Charles P. Resor, April 24, 2022

from the Jackson Hole News and Guide

Chuck Resor, longtime valley resident, conservationist, co-founder of Jackson Youth Skating and inventor of the Flashmaster, died April 24 at his home in Jackson. He was 75. The following was provided by his family.

Born Jan. 19, 1947, in New York City to Jane Lawler Pillsbury and Stanley Rogers Resor, Charles Pillsbury Resor was the second of seven brothers. Chuck made his first visit to his family’s ranch in Jackson Hole during the summer of 1948. His love for the Snake River Ranch, the valley that surrounded it and community that filled it would shape his life and bring him back, time and again, to the place that he would eventually call home.

His father moved his family to New Canaan, Conneticut, when Chuck was still young. From New Canaan Country Day, Chuck would matriculate to St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and eventually to Yale University. Much of Chuck’s young life was spent dutifully following a rigid academic path. His time in Wyoming provided an important contrast to the stiff eastern lifestyle. Out west, khakis were traded for blue jeans, tennis shoes for cowboy boots, and the confines of ivy-laden institutions for airy log cabins.

When Chuck graduated from Yale University in 1969 he took a job with The City College of New York helping students in the Bronx receive their GEDs. Teaching granted him a deferment from the Vietnam War. However, watching his students, who were essentially his contemporaries, be drafted while he, the son of the sitting Secretary of the Army, was able to avoid mandatory service, did not sit well with him. So Chuck enlisted. He volunteered for the infantry and became an Airborne Ranger. By the time Chuck finished officer candidate training, the Army was only sending West Point graduates to Vietnam, so he never served overseas.

Following the Army, Chuck returned to Yale University for law school. After law school he took a job clerking for a circuit court judge and later an appellate court judge. It was during his work for the appellate court that Chuck made his break with the expectations that had influenced his early life and decided to move to Wyoming.

Chuck’s stated reason for moving to Wyoming was to write a book on utilitarian political philosophy. He worked on his utilitarian philosophy deep into his life, but never managed to complete a theorem he saw as integral, and in the end he shared his philosophy with only a small group that both had the attention and intelligence to understand.

Perhaps his innate sense of duty was to blame for not completing the book, because upon moving to Wyoming he became integrally involved in helping the Snake River Ranch with land and planning issues.

In the late 1970s Chuck spearheaded the legal opposition to a lawsuit filed by the sewage plant in Teton Village that would have allowed effluent to be discharged across the Snake River Ranch into the headwaters of Fish Creek. Following an unexpected yet favorable court ruling, Chuck enshrined the temporary legal victory by collecting downstream landowner signatures on a petition that designated Fish Creek as a Blue Ribbon Trout Stream, thus protecting the stream in perpetuity.

Soon after, Chuck and a group of other conservation-minded Teton County residents joined and formed the Jackson Hole Alliance for Responsible Planning, or what is today known as the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

Perhaps Chuck’s most visible contribution to local conservation is the role he played in preserving the Walton Ranch, which lies east of the Snake River along Highway 22. At that time there wasn’t a legal mechanism to make such a large conservation gift without being hit by prohibitive gift taxes. Chuck was able to come up with a solution that allowed Paul Walton to fulfill his wish and preserve the ranch and its iconic vistas forever.

In 1981 Chuck married Nancy Nickel. Two years later their first son, Miller, was born, and two years after that their second son, Turner, was born. Marriage and fatherhood began a new chapter in Chuck’s life. His dedication to his children would lead him in new directions.

Chuck’s mother, Jane Resor, a Minnesotan and a relentless advocate for youth sports, started Jackson Youth Skating while Chuck and Nancy were on vacation in 1989. When they returned Chuck learned that he had been appointed president of the newly formed JYS. He oversaw JYS from its inception, in a now-defunct tennis bubble in the Aspens, to the outdoor ice rink in Wilson, until its eventual arrival at the Snow King Center, for which he fundraised tirelessly. From the very beginning Chuck instituted financial aid in the program, ensuring that all budding figure skaters and hockey players in the valley had an opportunity to participate.

In 1994 Chuck took a sabbatical from his law practice from which he would never return. He and his wife moved their family to northern Spain. He found a renewed joy for life in this year abroad; learning a new language, exploring medieval castles and cathedrals and making lifelong friends. Upon returning from the Iberian Peninsula a year later, he decided to take another leap of faith and develop an educational device inspired by his math-challenged sons.

In 2000 Chuck released the Flashmaster, an education device that taught and tested basic arithmetic tables. The handheld device, which essentially replaced flashcards but allowed teachers and parents to track their student’s progress, sold successfully for 17 years. Chuck claimed the device was “the best thing to happen to education since fear and guilt.” In his final years of life Chuck worked hard to turn the handheld device into a free app that is compatible with all tablets. It was Chuck’s hope that the Flashmaster App would be a gift to children and parents around the world. Go to Flashmaster.com for more info.

Chuck succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a second, valiant battle with cancer. In the months leading up to his death, Chuck was surrounded by the love and support of his partner Patricia Fontanini, his sons, his daughter-in-law, his brothers and dear friends. Pragmatic to the end, he died as stoically as he lived, comforting those by his side by telling them it was “really no big deal” and that he expected death to be like “a really good night’s sleep.”

Chuck will be remembered for his honesty, his kindness, his humility, his uncompromising morals, his dry sense of humor, his toothy smile, his inexplicable love for riding his bike up the Old Pass Road, his unconventional restaurant orders and so much more. He will be dearly missed.

A memorial service is planned for noon on Saturday, June 18, among the family cabins on Snake River Ranch. All are welcome. Before his death, however, Chuck, ever concerned about inconveniencing others, asked that his sons tell friends from afar that they should feel free to simply send a postcard. Chuck loved postcards. Please feel free to send a postcard with a memory of Chuck to PO Box 9123, Jackson, WY 83002. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to a charity of your choice or download the Flashmaster App and share with a child (or parent) in need.