John J. Elias

John J. Elias, 91, of Kingston, passed away on Tuesday, December 31, 2024, at Allied Services Meade Street Hospice.

He was born in Wilkes-Barre on February 23, 1933, a son of the late Anthony and Celia Andary Elias. Jack was a 1950 graduate of E.L. Meyers High School. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Thanks to the GI Bill, he was a 1959 graduate of King’s College, where he was elected senior class president; he later earned a master’s degree from the University of Scranton. 

On August 22, 1959, Jack married Susan Harcharufka. In 2024, they celebrated 65 years of marriage. 

Jack’s vocation was teaching. He began his career in 1959 in Woodbridge, NJ. In 1962, he returned to Wilkes-Barre and began teaching English at Meyers High School. In 1971, he was appointed the English Department Supervisor for the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. He held that position until his retirement in 1993. He was also an adjunct instructor at Wilkes University and King’s College.

Over the years, he prepared countless students for their SAT exams, and he was a long-time Keystone State Boys Camp staff member. He advised the Educational Testing Service and Prentice-Hall on testing and textbooks and served on Misericordia University’s Act 101 Advisory Board.

His impact was evident when his former students sought him out. For decades, they went out of their way to tell Jack (and his family) that he didn’t simply teach them to understand Shakespeare or to appreciate literature – he inspired them. In turn, he proudly recalled his students and their accomplishments. A loyal Meyers alumnus and men’s basketball timekeeper, he was “Steadfast Forever.”

He served as an appointed member of the Luzerne County Board of Elections from 2001 to 2003.

Jack enjoyed travel to countless historic sites, games, and family gatherings – but he always insisted on getting home so he could mow the lawn. Favored destinations with Susan included coastal Maine, The Greenbrier resort, the Berkshires, Stone Harbor, and Europe.

A superb athlete, Jack was a fine baseball player in his youth. Later, he enjoyed golfing with friends at courses across the region.

He was a Penn State football season-ticket holder, but his heart belonged to Notre Dame – and no one is certain how he reconciled that. Nor could they understand how he balanced his Yankees fandom with his interest in the Phillies.

Jack conveyed his love of reading, football, puzzles, and old movies to his daughter and grandchildren. Among those who knew him, his meticulous yardwork and fastidious personal habits were legendary. Those attributes, along with his decency, earned him the nickname “Gentleman Jack.”

He was a parishioner of St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception, Wilkes-Barre.

Most importantly, Jack was a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and brother. He will be terribly missed by his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his brothers, Daniel, Joseph, and William Elias, and by his sisters, Nellie Saba, Josephine Podolak, Elizabeth Reimiller, and Victoria O’Donnell.

Surviving are his wife Susan, Kingston; daughter, Marisue Elias Newman, Esq. and her husband Larry, Wilkes-Barre; his grandchildren, Emily Henry and her husband Mark; Jackson; and Sarah; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and cousins.

Special thanks to Allied Services Meade Street Hospice. 

Jack’s family will celebrate his life privately.

The family requests that memorial gifts in Jack’s name be made to King’s College’s Presidential Hope Fund.

Share memories and condolences with Jack’s family at mjmclaughlin.com

This above all: To thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Farewell. My blessing season this in thee! 

• - William Shakespeare, Hamlet