John Terence Headington, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Dermatology, died March 30, 2021, two weeks after the death on March 16 of Jill Loubser Headington, his wife of nearly 64 years, in Durango, CO. Terry grew up in Michigan, Colorado, and New Mexico, earning his B.A. in 1952 and M.D. in 1957 at the University of Michigan, where he met Jill on a blind date. Jill Loubser was raised in nearby Lapeer, Michigan, but by the time she met Terry, she was already a gifted photographer and adventurous traveler. Jill studied at Colorado College until age 20, when she accompanied her uncle on his 1954–55 Fulbright to Pakistan, where Jill attended the University of Karachi. Following this transformative experience, Jill transferred to the University of Michigan, where she obtained her B.A. in political science in 1957.
Terry and Jill married in 1957 and set off on a honeymoon drive to Seattle with little more than sleeping bags in their rattletrap car and a generous friend's credit card for gas. Terry was a pathology intern at Virginia Mason Hospital, and Jill worked in a bookstore. In 1958 they returned to Ann Arbor for Terry's residency in pathology, and Jill's M.A. in library science. Daughter Lisa was born in 1960. In 1962 Terry was named Resident of the Year, and the young family moved to San Francisco, where Terry served as Captain in the US Army Medical Corps and was Chief of Clinical Pathology at Letterman General Hospital. In 1964 son Peter was born, and the family again returned to Ann Arbor where Terry was appointed Assistant Professor of Pathology. Two years later, Terry signed on as Visiting Professor of Pathology with the USAID/University of Illinois Chiang Mai Project. The family lived in northern Thailand from 1966 through 1968, where their closer window onto the Vietnam War cemented the couple's alignment to progressive politics.
Back in Ann Arbor, Terry was promoted to Professor in 1971 and won the Elizabeth C. Crosby Award for Basic Science Teaching in 1972. He launched a 40-year running career, conquering the Boston Marathon in 3:23 at age 47. Although dissuaded by male faculty from her goal of entering the Foreign Service, Jill continued to read widely in international political economy and embarked on a rigorous lifelong pursuit of photographic technique. Together, Terry and Jill began collecting art, and instilled in their children a love of the West through skiing, backpacking, and rafting adventures. In 1973, the family moved to London for a year's sabbatical, where Terry pursued training in Dermatology and Jill attended the Dieppe, France cooking school.
Upon returning to the University of Michigan, Terry added dermatopathology and dermatology to his board certifications in anatomic and clinical pathology. During the 1980s and '90s, he served on numerous University and national committees, published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and delivered more than 40 invited lectures internationally. He was an expert in tumors of the hair follicle and published one of the first comprehensive reviews of the subject in 1976. In 1984 he pioneered the ""Headington Technique"" for sectioning scalp biopsies, now the worldwide standard for diagnosing hair and scalp disorders. In 1986, he became the first to identify, and name, dermal dendritic cells, recognizing the importance of these cells as part of the immune system.
Terry was a President of the American Society of Dermatopathology, and his awards included an honorary doctorate from the University of Bordeaux, France. He was named a Fellow of the Royal College of Medicine, American Society of Dermatopathology, and American Academy of Dermatology, and made an honorary member of the British Association of Dermatology, and the Dermatology Society of South Africa. He was especially proud of his 1989 William B. Taylor Teaching Award in dermatology, and 1994 Residents' Teaching Award in pathology.
Jill's passion was large-format black and white photography. She traveled with more cameras and film than clothing and was drawn to landscapes and botanical and architectural details and abstractions. She sold her work through several galleries, most recently at the Durango Arts Center. Jill was most at home in the land- and seascapes of Cape Cod, whether photographing, walking, swimming, rowing, fishing, clamming, or gardening. She took great satisfaction in a meal prepared wholly from the bounty of her garden and the ocean. Life-long, she read voraciously in history, politics, fiction, and the arts, researched and documented her travels intently, and supported progressive causes.
The couple moved to Durango, Colorado when Terry retired in 1997. They skied, hiked, fly-fished, gardened, and traveled to Europe, Mexico, Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands, the Silk Road, Mali, Namibia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Syria, and the Turkish coast. They savored summers on Cape Cod and hosted family Christmas in Durango for 25 years. Both were lifelong bibliophiles and athletes; they skied until Jill was 80 and Terry was 84. Terry reveled in being a grandfather. He had an extraordinary memory, sometimes reciting poems memorized in high school. His grandchildren's adventures and successes illuminated his final years and he was extremely proud of them. He taught them the importance of anticipation and concentration in driving an automobile as in life. Together, Terry and Jill willed to their family by example not only the satisfaction earned through the quest for excellence in any worthy endeavor, but the gift of joy found in simple things: noticing an ocean wave gilded by early morning light, carving a perfect ski turn, making something by hand, collecting an interesting rock, or sharing a meal with loved ones.
Terry and Jill traveled the world and through life together, each possessed of probing intellect and insatiable curiosity, but utterly lacking pretension. They lived extraordinary lives through bountiful good fortune, adventurous choices, and hard work. Terry's confidence, optimism, warmth, generosity, sense of humor, and passion were matched by Jill's bravery, tenacity, resourcefulness, creativity, and boundless energy. They were fiercely independent until the end, determined to keep moving, to fully inhabit their lives. Terry and Jill left behind an extensive library and a collection of interesting objects equipped with notes describing their provenance. They are survived by daughter Lisa Headington (Paul Thomas) of Denver, son Peter Headington (Julie Fraize) of Alameda, CA, and beloved grandchildren Bianca and Simon Thomas, and Wesley Headington. Terry and Jill were widely admired, deeply loved, and their loss is keenly felt.
Published by The Durango Herald on Aug. 6, 2021.
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