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November 3, 2005
An active member of the community, Frank “Skip” Eccles served on the Andover School Committee and on the board of directors of the Family Development Charter School in Lawrence.
ANDOVER, Mass—Frank M. “Skip” Eccles, 80, a retired math teacher at Phillips Academy, died at Lawrence General Hospital, surrounded by family members, on Nov 1, a few days after having a stroke. A resident of Andover, Mass., he also spent time with his family at a second home in Randolph, Vermont.
Mr. Skip, as he was called to distinguish him from his wife, Helen, who shares the same nickname, was a 1943 graduate of Phillips Academy. After seven years working as an engineer at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., he joined the Phillips Academy faculty as a math teacher. A lacrosse player at Princeton, where he graduated phi beta kappa, he coached winning lacrosse teams at Phillips Academy for 22 years.
He had done “almost everything at PA,” according to colleague Thomas Lyons in an article prepared for the Andover Bulletin at the time of Eccles’ retirement: written three math texts, held an Independence Teaching Foundation Chair, was a house counselor and served as dean of West Quad South Cluster and dean of studies. Passionate about education and teaching, he chaired several key faculty committees and developed math programs at PA.
A tireless volunteer and advocate, he tutored children in Boston’s Roxbury section in the early 1960s, founded a unique summer math program at PA for Lawrence High School students in the mid-1960s and wrote a report in 1966 on the composition of the student body that became the blueprint for the school’s present multicultural, multiracial and multiclass community. He also taught at A Better Chance (ABC)—a program that helps disadvantaged inner-city youth rise up the educational ladder—at Dartmouth College from 1968–1971 and was involved in the ABC program in Andover. He was the trusted faculty advisor to PA’s Afro-Latino-American Society in the years when there were no black faculty. A key figure in the academy’s (MS)2 program, he served at one time as its director.
In 1981, he created, secured the funding for, and directed the Andover-Dartmouth Teachers Institute (ADI) for inner-city math teachers. Lyons said, “Skip has a vision of education in the good society, and he turned rhetoric into reality by clear thinking and three decades of hard work. No sunshine soldier he, nor his wife, Helen.” The couple, who retired in 1990, was called “The conscience of the academy.”
The Eccleses retired to a home near Andover’s downtown, and in 1996 Mr. Skip ran for a vacancy on the Andover School Committee and won handily. It took the late Virginia Cole, a prominent figure in Andover, to urge him to run, as Eccles was, according to Tina Girdwood, a former chairman of the school board, “as apolitical as they come.” He served on the board from 1996–2002. “Skip cared very deeply about children, education and teaching. He was at times quiet but always thoughtful and witty, and he was an intellect. He seemed to grow more passionate about various causes with each passing year. The town of Andover’s school system is better because Skip served those six years,” said Girdwood.
His belief that every child deserves a quality education was carried after retirement into the Lawrence community, where he volunteered for the past four years as a math teacher at the Family Development Charter School. He was also a member of the school’s board of directors. Also in retirement, he indulged one of his great loves, singing in the Andover Choral Society, which gives concerts in Cochran Chapel and other venues.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, Charles “Cobber” Eccles, and daughters Lydia Eccles, Isabel Eccles and Betsy Eccles, as well as four grandchildren and a great-grandson. A memorial service will be held Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1:00 p.m. at Christ Church, Andover.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lawrence, 136 Water, St., Lawrence, MA 01841.
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