Junius Yorke Peeler Jr

Yorke Peeler died on August 25th after a short period in hospice and two years dealing with the challenges of dementia.

Yorke Peeler and his sister Mary Louise were born in Rockwell, North Carolina to J. Yorke Peeler and Mary Belle (Patterson) Peeler. Both parents were leaders of Ursinus Church in Rockwell, Yorke teaching Sunday School and Mary serving as Music Director and Organist for many years.

Yorke, or “Buzz” as he was known though college, learned to sing and play sports at an early age, playing three sports at Rockwell and Mercersburg Academy, and singing in church choirs along the way. Buzz discovered fencing at Princeton University, captaining the team in 1958. Musical Director of the a cappella group Tigertones, he wrote his English thesis on the World War I poets. 

 Yorke met Lois Ingham in the fall of 1958 when they both began their studies at Union Theological Seminary in Morningside Heights. Their 54-year marriage began in 1961 and only ended when Lois died in 2015. Yorke and Lois were active members of the new United Church of Christ. During his 40-year ordination, Yorke served the state colleges of Vermont, Norwich (VT) Congregational Church, Second Congregational Church of Beverly (MA), Union Congregational Church of Montclair (NJ), and Post Mills (VT) Congregational Church. He taught UCC polity at Gordon College and Drew University. Yorke encouraged interfaith dialogue everywhere he lived, from the “cloth clique” in Hanover to the Clergy Association in Montclair to a study group in Concord after retirement.

Always ready to play a sport or sing a song, Yorke sang his entire life: before every meal, wherever there was a choir, in a quartet he joined in Norwich which endured for 40 years, and at Tigertone reunions each fall in Connecticut through 2022. Soon before a valve replacement in 2007, he bicycled cross country from Seattle to Sharon, VT.

 Beyond these continuities was a life of personal transformation, including a growing commitment to racial and economic freedom for all. As Buzz became Yorke, just eleven years after leaving Rockwell, he joined the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 with a group of Vermont clergy. Along the way, he supported the ABC chapter at Dartmouth, helped start the hospice program in Beverly, and served as President of the Clergy Association in Montclair. Ever a teacher, a pastor, a father, a companion, and a friend, he was beloved of many, especially Lois, his three children Susan (who predeceased him), Steve, and Scott, seven grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and his loving partner these last eight years, Judy.

A fall memorial service is planned at South Church, Concord and an interment next summer in West Newbury, Vermont. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Havenwood Heritage Heights (Concord, NH) employee fund.