Obituary – John Crocker Eastman II, (87) North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Beloved husband of Virginia (Tennant) Eastman, North Kingstown and son of the late Helen (Garson) Eastman and the late John Crocker Eastman of Warwick, Rhode Island, He was born in Syracuse, NY, grew up in Milton, MA and came to RI in 1955.

A long-time resident of North Kingstown, Mr. Eastman was a Commercial & Industrial Consultant for Narragansett Electric and the New England Power Service Company in Westborough, Massachusetts before retirement in 1993. He was a 1962 graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a degree in Marketing and Advertising and a member of Theta Chi fraternity.

A veteran of the US Air Force (1955-1959), he graduated from the Institute of Far Eastern Languages at Yale University in 1956 as a Mandarin Chinese linguist and served in Taiwan and the National Security Agency

Mr. Eastman was a Rotarian. He was president of the Pawtuxet Valley Rotary club in 1970-71, president of the East Greenwich Rotary Club in 1979-80, member of the Wakefield Rotary Club from 1983-87 and a member of the North Kingstown Rotary Club from 1994 until 2003. He was the Rotary International Group Study Exchange Team Leader from District 7950 to District 1730 in southern France and Monaco in 1995.

Mr. Eastman was President of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was Governor of the RI Society of The Order of Founders and Patriots of America and a member of the Society of Colonial Wars in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a member of the Sons of the Revolution in Rhode Island and a member of the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the USA.

He was a member of the Westminster Unitarian Church in East Greenwich and served as President from 1984 to 1986. In retirement he was a docent at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. He also volunteered at the North Kingstown Free Library and served as president of the Friends of the Library.

He followed a lifelong love of learning and of American history through the Brown Community for Learning in Retirement (BCLIR). He led a 12-week seminar on “World War II in the Pacific” at BCLIR. He also was an active member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Rhode Island.

He and his wife attended 22 Road Scholar programs in the United States and abroad and were Road Scholar Ambassadors.

Mr. Eastman is survived by his wife, Virginia (Tennant) Eastman, two sons; Scott R. Eastman, and his wife Mary of Lincoln, Rhode Island, and Craig G. Eastman, and his wife Lisa Agustin of Sharon, Massachusetts; two step-sons, Mark D. Motycka, of Omaha, Nebraska and Todd D. Motycka of Austin, Texas. He also leaves a sister, Delight Eastman Nasatir, and her husband Michael of Los Angeles, California and three beloved grandchildren; Emilee V. Eastman of Cranston, Rhode Island, and Owen B. Eastman and Adam C. Eastman of Sharon, Massachusetts.