April 30, 2026. A Thursday. John H. Enos died at his home in Fort Myers, Florida. He was 73 years old. The cancer that took him was pancreatic, aggressive, and brief in its assault. He fought it with whatever strength he had left.
But the disease moved faster than the treatments. His family surrounded him at the end. His wife of more than 50 years held his hand. His children stood nearby. His grandson, named Jack after him, will grow up with stories instead of memories.
Jack, as everyone called him, never forgot where he came from. He grew up surrounded by family and close neighbors on Green Street. He drove north to Burlington regularly to visit extended relatives. Every year, he packed up a tent and camping gear and went into the woods with his parents and siblings. Those trips were not luxury vacations.
That sense of connection stayed with him his entire life. He did not drift away as he aged. He leaned in. He called people on their birthdays. He showed up at funerals. He attended weddings even when the travel was inconvenient. Friends say he had a rare ability to make a person feel like the most important person in the room, even in a crowded house.
His marriage to Kathleen M. Boylan Enos was the center of his world. They met young. They married young. They stayed together through job changes, relocations, illnesses, and the ordinary wear of decades. There was no secret formula. They listened to each other. They apologized when they were wrong. They laughed at the same jokes. Kathleen says he never went to bed angry. She says he brought her coffee every morning without being asked.
The arrival of his grandson, also named Jack, changed something in him. He softened in ways his children had not seen before. He held the baby for hours. He sang lullabies off key. He talked about the future, about teaching the boy to fish, about taking him camping just as his own father had done. Some of those plans will never happen now.
The family has scheduled visitation for Friday, May 8, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home on Winn Street in Burlington. A funeral service will follow on Saturday, May 9, at 11:30 a.m. at the same location. Burial will take place on Monday, May 11, at 11:00 a.m. at New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan.
Jack leaves behind Kathleen, his children, his grandson, and a network of friends who will remember him as a man who answered his phone, returned his emails, and never canceled plans unless absolutely necessary. He was not famous. He was not wealthy. He was reliable. He was present. He was kind. And in the end, that was more than enough.