John Newton died Feb. 13, 2013, at home in Landgrove, Vt. He was 83.
John came to Princeton from The Newton School, which his father, Dave ’23, ran with his wife, Margaret, on a Vermont farm. The students renovated the farm and raised animals and vegetables for food. Besides matriculating, John cut and sawed firewood to heat the school and taught himself to work with horses, harnessing, plowing, and hauling his felled trees through the woods.
At Princeton he sang in the Chapel Choir and majored in science. In 1958 he received a master’s degree in education from Harvard.
John was a grower of potatoes and tomatoes, a high-school principal, square-dance caller, bass-fiddle player, classic designer, miller and builder, but above all, an educator. He will be remembered for his selfless compassion for the fortunate people whose lives he touched in his strong and elegant way.
During the last 28 years of his life, John owned and ran a timber-frame building company. He designed and built more than 200 barns and houses in southern Vermont, and repaired and restored almost as many.
John leaves behind his wife, Anna Dibble Newton; two sisters; a brother; five children; and many grandchildren.