Peter B. Hanscom

Peter B. Hanscom January 25, 1943 – June 26, 2024 PERKINSVILLE, VT -Peter Brackett Hanscom was born to Eliot B. Hanscom and Edna T. Hanscom on January 25, 1943 at Macdill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL. He grew up near Philadelphia, PA where his father, uncle, and cousins ran Hanscom Bakery and its network of retail stores. He and his younger sister Sue spent their youthful summers in Ocean City, NJ and at the family’s Revolutionary Era home in Eliot, Maine. Following school, Peter chose to veer away from a career in the baking business. He shared his family’s avocation for travel; and by his mid twenties, Peter was working as an agent and tour guide for McGettigan’s Travel Bureau in Philadelphia. While at McGettigan’s in the late 1960s, Peter planned an around-the-world journey by travel van, collecting rare route maps and researching requisite visas in his off-time. Shortly thereafter he met his future wife, Katherine Jackman of Wichita, KS who was working in Philadelphia and well-qualified to journal the proposed trip. She joined him for this adventure and the two were married upon their return to the States early in 1970. By 1973 the Hanscoms had located in Perkinsville, VT where they built a home and resided for almost twenty-five years. Peter served his adopted community as Dog Catcher, Constable, and Weathersfield Ambulance Service Volunteer for many years. With friend and local contractor Matt Keniston, Peter and Kathie purchased, remodeled, and sold two homes in the area and one in Santa Fe, NM. Peter also had a business selling antique cars and car parts. In 1998 the Hanscoms divorced. Peter later relocated to Westminster West, VT taking great pleasure in his new place atop a hill overlooking the Connecticut River Valley. Bearing witness to his lifetime love of art and architecture, Peter was an accomplished builder, woodcarver, potter, and layer of dry stone walls. Peter was preceded in death by his parents Eliot and Edna Hanscom and his sister Susan Hanscom Howell. He is survived by his ex-wife Katherine and numerous beloved nieces and nephews. Peter treasured his friendships and would want to acknowledge Bill Shinn Jr., Penny Arms, Bill Henderson, and Norm and Vicki Hanson as special among them.