John T. “Jack” Loynd, Sr., who was an associate member of the National Shorthand Reporters Association (which became the National Court Reporters Association) for many years, passed away at the home of his daughter on March 25, 2017, in North Waterboro, Maine, aged 94. He was previously a nearly lifelong resident of Waltham, Mass.
Jack served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and then in the Air Force during the Korean conflict. He was for a time a hearings stenographer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and then Chief of Elevator Inspectional Services for the state.
He is best known to our members for his evening and Saturday speed classes, at which he would preside from his rec-room desk, which for the occasion would be covered with a dozen tape recorders belonging to his students. (Starting and stopping all these machines would be a full-time job in itself.) Those students will never forget finger-spelling “Harriet Z. Quackenbos.”
It is likely that nearly every Merit reporter in Massachusetts, as well as numerous RPR candidates, passed through Jack’s home at one time or another, with some hopefuls attending for years before finally attaining their certifications. Doughnuts and coffee were always included in the minimal price of admission.
Jack was an old-time Bostonian, with a huge fund of stories of State House politics and anecdotes, now gone out of fashion, about the Irish versus the Italians.
Jack had a true generosity of spirit. When one of our members was hospitalized for a week and given a six-hour furlough to take the Merit exam, Jack went to the hospital and dictated to her every day of that week. She passed all parts! Jack refused any payment for this signal service, but did accept a certain amount of Irish whiskey, which was amortized over the ensuing years.
In 2009, the Massachusetts Court Reporters Association held a celebratory dinner – or, as we call it here, a “time” – for Jack at his favorite Waltham restaurant. Jack had for some years been using a printout of one member’s Case Catalyst dictionary as a source of short forms in his classes. On this occasion, he was honored by Stenograph Corporation with a free Catalyst license (probably the only one ever granted) which, together with a donated laptop, enabled his students to look up words on their own.
Jack was predeceased by his wife, the former Margaret McGlone, who ran a dance studio through which passed (in parallel to Jack’s classes) probably every little girl in Waltham and surrounding towns. Her studio’s production of “Annie” is legendary. Jack is survived, as well, by six children and their spouses, and about 36 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Expressions of sympathy may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital of Memphis, Tenn.
He will be missed.
Jonathan Young, FAPR, is a CART captioner based in Waltham, Mass. He can be reached at cartbyjonathan@aol.com.
