RIP Peter Wolcott Schoch: 1934 2016

We recently learned of the passing of well know Schroon Laker Peter Wolcott Schoch.

Peter was born on October 29, 1934 and passed away on December 20, 2016 at Fox Hospital, in Oneonta. A small memorial service is being planned in April at a time and place to be announced via the Community Church in Schroon Lake.

From Paul's official obit:

Paul and Kathy Schoch; granddaughter, Sarah Schoch Nero and her husband Nathan, were with him nearly to the end. He is survived by three children, Cynthia Helen Schoch-Bernard residing in Paris, France, John Jacob Schoch II in Colorado Springs and Paul Wolcott Schoch in Hancock, New York as well as three grandchildren, Jessica, Colleen, and Sarah.

Peter was born in Albany, New York in 1934. His family moved to Hamden, Connecticut in the late 1940s, where Pete met his wife of 57 years, Patricia Joy Blakeslee, in high school. They were married in Dec. 1955 after Pete served four years in the Navy during the Korean War. The couple moved to Oneonta, where Peter did a BA at Hartwick College.

They returned to Connecticut where they began raising a family while Peter worked for the YMCA and later for Tidewater Oil. From 1969 to 1982 Peter was VP for development at colleges in Cazenovia, New York; Frostburg, Maryland; and Salem, West Virginia. In the early 1980s Pete and Pat then decided to run a Bed and Breakfast in the Adirondacks, buying the Pine Tree Inn in North Hudson in 1983.

There Peter also coordinated the Essex County DWI program for several years and was active with the NH volunteer fire department, where he helped raise money to build the firehouse. The couple ran the Pine Tree Inn until retiring in 2003, at which time they moved to Schroon Lake. Both were members of the Community Church and active volunteers at the Food Pantry. Peter was an avid gardener and golfer as well. After Pat's untimely death in May 2012, Peter's children encouraged him to move to an independent living facility in Oneonta, New York.

He was a hard-working, caring father and husband, a principled man with an outer crust but a loving soul. He always sought the best for his family, the educational institutions where he worked, the inns he managed and the communities he lived in.