John Elliott

Published 11:24 am Tuesday, May 28, 2024

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Tryon— John (“Jack”) H. Elliott died peacefully in his sleep on May 24, 2024, at the age of
97. Jack was born on March 26, 1927, in Haverhill, MA. His parents were Glendon M. Elliott and
Margaret Horne Elliott. Jack grew up in Providence, RI with his parents and his sister, Gretchen
Viall.

Jack attended high school at the Taft School in Connecticut and graduated in 1945.
After high school, he joined the Navy and served in WWII for 18 months in Panama. At the end
of the war, he returned to the U.S. and attended Dartmouth College, graduating in the Class of
1950. Dartmouth played an important role in Jack’s life as he maintained close ties with the
college and had ongoing friendships with many of his classmates. His father also attended
Dartmouth, as did three of Jack’s children, and two of his grandchildren. While at Dartmouth,
Jack was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity, he was on the track team where he ran the 2 mile
and cross-country events, and he was on the ski team.

Jack married Ann Moulton in 1950 in Pasadena, California where she grew up, and they moved
to Barrington RI where they raised their four children. Jack loved to sail, and he was a member
of the Barrington Yacht Club and the New Bedford Yacht Club. He enjoyed sailing around the
Elizabeth Islands and cruising up the coast of Maine. When he wasn’t sailing out in Buzzards
Bay on his boat, the Otter, he loved to spend hours at the mooring watching the harbor activity
and the beautiful sunsets.

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Jack came from a textile manufacturing family. His father was the founder of Rhode Island
Textile Company, a manufacturer of narrow fabrics and a company deeply rooted in the history
of old New England textiles. After college Jack went to work for his father at the company. Over
the years the company expanded to include new factories in South Carolina and Mexico City,
with customers across the country and around the world, including some of the largest retailers
and clothing manufacturers in the U.S. Jack became president of RI Textile in 1982 upon the
death of his father. He moved to Tryon in 1997 to devote more time to the southern operations of
the company, South Carolina Elastic, which was central to the company. He married Rosamund
Logan and continued to live in Tryon, and work at South Carolina Elastic until his retirement at
the age of 91. He was devoted to his work and his employees.

Jack loved to ski more than any other activity. When he was at Dartmouth he began to compete
in skiing. He also loved the adventure of hiking up Tuckerman’s Ravine and skiing the steep,
challenging terrain. His enthusiasm for skiing drew him into the orbit of many of skiing’s notable
pioneers who were shaping the future of the sport at that time. He skied at Cannon Mountain in
NH for most of his life and raised his children to love the sport as well. He was known to get the
first chair up the mountain in the morning and take the last chair up at night. He raced with his
good friends, the “Comey’s Comets” in the US Masters Series until he was in his 70s.

Jack is survived by his four children: Sarah, John, and his wife Karen, Glendon and his wife
Carrie, and Susan and her husband Eric Christensen. He is also survived by seven grandchildren,
Lowell, Ben, Kyle, Sarah, Margaret, Caroline, and Frances, two great-grandchildren, James and
Henry, and his nephew, William Viall.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the
McFarland Funeral Chapel, Tryon NC. The burial attended by the family will be held at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence RI.

An online guest register is available at mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com

McFarland Funeral Chapel & Crematory
Tryon, NC