Educator's career spanned 50 years

3/23/2006

FINDLAY - Frank Jackson "Jack" Lizotte, 77, a retired educator and administrator whose career spanned nearly 50 years, died Monday in the Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center here. The cause of death was not known.

Mr. Lizotte was associate professor and assistant dean of Findlay College from the late 1960s through the 1970s. He then was principal of the Blanchard Valley Center school for children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities in Findlay until retiring in 1990.

He previously worked from 1953 to 1965 for the Medina County (Ohio) Schools, where he at different times was a sixth-grade teacher, an elementary school principal, and a school superintendant.

"His work for the [Blanchard Valley] center was probably the most meaningful for him," his wife, Nancy A. Lizotte, said.

"Every improvement and every skill [the children] mastered was a milestone for everyone. It gave him a feeling of enormous satisfaction and accomplishment."

Mr. Lizotte, an Akron native, received a bachelor's degree in foreign languages from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio; a master's degree in education from Akron University, and a doctoral degree in education from Ohio State University.

During the Korean War, Mr. Lizotte served in the Army Chemical Corps in Alabama.

In his free time, Mr. Lizotte enjoyed sports, reading, and singing.

Surviving are his wife of 54 years, Nancy A. Lizotte; daughters, Jacquelyn Fry, Kathleen Baraga, Debra Ader, and Patricia Ryan; brothers, Robert and Kenneth; 12 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday in the Coldren-Crates Funeral Home, Findlay. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Findlay.

The family suggests tributes to the church, the Blanchard Valley Center, or a charity of the donor's choice.