On Saturday, January 8, 2022, John Timothy “Tim” Parsons passed on from this life at age 80 at his home in Burlington, Vt. He was embraced by his family and surrounded by abundant love and sunlight.
Born on May 18, 1941, to Jack and Eloise Parsons and raised with his sister, Joan, near Pittsburgh, Pa., Tim lived a life devoted to human liberation and education. Tim was always up to discuss a good book or to debate politics. In his 80 years, there weren’t many books that went unread. The final book he was reading was The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Tim was raised Presbyterian, was just about six feet tall and lived into the 21st century, yet he still had a lot in common with Benjamin Lay. As his fellow Quakers turned their cheeks, Benjamin Lay fought vehemently to end slavery in the early 1700s. Tim participated in the fight for civil rights — much to the chagrin of his conservative father — by learning peaceful, nonviolent protest tactics in the 1960s as a young college student. While mystified that he was elected the president of the Amherst Students for Racial Equality group, he took his role seriously and headed out into the world to learn as much as he could to be an effective anti-racist. That initial journey found him talking with Rev. Ralph Abernathy, meeting Martin Luther King Jr., being arrested in the Deep South and shaping his future as an educator.
Tim was a pragmatist and, while the passage of the civil rights legislation in 1964 was a celebration, Tim never stopped fighting for true equity. He continued making “good trouble” in Philadelphia with the Northern Student Movement. He became an educator whose achievements ranged from starting a community-controlled neighborhood school in the Ironbound section of Newark, N.J., to becoming a school principal in Vermont to starting a YouthBuild program in Burlington, which provided education, job training and leadership experience for young people.
Tim was an adventurer at heart and spent many of his days seeking out the wonders of the world. He fell in love with long-distance road biking at age 12, when he rode 50 miles to achieve a Scout Merit badge. Between the ages of 12 and 80, he cycled innumerable miles everywhere from South Africa to New Zealand to the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S. For his 50th high school reunion, Tim cycled from Burlington, Vt., to Bethel Park, Pa., which was exactly 761 miles of cycling — an auspicious number, as it was also his Boy Scout troop number. Of his many trips, Tim would call this trip to Bethel Park the best trip he ever had, due to all the meaningful memories he made and recalled along the way. Tim took his final bike ride along Vermont roads and trails with his good friend Pierrevy just weeks before he passed.
The joys of Tim’s life were many and included his wife, Anne Judson; his children, Christopher Parsons and his wife, Charlotte (Colchester, Vt.) and Eliza Parsons (Seattle, Wash.); and his step-grandson, Graham. Tim’s family extends sincere gratitude to Pierrevy Polyte, an important friend to Tim in his final years; the Parkinson’s community of Vermont, which is wide and loving; Tim’s devoted friends and neighbors for all their support; and University of Vermont Home Health & Hospice for ensuring that his departure was painless.
A celebration of Tim’s life will be held in Vermont this summer; more information to come. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to the Innocence Project, the Michael J. Fox Foundation or the Lake Champlain Committee.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2022.


Tim and I rode many miles on our bikes, he was my good friend. We carpooled together and talked about our lives. He listened to me, patiently as I talked about roasted cauliflower and I listen to him talk about his life in NY and his gardens. One time, when we were on our way home from a NY ride, he stopped the car and said he needed a nap, he told me to go outside and pratice Yoga while he was napping. So I did. He was a wonderful human being and I am grateful to have known him. You will me missed Tim.
This is a beautiful obituary. There is no easy way to communicate the fullness, complexity, goodness, and ripple effects of Tim’s well-lived life. For example, my own life would have been very different without Tim. We were both active in the Northern Student Movement in the sixties and met in NYC as public school teachers. He and a friend bought a house in Harlem where a group of us who were teachers moved in so as to live in the community where we were teachers. We shared that home on W. 137th Street for many years, building a community of loving activist educators. My husband John and I lived there from 1970 to 1988; our daughter Sierra was born there in 1976 and spent her decisive early years living in Harlem. We all were united in another stage of life through YouthBuild. Tim brought it to Burlington! John and I love Tim with all our hearts, forever. Dorothy Stoneman
Tim and I worked together in Burlington when I was the ED of the King Street Center. We were partners in action and in spirit. He was just as lovely as the obituary so elegantly describes. I can still see his face, hear his enthusiastic voice and recall his ever- positive aura. We shared a love for young people and felt inspired by their potential. His ripple effect is undoubtedly felt far and wide, perhaps unknown but never unappreciated. He often spoke of his wonderful Anne and the “now grown” kids. My heart is filled with sustaining memories.
Roxane Leopold, Atlanta
Tim was a gentleman and an exceptional human being. Paraphrasing Paul’s words to Timothy: “He fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith. ”
Tim was a bright light in an ever darkening world. He was a leader in all phases of his life. I attended Bethel Park, PA High School with Tim and his leadership abilities were apparent even then.
Tim was fortunate to have a loving supportive family a host of friends.
May he Rest In Peace and free from pain.