James T. Dennison

James T. Dennison, 90, died November 24, 2002, at his home in Antrim, N.H. Mr. Dennison was born on July 17, 1912, in West Roxbury, Mass., to the late Henry Sturgis Dennison and Mary (Thurber) Dennison. He was educated at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., and graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1934. He maintained a life-long relationship with his alma mater, serving as the secretary for the Class '34 until his death. After college, he spent a summer as a ranger on the archeological digs at Mesa Verde (Colo.) National Park before joining The Dennison Manufacturing Company in Framingham, where he was an executive and member of the board of directors when he resigned in 1960. He then worked for the National Aeronautices and Space Administration in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, Mass., and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research Center in Cambridge until he retired in 1972 to Antrim, N.H., where he lived until his death. During World War II, he was a civilian pilot instructor in Venita, Okla., and also worked at the Radiation Laboratory in England, He married the love of his life, the former Nancy B. Williams of New Haven, Conn., in 1940 in New Haven. She died in 1994. He was an inveterate skier into his 80s, and a charter member of the Schussverein Ski Club of Glen, N.H. He loved to sail the New England coast, play doubles tennis and canoe the streams and lakes of northeastern Maine around the family camp on Sysladobsis Lake near Grand Lake Stream. He love singing in part-harmony with his friends, and he was a member of Sangerfest in Boston, the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. He also enjoyed choral singing and was a member of the Framingham, MIT and Monadnock (Peterborough, N.H.) choral societies. He was also a member of the Terrapin Club of Boston. He was one of the original participants in the Framingham Heart Study. He leaves three daughters, Sally Hessel of Big Bear Lake, Calif., Becky Sakellariou of Athens, Greece, and Hannah Dennison of Burlington, Vt.; a son, Andrew Dennison of Greenfield, Mass; his companion, Elizabeth Lewis of Cushing, Me.; his caretaker, Jill Young of Bennington, N.H.; and three grandsons, Peter Sakellariou of Athens, Greece, Ivan Sakellariou of Athens, Greece, and Zack Durbin of Joshua Tree, Calif.. There will be no funeral. A memorial service is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 15 at the Town Hall in Antrim, N.H. In lieu of flowers donations in his name can be made to New Hampshire Hospice Organization, 1850 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03104.