Peter Albert McIntyre, of Orinda, CA, died in his sleep on Tuesday November 17, 2015.
He leaves behind his loved and loving wife and son, Gail and Adam, his dear sister Jean Berry, niece Melissa (Pacheco) and nephew, Sean and wife Veronica Berry, and many, many friends who enriched his life in so many ways with shared laughter, rounds of golf, Giant’s games, skiing, sailing trips, motorcycle rides, good meals, more laughter and friendship. He is missed.
The Apple.
This is a tough one. It’s never easy to read in memoriam for your classmates but some stop you cold and your heart and mind are instantly back in Easthampton, images, events, even pieces of conversations flood in. Some part of the tapestry of your life bursts in pushing aside any calm of the day. Powerful stuff. I lost contact with Peter after Williston yet I can already feel the world is a different place without the Apple. Over the years I had thought about him, our innocence, life after Ford Hall, and wondered. Our friendship was the rare kind that defines a period of your life especially in those years somewhere between older boys and young men away from home for the first time when we grew up. On the campus, taking the bus to Northampton and on a good day Rahars, skiing in Vermont, or hanging on the Cape Peter always had a plan, a sense of adventure that wanted to experience life. Early on he had a skepticism about idle guidelines that was reasoned and made you think. He wasn’t afraid to go out there and jump into the world. We went a lot of places for guys who couldn’t always drive. I’m sorry we will never take a drive down the PCH together – that would have been nice. Let me say to his extended family and loved ones, life was kind to place this man in your lives, I know this because he was my friend, a special guy. Godspeed to his soul. And let me say to all my classmates and especially to Tommy, Jack, and Bob, we all lost someone important in our life, let’s get some time before we have to read any more like this.
Dear David,
Thank you for your lovely comments about Peter. He often talked about his many pranks and “outings” while at Williston. Do you remember the time he put a dead fish behind someone’s floor board in their room? He so liked telling that story. Hopefully you weren’t the recipient of that “gift”. I am curious, why was he called Apple?
We were together for 42 years and shared many wonderful adventures. He never lost his ability to experience life. I don’t know if you knew him when he had his motorcycle, but he had one (at his death he had two) his entire life. I miss him everyday.
Gail McIntyre