We met John Spaulding in August of 2000, when we were contacted by the town of East Hartford about the collapsed bricks of a supposedly empty vault at Center Cemetery. Turned out the vault was not empty. When town workers went in to assess the damage, they were startled to see skeletal remains and coffins of 16 individuals. At that time, John was the archivist for Center Cemetery and had done extensive research into the families buried there since the early 1700s. Together we worked to compare the cemetery records with the skeletal analysis of the remains and concluded that the "empty vault" was, in fact, the Pitkin Family Tomb.

At the Pitkin Tomb, John started to take photographs of our field work. Each new day during the project, John would show us a booklet he put together of printed photos taken the previous day. Every day he updated the photo book and included newspaper articles, historical research, genealogical information, etc. When we finished the project, the photo book was a wonderful documentation of our work.

Like Rick said at the end of the film Casablanca, it was "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

John Spaulding immediately joined FOSA, which had just formed through the efforts of June Cooke. John soon became a valued volunteer. He showed up to almost every field project we had and immediately became our "official" photographer. Our office library has a set of over 40 bound binders and CDs of John’s photographs and research on each of the projects we worked on between 2000 and 2010. It is a truly remarkable archive. Every book is a "photo essay," not only of the technical aspects of the excavations, but of photographic portraits of all the field volunteers. Many of the photographs are suitable for framing.

John gave tirelessly to FOSA and our our office, both in terms of his time and expertise, as well as in financial support. His expertise as a professional engineer served us well in the field. His suggestions on field techniques and resolving excavation issues were always helpful. John was a relatively quiet man. We would hardy even notice him as he took his pictures (most were not posed for) and went about his work. However, when we had an issue to discuss, he always provided sound advice. His work at the Annual Meetings, setsetting up the technical media equipment for our speakers, photographing and taping the event, and documenting each of the presentations, also serves as an archive of the organization.

On a personal level, we have lost a truly great friend. John is missed deeply and every time we go into the field it is strange not to have him with us. His dedication and commitment to our work will live on in the thousands of photographs he took for us. Years from now, when we review the work of our office and FOSA, John’s books will be the main source of information. And, every time we look at those photographs, or give a presentation, we will be thinking of him.