Johnny Athearn died in the last minutes of the first day of spring. He was 73 and had been patiently coping with illness for several years. During that time he was able to enjoy the devotion of his friends, family and caregivers, for which he would always show his gratitude.

Johnny was born in 1951 in the 10th generation of his family’s residence on Martha’s Vineyard, the fourth child of Elmer (Mike) Athearn and Elizabeth Brehm Athearn. Growing up on Music street, he made full use of the ponds, fields and woods of West Tisbury, as well as visiting practically every house in the village.

As he grew, his love of his homeland deepened and expanded and brought him into familiarity with a wide variety of people — world famous or local characters.

He attended Cape Cod Community College and Roger Williams College in Rhode Island and finally the University of Massachusetts where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Childhood Education.

In summers, he worked with Mary Payne and the Island Children’s Theatre where he enjoyed working with young children. He followed that path into the public schools as an assistant Kindergarten teacher, mainly in Edgartown, working with Mary Gentle. Together they provided a sweet and loving introduction to education. The parents of the children would speak to John’s family members about how much they loved John. This continues to the present day but with the children now grown with children of their own.

He also enjoyed working with farmers getting their hay in — the Whitings, the Fischers, his uncle Leonard Athearn and, later on, his brother’s Morning Glory Farm. He had a reputation among the hay crews as an excellent stacker, the most important job, as he would have to handle each bale tossed to him and place it artfully on the growing stack on the moving truck quickly so that he would not create a back-up with the crew of on the ground.

As Morning Glory Farm grew, he worked with his brother on all phases of the work involved. His love for the land and his family heritage also drew him to Tississa where the Jones family owned considerable acreage on Deep Bottom Cove where they were restoring the pastures. For years, he tended the farm’s goats and horses and watched over the barns and house. He also built his own house on family land in Chilmark with the help of his friends, and helped to clear the brush and trees that had crept in over the past 50 years so that cattle could be grazed there and he could enjoy the view of fields and stonewalls and distant Menemsha Pond.

He loved getting together with his friends for a party. Usually this also involved unpacking the guitars and singing the old songs that the musicians had dug up from the days when home-made music was the way people socialized. It continued the tradition from his father, Mike Athearn, who played several instruments and sang with the fathers of Johnny’s friends in the 1930’s.

When John decided to leave the environment of schools, he devoted himself to art. He was a talented water color artist and his work developed a simple theme: outdoor scenes of land, water, barns and houses that looked like someplace on Martha’s Vineyard but were all seen only in his imagination. He also seldom painted anything larger than 5 by 7 inches. He loved his art his way.

John never married; his children were the scores of kindergartners he loved so much. He also had several nieces and nephews: Matthew, Susan and Morgan (children of Connie Athearn Taylor and Bob Taylor); Brian Athearn (son of George and Debby Athearn); and Prudence, Simon and Daniel (children of Jim and Debbie Athearn); plus 15 grand-nieces and nephews and his favorite first cousin, Charlie Kernick.

A burial service will take place at the West Tisbury Cemetery on April 13 at 1:30 p.m. officiated by Rev. Cathlin Baker, followed by a memorial service in the Grange Hall at 2 p.m..