as Jack Myers, he was born in New Orleans, LA on June 4, 1921. He attended local schools-Massie, Henry and Richard Arnold before going off to Lawrenceville in 1936. Graduating from Lawrenceville in 1940, he attended Princeton University where he earned letters in track and 150 lb. football and was a member of Cottage Club. He graduated in June 1943.

Earning a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, he served two years in Hawaii and Guam and became commander of the 23rd Marine Depot Company. His experience with this primarily black outfit instilled in him a life-long commitment to civil rights.

After the war, Jack taught for a year at Lawrenceville, attended graduate school in English at Princeton, and taught English at the University of Virginia 1949-1953. He chaired the English Department at St. Louis Country Day School for four years and returned to Princeton, NJ to chair the English Department at Hun School. The last twenty years of his teaching career were spent as chairman of the English Department at Belmont Hill School, Belmont, Massachusetts. He retired to Savannah in 1988. Along the way Jack coached football, track, and tennis.

Highlights of Jack Myers’ academic career include his book on teaching poetry and his book on English usage. In 1959 he served as the representative of independent boys’ schools on the Commission on English established to improve teaching English at the high school level throughout the country. In summer schools in the 1960s he taught at Rutgers University and Miles College, Birmingham, Alabama. In the early 1970s he was president of the School and College Conference on English for two years.

Jack Myers was a member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati and the Princeton Club of Savannah.

He is survived by his wife, Eve Strong Myers; two sisters, Elizabeth Myers Walker and Carolyn Myers Glenn, all of Savannah; six children, John A. Myers, III of Arcata, CA, Sarah M. Myers of South Dartmouth, MA, Thomas C. Myers of Northampton, MA, Mary Fairlie Myers of Waltham, MA, Davis L. Myers of Wellfleet, MA, Robert K. Myers of West Tisbury, MA; two step-children, Katherine W. Young of Bluffton, SC and Walter Strong Wood of Satellite Beach, FL.

Graveside Service will be at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, April 28, 2007 at Bonaventure Cemetery.

Following the service, the family will receive friends at the home of Cooper Glenn, 303 Atkinson Avenue in Gordonston.

Remembrances may be made to a charity of choice.