John S. Lancaster of Barnard Vt., died on January 14, 2022, at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center at the age of 94. Born in 1927 to Herbert D. and Elizabeth S. Lancaster, in Quebec City, Canada, John held Canadian and U.S. citizenship, as both his parents were U.S. citizens. He lived in Quebec City, and later in Montreal. In 1936 he returned with his father to Rye, New York and continued his early schooling at Rye Country Day School. He entered Saint Paul's School, a private school in Concord New Hampshire, in the fall of 1941, and graduated the spring of 1945.

After his freshman year at Yale College, 1945 – 1946, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. After basic training he served with the occupation troops stationed in Germany, working as a truck and ambulance driver, a mechanic, and as an electrical maintenance technician. Before leaving Germany, he had earned the rank of Staff Sargent at a Hospital Motor Pool and Maintenance Facility. He was honorably discharged from the army in the summer of 1948. Returning to Yale College in the fall of 1948, he graduated with a BA in English and History, with the Class of 1951.

In the Spring of 1952 John married Virginia Manny, the daughter of Roy and Lorraine Manny. John first met Virginia on Elm Street in Woodstock when his father introduced her to John. The first year of their marriage was spent on the Craven Farm on Lakota Road in Barnard, Vt., raising cows, pigs, and chickens. In 1953 John and Virginia purchased an old farmhouse from Dick Green on Lime Pond Road in Barnard, and in March of 1954 the first of their four children was born.

During his free time between 1944 and 1954 John worked as a Colonel's aide and driver, a ranch hand on the King Farm in Texas, a maintenance/electrical worker and truck driver for Stimets Electrical Services, a staff editor at the Valley News, a carpenter's helper, a farmer, a logger, and a caretaker. After he married Virginia, he had two stints as a truck driver, one as a mover using a 1-ton truck in 1954 -1955 and then starting and ending L & H Trucking in 1956 with a 10 Wheel Ford Tandem.

Wanting to spend more time with his growing family, John settled down with Virginia and his two sons. He spent a short time working as a printer at Lizzlyn Press and as a carpenter's helper with Frizzell Contracting. On his own he installed Hi-Fi equipment for a few area residents. In the early 1960's, after his daughter and youngest son were born, John and Virginia opened a small Children's Clothing store, Lancaster & Sons, at 14 South Street in Woodstock. In 1966 it was sold to the owners of the Woodstock Inn and became part of the Inn's complex.

John and Virginia then turned their attention to the schooling of their two youngest children and decided to home-school them. This led to the establishment of the Turkey Hollow School, an alternative school, at their home on Lime Pond Road. John was the business administrator and a part time teacher. He engaged the students in outdoor activities including caring for horses, which was Virginia's passion, sugaring, and worked with the students in the woods.

Over the years John's equipment sheds grew as he worked to keep fields mowed and woods roads open. Pickup trucks, rotary mowers, a tractor with a bucket, a used bulldozer, lawn tractors, half a dozen chain saws and weed whackers, were some the tools that John acquired in his effort to maintain the family homestead. Although he sometimes mistook a perennial for a weed, he was always out mowing lawns and meadows, moving hay, and cutting and splitting wood.

Continuing to honor his public duty, John served on the Barnard Planning Commission, took a stint as Town Moderator, and served as a Barnard Lister for more than 15 years.

John was predeceased by his youngest son John H, Lancaster (2007) and his wife Virginia (2020). He is survived by his sister, Jane Lancaster, his two sons Richard and Justin Lancaster, and his daughter Gina Lancaster. Grandchildren include Forrest, Heather, Mariah, Roy and Alessa Lancaster; Emma, Hugo, and Sonia Salguero; and great grandchildren Tony, Paige, and Avery Salguero.

John's remains were cremated at the Mt. Pleasant Crematory and Crematorium in St. Johnsbury, Vt., and his family will have a private memorial service to scatter his ashes this coming summer.

The family wishes to thank the staff at DHMC, Mr. Gregory Camp and his son, of Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock, and the staff at Mt. Pleasant Crematory, for their assistance during this trying time. The family also wishes to extend their gratitude to the staff of Mertens House in Woodstock for the exceptional care that John received during his nearly 4 years in residence.