Untitled Document

MEMORIAL SERVICES for JOHN PRENTISS

Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 30, 2005
Photos by Frank Rosenberg

Jennifer Prentiss Morrill, John’s elder daughter, who took the lead organizing the memorial services.

Richard Miller, John’s friend and then-President of John’s company, Adiri.

Pam Barich, close friend of John and his late wife Brigitta, at the site where the New Mexico portion of John’s ashes are buried, along with Brigitta’s. John, Brigitta, Pam and her husband Bill Dean spent many weekends together at Bill and Pam’s cabin in the Pecos Wilderness.

Jennifer and Jessica

Richard Miller, John’s close friend Bill Dean (Pam’s husband),
Pam, Jennifer, Jessica, and Jennifer’s husband Rob.

Greg Wells, one of John’s closest friends. John first met Greg on Kings Mountain(near Woodside, CA) when he moved the family there in 1976. Greg eventually moved to Santa Fe with his wife, Cindy, and John later followed.

The “Harmonic Power Boulder” next to John and Brigitta’s memorial site. John and Brigitta hauled this naturally blue boulder around the desert (first to their straw bale house and then to Brigitta’s memorial site) and developed a farcical new age society around it. The full (hilarious) story is in the program from this memorial service, page 3.

Looking over the Cerrillos Hills between Santa Fe and Albuquerque from the Memorial Site. In the opposite valley is John and Brigitta’s straw bale house and to the right, the Wichita, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Piseco Lake, New York, August 14, 2005
Photos by Ned Groth

The Irondequoit Inn at Piseco Lake, in the Adirondacks, was one of John’s most beloved places. He spent the summers there while growing up, and returned there to live and work as a middle aged man. His family chose it as the site for John’s second memorial service, and many of us who attended stayed at the inn.

Jennifer (right) and Jessica began the service by telling us what it was like to grow up with John as a father, a mixture of loving memories and painful ones. Jen’s remarks mingled her sorrow with the feeling that John was finally at peace.

As a light rain fell, we took turns sharing memories of John. Above, left, Jay Tanner shields Jessica from the drizzle. Right, John’s high school friend Wayne “Bugs” Bailey, a retired NY state trooper, recalls a time when he (in his anonymous police car) stopped John on the highway “just to say hello,” (prefaced by the standard flashing lights, siren and orders over the microphone to “Step out of the car, spread your legs and put your hands on the vehicle”). John’s brother Bard, at far right, awaits his turn to speak.

John’s childhood friend Peter Goold, with his wife Marcia, now operates an orchard. Peter told of a time when John was in 10th grade and stood up to a teacher who was bullying a student in class. The teacher, enraged, chased John out of the room. John ran down the hall to the principal’s office, where, incredibly, the teacher followed, and lunged at him. John fought back and decked the teacher. The incident made John a hero to the other students. (The full story is in the program from the New Mexico service, page 4.)

Above left, John’s sister-in-law, Bard’s wife, Gina Prentiss, reading a poem written by John’s mother, Evelyn. Next to her, her son, John’s nephew, George Prentiss. John and George were extremely fond of each other and spent much time together when John lived in Piseco (where George and his wife Debbie have their own cabin). At right, Jared Prentiss (in the plaid shirt), another of John’s nephews, and in the blue shirt, a friend of the family’s from Harford, NY (outside of Dryden) where John lived for a while, David Marsh.

Friends of John and his father Sam from Piseco Lake. Judy Domkoehler, at right, was Sam’s closest friend in his later years and a good friend to John. Both she and Sam were members of the Piseco Lake Friends’ Society. John sometimes attended their Sunday Friends’ meetings when he lived in Piseco.

Peter and Nancy Goold, standing at left. Seated at left, Kris Geiger (John’s ex-wife) with daughter Jennifer’s children, Lila and Ronan. Far right, Ben Fitzhugh (Kris’s nephew) next to his seated wife, Laada, and daughters Larissa and Laska.

Kris’s sister, Lynne Fitzhugh, at left;
Jennifer’s husband, Rob, with daughter Lila, at right.

Right, Mariah Prentiss (John’s niece) and her partner Michele Hochstetter.

Below, Kris, Jen and Jay chat after the ceremony was over. Jay shared a story with me about the last time he saw John. It was at the Irondequoit, where Jay was camping with his son. He and another guest were sitting on the porch, picking a few tunes on their guitars, when up roared John in a big white SUV. He greeted Jay as if they saw each other every week, and the three of them made music for about three hours, then parted, planning to get together again soon (which was not to be). Jay grew up in Piseco Lake, and after the service, took me on a hike through the nearby mountains and lakes that he and John discovered, when they got to know each other at Darrow, they both loved so much.