East Chapel Hill High teacher remembered for patience, love for students

John Moore “Jay” Wilson III, a devoted father of three and beloved math teacher at East Chapel Hill High School for over 25 years, died on Jan. 28 at 50 years old after a battle with cancer.

Wilson grew up in Morehead City, North Carolina, with his mother, who also taught high school math. He received an undergraduate teaching fellowship at UNC and graduated with a mathematics degree in 1996. 

Wilson began teaching at ECHHS in 1999. In 2007, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools named Wilson as the district’s teacher of the year. 

His best friend and colleague of 20 years, Nicholas Fitzgerald, described Wilson as an exceptional mentor and friend who found immense joy in his life’s work as a teacher. Fitzgerald and Wilson co-taught many AP Statistics, pre-calculus and calculus classes together. Over time, the two developed an enduring friendship over their children, love of baseball and similar approaches to teaching.

Fitzgerald said they had a running joke where, depending on how students performed on a pop quiz or particularly challenging test, each would tell the class that the other wrote the questions.

“It was just a comfortable, safe, warm and inviting environment to learn math,” Fitzgerald said of Wilson’s classroom. “That’s what he was all about.”

Amelia Ruvo, now a sophomore at Virginia Tech, graduated from ECHHS in 2023. She said math had always been a source of anxiety and stress, something that the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated. 

When Ruvo took pre-calculus with Wilson, she said it was the first math class she didn’t dread attending. 

Ruvo said Wilson was a patient and passionate instructor who cared deeply about his students’ success. 

“He had a way of making me feel genuinely taken care of,” Ruvo said. “For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel so scared going into a math class because he was so understanding and caring and helpful.” 

Wilson decked out his classroom with artwork gifted from former students and memorabilia of his beloved Boston Red Sox. 

Ruvo also remembered Wilson as a family man. She said his youngest son was a senior at the same time as her, and Wilson loved to talk about him and his other children's accomplishments. 

When he wasn’t teaching, tutoring, advising the National Honor Society, woodworking or taking care of his kids and his wife Jennifer, he was with his mother, Molly Boone. He brought her groceries, picked up her prescriptions and cooked her crockpot meals. 

Linda Alton, a retired artist, lived in the same Hillsborough apartment building as Wilson’s mother for several years. Alton said she saw Wilson practically every day. She recalls him sporting a hefty beard, Red Sox shirts and athletic shorts, no matter the season.

When Alton found out about Wilson’s cancer diagnosis last January, she contacted Fitzgerald about the possibility of creating a fundraiser to offset treatment costs. Several ECHHS students had already expressed interest, so Alton launched a GoFundMe on March 7, 2024. 

“When I first started out, I didn’t know what to set the goal at and Nick said, ‘Set it at $1,000,’” Alton said. “They met that in about an hour and a half, so I just kept upping it.” 

By the time the fundraiser ended, Chapel Hill community members and ECHHS alumni had raised over $77,000. Former students posted outpourings of love and gratitude along with their donations. Alton said that one contributor commented that Wilson came to his house to tutor him after a car accident. Former female students in STEM occupations cited Wilson as the reason they felt empowered to enter the field, Alton said. 

“I think he touched lives he didn’t even realize he had touched,” Boone said.  

A memorial service for Wilson took place at ECHHS last Saturday, where his colleagues, children and college roommates spoke. The Chapel Hill Carrboro Public School Foundation also set up the Jay Wilson Wildcat Award Fund in his name to create a permanent endowment for a student in need. Three days after the link went public on Friday, Feb. 7, supporters had reached nearly one quarter of the $25,000 goal.

ECHHS social studies teacher Brian Link said the fundraiser was meant to honor Wilson’s legacy as a champion for students.

“People can do something great to help future East students, just like Jay did for the entirety of his career and devoted his life to,” Link said. 

Boone said teaching was Wilson’s true calling, and he went above and beyond to help his loved ones, students and colleagues alike.

“He always made you feel better by being around him,” she said.

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