Mr. John A. Gwynn

John Alfred “Jack” Gwynn died on March 24 from complications related to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a severe form of parkinsonism, with his loving and devoted wife, Dottie, by his side. He was 90.

Jack was born and raised in Linthicum, Maryland, on March 1, 1927, where he and his brothers, Phil and Nowland, his mother, Mabel, and his dentist father, Nowland, enjoyed a home outside of Baltimore, where Jack often travelled to enjoy the symphony and other concerts that started his love of music, an enjoyment he instilled in his own family, and which was enhanced later in his participation in the Reston Chorale in adulthood. After graduation from Glen Bernie High School Jack became a sergeant in the Army during WW II, and afterwards received his degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and then his Masters of Public Administration from the University of Maryland. He then served our country in the civil service, eventually moving to Reston, VA, with his family to help initiate the Environmental Protection Agency in 1971, facilitating grants that were instrumental in the dramatic restoration of our air, water and land quality over the subsequent two decades.

Dottie, the sister of his best friend, Don Weber, and he met in high school and married after his discharge. Together they kept lifelong friendships with many of their childhood friends, even after moving far away to Cincinnati, Raleigh, Reston, and eventually Roswell, GA, decades after their regular and jovial bridge games together. In Reston, Jack became a scion of the new community, helping develop plans, as the Reston Community Association president, for the Reston Town Center that transformed this unique experiment from a pleasant but somewhat balkanized area into the thriving community it has become.

After moving to Georgia Jack was a member of the Roswell Rotary Club and a member of Roswell Historical Society. He was an active member of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Herndon, VA, and more recently of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, and he found comfort in the traditions of the church.

Jack and Dottie loved traveling and camping in their popup and subsequent travel trailer. Their daughter, Leslie, and son, Matt, remember many trips to the Appalachians where neither rain nor cold nor ankle deep mud would dampen his spirit of the outdoors or thwart him from rising to make the percolator coffee on cool mornings that filled the site with aromas that now with each daily cup elicit fond memories of these excursions.

Jack played golf all his life, and shortly after moving to Georgia in his 70’s he and Matt wrestled Pinehurst No. 2 to a draw. Golf became more difficult with the insidious development of PSP producing disabling imbalance and falls as this nefarious illness began. Nevertheless, Jack kept a stoic and honorable attitude, even as the wretched illness sapped the control of his movements and language, always fighting the demons trying to hijack his caring personality, but never complaining more than a moment or two about his lot, fondly remembering the voyages he and Dottie had after retirement and soldiering on, with Dottie’s loving help, to the end of a fruitful and worthwhile life, leaving his legacy of steadfastness and strength to his family.

Jack was the son of Dr. Nowland Gwynn and his wife, Mabel Applegarth, and brother to the late Nowland, Jr, of Salisbury, MD, and Philip Gwynn of Atlanta. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Gwynn, and his two children, Leslie Doyle of Stuart, FL, and Matthews Gwynn of Atlanta; their spouses, Bruce and Beverly; his grandchildren, Rachel Durkan of Mt. Tabor, NJ, Kevin White of Manhattan, David Gwynn of Atlanta, and Caroline Gwynn of Manhattan; and his great grandson, Caiden Durkan.

A Memorial Service and Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 1:00 P.M., Roswell Funeral Home, 950 Mansell Road, Roswell, Georgia 30076