TOWNSHEND– Peter Ritchie Sherwin, 74, died on November 20 at Grace Cottage Hospital. Mr. Sherwin was born March 26, 1938, in Boston. His parents were Louis Sherwin (Hugo Louis Sherwin Goerlitz) and Jeanette (Berry) Sherwin. He grew up in Red Bank, NJ, and attended St. James School until the age of 12 when his family moved to Winhall, where he went to the Bondville School and then to Burr & Burton Academy. He graduated in 1955 and enlisted in the Air Force where he was honorably discharged due to illness. In 1956 he enrolled at Rhode Island School of Design where he studied illustration.

Mr. Sherwin worked many jobs in his life, starting with a greeting card company in Providence, RI, but because of his love of the land and outdoors he spent most of his life working on farms, carving signs, landscaping, and portrait sketching. Life for him was all about music (all kinds), art, dancing, reading, and the woods. He was also an avid letter writer and a builder of cairns. He was interested and knowledgeable in most any subject.

Known as Dancing Pete at the Mole’s Eye, many a night was spent helping bands with equipment and tearing up the dance floor. He also entertained hundreds of people throughout the years with his yearly dancing at the Peru Fair. He shared himself with everyone he met and loved to jabber. Mr. Sherwin also loved to hitchhike. It was always an adventure for him, meeting new people and on occasion reuniting with long lost friends.

An eccentric, brilliant, and talented man, he had what he needed and needed what he had. Mr. Sherwin is greatly missed and loved.

Mr. Sherwin is survived by his daughter, Amanda Clark Sherwin Corbett, of Wickenburg, AZ; his son, Oliver Sherwin, his wife, LeeAnne (Tomasko) Sherwin, and granddaughter, Elizabeth Helen Sherwin, of Idaho Falls, ID; his daughter, Rosemary Nash Modry, of Wolcott; his step-grandsons, David and Kyle Galaske, of Whitingham; and his life partner, Michele McNamee, of West Townshend. A son, Thomas Peter Sherwin, died in 1966.

A memorial will be held at a later date which will be announced in the paper. Memorial contributions may be sent to set up a scholarship fund in Mr. Sherwin’s name for kids taking workshops at Vermont Family Forests, PO Box 254, Bristol, VT 05443.