Linton Avery Harrington

Harrington—Linton Avery Harrington, 49, on September 29, 2021, due to a heart condition. Linton was born on August 23, 1972, in Washington, D.C., the second child of Louis and Merida Harrington. He was a lifelong member of Sandy Spring (Md.) Meeting.

Linton grew up in Rockville, Md., attending Sandy Spring Meeting with his family. He attended Hungerford Park Elementary School and Julius West Middle School in Rockville and completed high school at Sidwell Friends School in 1990. He was active in Boy Scouts along with his father and brother Clayton. He earned Eagle Scout rank at 17. 

Linton was a camper at Catoctin Quaker Camp and Teen Adventure Quaker Camp in the 1980s and a counselor at Catoctin for four years in the early ’90s. He returned to Teen Adventure as a trip leader for three summers in the late ’90s. These experiences in the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Camping Program inspired his environmental education, which allowed him to share his love of nature with others.   

Linton attended Bates College in Maine. He spent a semester at sea aboard the research ship Corwith Cramer. During his second year at Bates, Linton met Elisabeth Allen of Shrewsbury, Mass. Although Elisabeth transferred to University of Massachusetts, their relationship endured. In 1994, Linton graduated with a bachelor’s degree (social sciences).

Following college Linton worked for Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group and taught science at Friends School Mullica Hill in New Jersey, Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica, Stone Environmental School in New Hampshire, and Friends Meeting School in Maryland, where a nature trail he created in 1999 continues to be called the Linton Trail. 

Linton and Elisabeth Allen married in 2001 while in graduate school and living in Amherst, Mass. Linton received a master’s degree (environmental studies) from Antioch University New England in 2002, and Elisabeth received a master’s (social work) that same year. 

Following graduate school, Linton accepted a position as Southcoast outreach and education coordinator for the Trustees of Reservations in Fall River, Mass. In this role he led naturalist programs, school activities, and volunteer environmental work throughout southeastern Massachusetts. Later, as youth development program manager, he developed and ran a statewide green jobs program for urban youth. During the 16 years Linton worked for the Trustees of Reservations, he and Elisabeth came to know, love, and put down roots in coastal southern New England. They ultimately made their home in Little Compton, R.I. 

During the 2018-2019 school year, Linton taught environmental science at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River, Mass. Most recently, he was the director of programs and operations for Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a nonprofit youth development program based in New Bedford, Mass. In this role, he shared with young people his love of the outdoors and helped them to notice natural beauty in their urban surroundings. 

Both in his professional life and with his family and friends, Linton spent as much time as he could outdoors. He loved hiking, biking, boating, gardening, and enjoying the beautiful coast of southern Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Linton had an encyclopedic knowledge of the flora and fauna of the region. He was humble, gentle, patient, and understated, with a quiet sense of humor that surfaced when you least expected it.

Linton was predeceased by his mother, Merida Harrington. He is survived by his wife, Elisabeth Allen Harrington; their sons, Thomas and Eli; his father, Louis Harrington, and stepmother, Cathy Schairer; his sister, Julia Harrington Reddy (Sanjay); his brothers, Clayton Harrington (Petra Guiland) and Nathan Harrington; stepsister Schai Schairer; and stepbrother Jaccen Schairer.