Jean Etsinger Was a Journalist in the Most Honorable Sense of the Profession

Those of us who came from the mainland and have made the Virgin Islands our home know and accept that one of the painful drawbacks is oftentimes people leave. After 18 years of living and contributing in ways that can never be calculated, Jean Etsinger moved to Sarasota, Florida, where she died this week unexpectedly, after contributing to that community for 20 years in many of the same ways that she contributed to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 1999, theater enthusiast the late Norman Ussery, who grew up on St. Croix and served as managing artistic director at Island Center on St. Croix before serving as the founding director of Pistarckle Theater on St. Thomas, captured one of Jean’s particular areas of acumen when he wrote in a letter to the editor, “I have been following The Source for about six months and it has become my lifeline to the V.I. news. I am ecstatic to find Jean Etsinger’s Scene & Herd adding to the mix! Jean has been the voice of reason for the arts scene — sometimes complimentary, sometimes not — but always well informed and well thought out.”

Jean was one of the most reliably straightforward people I have ever known.

I am not sure exactly what day Jean showed up at the Source, but when she did, it was quietly as a volunteer editor, two roles she was always comfortable with. Happily, she went on to become a paid editor, continuing to offer her editing skills from Sarasota for a time after leaving the V.I.