Deceased September 26, 2022
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In Memory
John B. Pendleton, who died on Sept. 26, 2022, packed three careers—law, education and writing—into his long life.
John was born to Erma Faye Stoecker and Leonard Thurstone Pendleton ’23 in Bronxville, N.Y.
After graduating from University High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, John matriculated at Amherst, majoring in English and pledging Beta Theta Pi. He won freshman numerals in soccer, sang in the Glee Club and was ACAA president. After graduation, he spent a year working in Amherst’s admission office before earning his law degree at the University of Michigan in 1962.
John began his 35-year legal career at an established firm in Concord, N.H., and later founded firms of his own. In addition to engaging in litigation, John served on New Hampshire state commissions, authored important legislation, and was president of the Rotary Club and the youngest-ever president of the New Hampshire Bar Association.
John was a dedicated family man. His wife, Georgia, passed away in 1979, and John cared for their four children. In 1980, he married Betsy Carruthers, who had six children of her own. Together they raised the 10 children in their merged families. Sadly, Betsy died two months after John.
John had always wanted to teach. In 1996, at age 60, he retired from his legal career and accepted a faculty position at Proctor Academy, a private, coed boarding school. For the next decade, he taught English, coached soccer and tennis, and—most challenging—served with Betsy as dorm parents to 12 teenage girls. Summers, they traveled and sailed.
Upon retiring from Proctor in 2006, John focused on writing, composing character studies and vignettes as well as poetry. He also researched his family history dating back to 1634. In 2017, he published his autobiography, Together.
Ned Megargee ’58