Peter R. Anstruther ’31
WITH THE death on Feb. 21, 1992, of Peter Anstruthcr, the class has lost a member who followed a number of interesting careers, and who was well known to 1931 football buffs who attended Dartmouth games, which in recent years were preceded by delightful brunches hosted by Peter and his late wife, Mary Virginia. In 1967 Peter took a position with the Dartmouth Library, from which he retired some time ago. Peter was born in England and earned a master's degree from Columbia.
Peter was most interested in the cooperative movement, and was a member of the Hanover Coop. He was known as "Mr. Cutting Edge," encouraging the use of raised bed gardening long before it came into vogue. Peter is survived by his late wife's brother, and by a cousin in Scotland, to whom the Class extends its sincere sympathy.
The Class of 1931
Paw in print
May 2026
The Attentionauts; Philip Stoltzfus ’79 and Lebanese American University in wartime.
1 Response
Comments
Helena Brett-Smith
3 Weeks AgoRemembering a Family Friend and Godmother
I was born and raised in Princeton , schooled at PDS and graduated in 1973, then came to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale. Mary Virginia Anstruther was my godmother, and beloved to me. She and Peter gave me their secondhand orange Chevette when I came back to the U.S. after Peace Corps in West Africa, and after applying to med school from Africa, I was admitted to Stanford Med. I drove that beloved Chevette solo across the U.S. (from east to west via a northern route) and then two years later coming back a southern route to return to New Haven to start a physician residency program in the Yale medical system which involved intensive HIV work for 3-plus years.
I was born and raised in Princeton, parents were English post-World War II transplants to the U.S., where my father ran the US branch of Oxford University Press. He was a weekly Saturday visitor to the Princeton Library Rare Book Room in order to explore the latest info on 17th century English Restoration Drama, which was his love and hobby, having been a childhood assistant to his father who was an Oxford Don specializing in Restoration Drama. Occasionally he would let me accompany him as a special treat. My mother knew Mary Virginia from some connection that predated my parents’ coming to the U.S.