1st Biennial JUS Conference | THE JOHN UPDIKE SOCIETY

We are saddened to report the passing of James N. Trexler, a classmate of John Updike’s who was part of a panel at the very first John Updike Society conference at Alvernia University in Reading, Pa. Trexler died of AML at age 93, and his obituary made a single reference to Updike:

“[Trexler] often joked that he ‘majored in swim team, wood shop, and typing’—a fitting description for the man his classmate John Updike once referred to as the ‘class clown’.”

Jim graduated from Shillington H.S. in 1950 and from Albright College in 1958, serving a stint in the U.S. Air Force in between. A people person with a sharp wit, Jim “worked as a sales manager for Columbia Cutlery while coordinating logistics with Ennis Manufacturing. After ‘retiring’ in 1993, he served as the Terminal and Operations Manager for Landis Transportation and concluded his career at Mark Metals, where he worked until age 82.”

The obituary added that Jim was known for his “incredible wit, generosity, integrity, and genuine interest in hours,” and Updike Society members experienced that first-hand in 2010 when he not only participated in the panel but hung around to talk with conference attendees. Pictured below is that panel, with Jim on the right, next to fellow H.S. classmates Harlan Boyer, Jackie Herneisen Kendall, Joan V. Youngerman, and moderator Jack De Bellis. We were privileged to learn from him and enjoy his company. Our condolences to his wife, Evelyn, daughter Joellen Trexler Nelson, son Andy, and other family members.

In a March 2023 interview with V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell, Ann Beattie talked about her new collection of essays, More to Say: Essays and Appreciations, which contains an essat on “John Updike’s Sense of Wonder.” Beattie was the keynote speaker at the 1st Biennial John Updike Society Conference in Reading, Pa., back in 2010, and a version of her talk—and this chapter—was published by The John Updike Review in 2011.

The Lit Hub-hosted interview series noted that in the interview Beattie discussed “her recent LitHub essay about Donald Barthelme’s short story ‘The Balloon’ and the Chinese spy balloon. She also talks about her recently published first collection of essays, More to Say: Essays and Appreciations, in which she writes about the work of authors, photographers, and artists she admires, including Elmore Leonard, Sally Mann, John Loengard, and her own husband, visual artist Lincoln Perry.

“Beattie explains why as a nonfiction writer, she prefers close looking and reading; considers defamiliarization in the hands of Barthelme and Alice Munro; analyzes former visual artist John Updike’s depiction of the natural world; and reflects on developing increased comfort with writing about visual art. She also reads excerpts from both her Lit Hub piece and the essay collection.”

Here’s the link to the Lit Hub interview.

THE JOHN UPDIKE SOCIETY

Celebrating one of the most significant American writers of the 20th century

Category Archives: 1st Biennial JUS Conference

In Memoriam: James N. Trexler

Ann Beattie speaks to Updike’s descriptive powers