JOHN “JACK” STAPLER HOLLISTER (b. 1914, d.1988) was born in Trenton, NJ, of Quaker parents. A George School graduate (class of 1931), he was tall (6 ft. 6 in.) and athletic, captain of the tennis team. He went to Brown University. He and his brother Charles both took a year off and rode bikes through Europe. He married Hannah Thomas, a George School colleague. They lived in the historic village of Dolington, Upper Makefield, where they raised four children.
Later he became an executive with the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, where he contributed to several important reports and publications during his tenure, one of which was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He played a significant role in the development and support of various educational assessments and research initiatives which have had a lasting impact on the field of educational testing and measurement.
Jack and his wife Hannah were described by their friends as “movers and shakers.” Many of the early meetings to envision and create Pennswood Village happened around their kitchen table. He served as a George School Board member for 20 years and as Clerk (Chairperson) of the Board from 1966-1976. He coordinated the deconstruction and reconstruction of the Orthodox Quaker Meeting House in Philadelphia that became the Hicksite George School Meeting House. Jack and Kingdon Swayne were the prime movers in envisioning a retirement village on the old George School farm fields, the first CCRC in Bucks County. Jack resigned as Clerk of the George School board (although he retained his membership on the board—as did several other Pennswood founders) so he could assume the presidency of the Pennswood Village Corporation. Jack and Hannah both lived their final years at Pennswood Village.
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