Calling hours for Jeffrey will be held on Friday, October 2, 2026, 5 to 7 p.m., at the Lamoille Funeral Home (853 Brooklyn St. in Morrisville, Vt.). A private burial will be held at a later date at Robinson Cemetery in Calais, Vt.
Jeffrey Bickerstaff was born in Steubenville, Ohio, on December 29, 1971. He died to his parents on June 24, 2003, and to the rest of the world on September 25, 2026. He completed a PhD at Miami University of Ohio in American literature in 2011. He held a master’s degree from Ohio State University and a BA from Bethany College.
Bickerstaff worked as a teacher for 26 years. He moved to Vermont in 2010 and taught for over 15 years in the Vermont State College system, including the Community College of Vermont and Vermont State University (formerly Johnson State College). He loved to put on his boots every morning and go to work. He based his work on the recognition that the values of representative democracy were rooted in the written word and that power flows through language. To this end, he relished designing syllabi and preparing classes on analyzing texts, thinking critically and engaging in thoughtful debate.
He had a particular passion for supporting first-generation college learners and believed in education as key to the American promise of upward mobility. He and a colleague had completed multiple drafts of a composition textbook aimed at this population. Had he known he was going to get this sick this young, he surely would have spent more time working on the textbook and less time watching “Breaking Bad.”
In addition to the textbook, Jeffrey enjoyed many other collaborative writing projects. He completed two screenplays with friends and wrote novel-length books with each of his kids as part of their homeschool studies. He also helped the kids write, shoot and edit many short movies. He spent time creating pastiche soundscapes and enjoyed gathering images and sounds to use in his projects. He loved cooking with and for his family and teaching his kids how to make simple food well, starting from as soon as they could hold a spatula.
Jeffrey was a loyal supporter of his family’s musical and artistic pursuits. He was never happier than when everyone was enjoying their creative endeavors, whether they were songs, photographs, stories, quilts or elaborate birthday cakes. He read with his kids nearly every day. He was always working on developing new skills on the guitar and knew a staggering amount about the history of rock and roll music. He spent many happy hours thinking about classes on long walks with dogs, particularly his beloved LouDog.
During the last two years, Jeffrey was studying language acquisition and preparing for a career as a speech and language pathologist.
Jeffrey was wickedly funny, deeply dedicated to teaching and always up for an abstract conversation. He adored his children and loved creating elaborate treats for his dogs (such as FC Ultra and Thursday Bone Days). He will be dearly missed by his wife, Meg, and daughters, Sevvi and Rain.
His family would like to thank his caregivers at the University of Vermont Medical Center and the McClure Miller Respite House.
If you are moved to donate in Jeffrey’s name, please consider the Green Mountain Youth Symphony (gmys-vt.org) or Lamoille Area Cancer Network (lacnvt.org).