John Hewitson remembered as a man of passion

By: JOE BECK - Staff Writer | Friday, February 16, 2007 9:15 PM PST ∞

ENCINITAS ---- "Passionate" is the word that John Hewitson's daughter and a teaching colleague use most often in summing up the many interests her father pursued in his life.

Passionate teacher. Passionate environmentalist. Passionate fly fisherman. Passionate husband and father.

Science excited him, Jennifer Hewitson said.

Jerry Trust, his former colleague, said Hewitson, who was 79 when he died Feb. 9 in his Encinitas home, left an indelible mark on the teaching of biology throughout the United States.

"He was one of those teachers who comes along once in a lifetime," Trust said.

He said the methods Hewitson used to teach biology at San Dieguito High School in the 1960s became the inspiration for today's advanced placement environmental science classes.

"It was a field course, so the kids actually went out and did studies. They would collect data in the fields," said Trust, who once taught biology at San Dieguito with Hewitson and now teaches at La Costa Canyon High School.

Hewitson said her father's fervor for environmental causes led him to organize sit-ins during the 1970s and encourage many young people to follow their passion into science and environmental work.

John Hewitson was born in Los Angeles to a father who worked as an insurance salesman. His mother was a nursery school teacher who later became head of nursery schools in Los Angeles.

He entered the University of Southern California in 1945, but withdrew after a year to serve an 18-month tour of duty in the Army. After the Army, he returned to college and graduated from Whittier College in 1951. He met Diane, his future wife, while student teaching, and they married in 1955, beginning a marriage that lasted 48 years until her death in 2004.

He began his career teaching high school biology in Perris, where he also became the father of two daughters. While living there he completed a master's degree in biology from Humboldt State College by visiting the Northern California campus during his summer vacations.

In 1962, the family moved to Encinitas, where he taught biology at San Dieguito High School until his retirement in 1988.

Jennifer Hewitson said her father spent much of the next 16 years with his wife and cared for her after she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Of his many interests and hobbies, none was more important to him than fly fishing, Jennifer Hewitson said.

"From early childhood on, that was a huge part of who he was," she said.

He wrote an unpublished book on the subject, painted fish and traveled to New Zealand, Montana and Wyoming as part of his immersion in fly fishing, she said.

He was also an avid hiker in places such as Torrey Pines State Park, and often spoke regretfully of the runaway population growth and urban sprawl in North County since he moved here. Jennifer Hewitson said her father was also dismayed at the popularity fly fishing gained from the book and movie, "A River Runs Through It."

"He hated that, absolutely wished it never would have been made," she said of her father's reaction to the movie. He looked disapprovingly upon newcomers to the sport who flocked to stores buying up overpriced fishing gear.

"He thought there were too many people on the stream who shouldn't be there," she said. "I actually liked that movie, but it was a bad result."

Contact staff writer Joe Beck at (760) 740-3516 or jbeck@nctimes.com.