John Cecil Kemmerer

John Cecil Kemmerer, who lived for many years in Princeton Jct. and Princeton, NJ, passed away in the early morning hours of June 8, 2026, in Ipswich, MA. John was born on August 24, 1938, in Salt Lake City, UT, to Colette Noel Kemmerer (nee Fitch) and Mahlon S. Kemmerer. Though soon after his birth his family moved to New York City and then Larchmont, NY, John’s heart and soul forever remained out West. Almost every one of his childhood summers was spent back in Utah with his mother’s parents and his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Tagging along on business trips with his father, a mining engineer, he also explored much of the Southwest and was captivated by the landscapes, cultures, and people he encountered.

After experiencing the vast sublimity of the Southwest, John felt cramped and constrained by the steel-and-glass canyons of Manhattan, where his free range was reduced and restricted to a small apartment balcony—especially after his father caught him outside the building panhandling for candy money. The move to Larchmont provided a little more breathing room and space for the imagination, and John often resorted with his friends to Manor Park to play football and reenact the latest scenes from the Westerns he saw at every Saturday matinee and listened to each week on the radio. He attended St. Augustine’s Grammar School, where he emerged as the fastest sprinter in his class—a somewhat dubious lifelong claim that we have yet to be able to independently verify. The Kemmerer’s Larchmont house on Park Avenue was full of riotous life. In addition to John’s five siblings—Martha, Fran (Frances), Peter, Colette, and Vicki (Victoria)—the home was the frequent site of lively and liquid gatherings attended by live-in aunts and uncles, friends, friends of friends, and complete strangers who had wandered in off the street assuming the place was a hotel.

High school brought another change of scene—one more quiet and contemplative—as John attended Portsmouth Abbey, in Portsmouth, RI. It was here that he acquired an unshakeable, enduring devotion to learning, reading, and his Catholic faith—and to friendship. John made lifelong friends. He was endlessly intrigued by and curious about other people, especially those who came at life from an angle different than his own. He valued idiosyncrasy, appreciated foibles, and cherished characters. John adored storytellers—regardless of their loose adherence to a strict factuality—and often said that he “loved a good spieler.” He was enthusiastic about other people’s enthusiasms, loved learning about their interests, and encouraged their further pursuit. Once he made a friend, John remained loyal to that person forever, no matter how fraught the waters became, and he always remained steadfast and present in his friends’ darkest and lowest moments.

John loved historical adventures novels (Kenneth Roberts, Horatio Hornblower, the Aubrey/Maturin series), Westerns and film noir, music (Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald), the NY Giants, golf, Johnny Walker (on the rocks, with a splash of water), and coffee. While attending Georgetown University, however, John met the true and abiding love of his life—Margaret “Peg” Murphy, the sister of one of his best friends from New Rochelle, Ray Murphy. John’s adoration of and devotion to Peg was immediate—from Day 1 he was gone on her, for good. They enjoyed a 65-year marriage and together raised four children—Allison Kemmerer, (Tom Hammond), Erin Hoesly, (Brian Hoesly), Maureen Kemmerer (Kathy Tessier), and John Kemmerer (Kristina Clark)—who consider themselves the luckiest children in the world, ever, to be blessed with such parents.

Though his true desire was to become a cowboy (or at least a cowboy poet), John chose a more responsible, secure, family-friendly career path, becoming a market research analyst, first for Benson & Benson and then Spencer Bruno Research Associates, both in Princeton, NJ. In 1981, he and his brother Peter formed Mesa Verde, a small, private investment firm. Over the years, John and Peg provided a safe, supportive, nurturing home for their children, their children’s friends, sons- and daughters-in-law, and, their eight grandchildren (Olivia and Aidan Hammond; Jack, Charlie, and Ben Hoesly; Seamus and Murphy Gildner; and Gavin Wieland); and one great-grandson (Cillian Gildner).

In recent years, Peg developed Alzheimer’s and experienced a decline that was painful and heartbreaking. Despite enduring his own significant physical suffering during this time, John remained by Peg’s side, all day, every day. When just getting into and out of a chair was a daunting and exhausting physical challenge for him, he remained singularly focused on Peg’s comfort and care. They remained alongside each other until her death on March 23, 2026.

John’s love for his friends, siblings, children, and grandchildren was palpable, generous, and sustaining. But in his fiercely loyal and protective love for and devotion to his wife, he showed integrity, endurance, strength, courage, and true grit that far surpassed any of his literary or celluloid heroes. In his living—and his dying—John showed us all how to move through the world with good humor, dignity, generosity, and above all, exceptional grace. John, you are now free to saddle up, light out, and ride home to Peg across the wide open country, in the evening breeze—no hobbles, no fences.

The family would especially like to thank all John’s caregivers in Ipswich who offered him such loving support and assistance over the last three-and-a-half years. We are so grateful to you for the kindness, care, and friendship you offered him and your tireless devotion to easing his suffering.

A Celebration of Life for both John and Peg Kemmerer will be held later this summer. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to All Care Hospice (https://allcare.org/donate/).  Assisting the Kemmerer family is the Morris Funeral Home of Ipswich.  To send a letter of condolence to John’s family please go to:  MorrisFH.com .

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