Peter Henry Dumbleton
January 19, 1943 – August 21, 2010
Peter Henry Dumbleton died today, Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 9:20 a.m. Pacific time, after a five year battle with oral cancer. He lived a very full 67 ½ years around the world, and spent his final years on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he died peacefully and without pain at the Island Health andRehabilitation Center.
Pete was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on January 19, 1943 to Edna and Harry Dumbleton, and was the elder brother to William and Elizabeth. The family lived in Brooklyn, New York, then Leonia, New Jersey, and spent many happy summers in Ticonderoga, New York at the family cottage on Lake George. Graduating from Leonia High School, he attended Norwich University in Vermont from 1960 to 1964, where he earned a BS in Engineering Management. Following his graduation he joined the United States Army Signal Corps and spent time in Arizona, Alabama, Texas and Georgia before going to South Vietnam. After serving in Vietnam he returned to Atlanta, Georgia, where he met and soon married Jeanne Schattle, on April 3, 1969.
The young couple moved to Tampa, Florida where Pete took a job with GTE as a Telecom Engineer and Plans Analyst. On July 23, 1971 their son Keith Ian was born, and on August 20, 1973 their daughter Odile Jennifer was born. The family lived in Tampa and then in nearby Lutz until 1986. During that time Pete and his family enjoyed exploring Florida, camping, going out on their Boston Whaler, hiking portions of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia and returning to the cottage on Lake George during the summer. Pete also earned his BA in Accounting, from the University of South Florida, in 1979.
In 1986 the family moved to Waldenbuch and then Vaihingen, Germany, near Stuttgart, where Pete worked at Patch Barracks as a civilian contractor with GTE at the Defense Communications Agency. Pete, with his family, spent five years exploring Germany and all of Europe, traveling extensively and skiing and hiking whenever possible. The family remained there until 1992, at which point both Keith and Odile had left for college, and Pete and Jeanne returned to the house they had built in Lutz, Florida.
In 1993 Pete retired early from GTE and in 1996 Pete and Jeanne went through a very civilized divorce. From 1996 through 2005 Pete became a full-time RVer, traveling throughout the United States and Canada. The list he kept includes every state but Oklahoma, as well as most of the Canadian provinces and territories, missing only Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Nunavut Territory. His list of the bodies of water he kayaked in includes 113 rivers, lakes, straits, springs, reservoirs, bays and oceans. He also listed the animals he saw, including caribou, moose, Dall Sheep, wolf, black bear, brown bear, porcupine, bald eagle, copperhead, mink, nighthawk, buffalo, badger, ‘gator snapping turtle, marten, loon, muskrat, pronghorn, seal, sea otter, whale, fisher and elk. He traveled with Odile’s pet hedgehog for a year during this period, and kept a number of well-loved rats as traveling companions, his favorite of which was Ratatouille (well in advance of the movie).
In 2005 Pete settled on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he had already been using his friend and Norwich roommate Bob Mack’s house as a base of operations for several years for his trips through western Canada and Alaska. He moved into a comfortable two-bedroom condo at 325 Winslow Way West where he endured radiation therapy and several operations attempting to beat repeated attacks by oral cancers. He spent the last two years of his life unable to speak or eat because of the damage from the cancer in his throat, but enjoyed writing messages to friends and strangers on the clipboard he carried with him everywhere and on the various online forums where he was an active member. In 2009 Odile moved out to be with him for what turned out to be his final year. After a series of hospital visits and the fourth recurrence of his oral cancer, Pete finally succumbed, passing peacefully and quietly in his sleep.
Pete is survived by his son Keith Dumbleton and his wife Veronica Sheaffer of Chicago, Illinois; his daughter Odile Dumbleton of Bainbridge Island, Washington; his ex-wife Jeanne Boyd and her husband John Boyd of Sun City West, Arizona; his sister Elizabeth Burleigh and her husband Sheridan Burleigh of Ticonderoga, New York; his cousin Jane List of Anderson, South Carolina; his final rat, Phooey of Bainbridge; and his adopted cat Claude, of Bainbridge. Pete was predeceased by his parents Harry Dumbleton and Edna Gillen Dumbleton of Leonia, New York, who died in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and his brother William and wife Jeannie of Essex Junction, Vermont, who died May 26, 2007.
A memorial will be held in the Fall at Pete’s home on Winslow Way West on Bainbridge Island for nearby friends and family to celebrate his life, and another memorial will take place next Summer at the cottage on Lake George. Pete requested that his ashes be scattered at Lake George. For information call Odile Dumbleton at 917-202-7722 or Keith Dumbleton at 773-227-5864.
Pete requested that no flowers be sent, but that anyone wishing to commemorate his life could make a donation to the Oral Cancer Foundation, at http://oralcancerfoundation.org/ or a public library or charity of their own choice.
Pete’s family would like to thank all of the people who knew and helped him through so many good years and so many rough years, only a few of whom can be listed here. Bob Mack has been here for him through it all, helping both Pete and his family, truly playing the part of a brother. The members of the Oral Cancer Foundation’s survivor/patient forum have been a huge source of companionship and information for Pete, providing a community where he could share the difficulties of his battle with cancer and providing him with a type of support and empathy that not even family can offer. The Fiberglass RV online group has been a wonderful and caring community for him through his many years on the road and then off. The staff at Island Health and Rehabilitation on Bainbridge has done a wonderful job caring for him through his final days, making sure that he was comfortable and peaceful and ended his life with the dignity and sense of humor he carried through it.
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” John A. Shedd, Salt From My Attic, 1928
Adventurous, iconoclastic, stubborn, giving, knowledgeable, good-humored, talkative. Please sign the online Guest Book for the family at: www.cookfamilyfuneralhome.com.
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