Condolence: I have missed John since he and Bobbi left Harvard years ago. His gracious, friendly, encouraging friendship and his endless curiosity and energy were inspiring to me and in fact one of the principal reasons I became a beekeeper. Sitting in our small Bolton Road barn was a box of woodenware for a new hive, a gift of an established beekeeper who thought that since we were "in the country" we might as well keep bees. I had no such thought until I read Sue Hubbell's beautiful book, "A Book of Bees", and tasted a jar of John's honey. John became a mentor of sorts because he always knew more than I did and had a better sense of what the bees wanted than I did. A persistent memory not related remotely to bees will serve to remind me of John for years to come. I was chatting with him at the town post office one day when he asked me if I knew why a small door in our tiny den was painted neatly with the number 41, nor did we know why the panel pattern did not match that of the wall surrounding it. John was able to share the story of our small, curious door that had been removed by George Harrod, a blacksmith, from the old Unitarian church. Harrod had removed the door - and, in fact, the entire church - ahead of the building of the present Town Hall. (The new Unitarian church was built immediately south of its former site.) George's grandson Walter saved this souvenir for years in a room over his wood shop, eventually giving it to Harry and Winnifred Sturdy who owned our house at 15 Woodchuck Hill Road for years. This story is typed and kept taped to the back of the famous door, and I still expect to see John at the post office or in the new incarnation of our general store at least once a week. How very lucky I was to have known him and to have studied with him. I wish him peace.

Condolence: Dear Bobbi & Family. I am sorry to hear of John 's passing. Fondly, Phyllis