Peter Anthony Dollard

Peter Dollard's "entry was closed" in the early morning hours of November 17, 2023.  He passed away gently at home.  Pete was born in Kentucky on August 22, 1938, and liked to boast of his Kentucky birth, though he never grew up there.  He lived in many places in the U.S. and Canada and was proud of having graduated from a Canadian high school.  In high school, Pete was a great baseball player and a fast 100-yard dasher.

Though originally thinking of going on to UCLA after high school, Pete decided on the University of Michigan where he not only received his B.A. in English Lit, but also met his wife Joan Wolfson in the Undergraduate Library.  Then off to the University of Wyoming, where "mountains are for breathing" and received an M.A. in English Lit.  However, the call of the library beckoned him back to Ann Arbor where he received an M.A. in Library Science.  He eventually became the Director of the Alma College Library after spending several years at Brown University and the University of Virginia at Clinch Valley.

In between times, Peter and Joan had a son Benjamin (Kelly) and a daughter Rachel who in turn gave them three lovely granddaughters, Maddie Dollard and Brianna and Jaden Juengel.

He had many interests:  science, astronomy, math, music (Scott Joplin's rags among his favorites), the theater (he actually acted in a French play), movies (his favorite - Fellini's 8 1/2) and he read about all of them.  He also wrote literature reviews for Library Journal.  He was proud to be among "the happy few" who read all of Clarissa and Rembrance of Things Past.  The thicker and fatter the tome the better.

Pete played postal and internet chess and led a chess club at an alternative school in Alma.  He loved gardening and watching the plants grow, even nurturing a 35-year-old spider plant.

We will miss Pete - his sense of humor, his generosity, his kindness, his openness.

Graveside services for Pete will be at Riverside Cemetery at 2:30 pm on Monday, November 20, 2023.

To sign the online guest book or leave a condolence for the family please visit www.CharlesRLux.com.