John Douglas (Pete) Sterrett, Jr.

Notes:

CENSUS RECORDS

1930 Census
Name: John D Stuartt [Sterrett]
Birth Year: abt 1918
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Virginia
Marital Status: Single
Relation to Head of House: Son (Child)
Home in 1930: South River, Rockbridge, Virginia
Attended School: Yes
Able to Read and Write: Yes
Father's Birthplace: Virginia
Mother's Birthplace: Virginia
Able to Speak English: Yes
Household Members:
John D Sterrett 40
Mary L Sterrett 40
John D Sterrett 12
James R Sterrett 8

OBITUARY

Daily Press, Newport News, VA; 31 January 2005

JOHN DOUGLAS 'PETE' STERRETT JR. Yorktown, John Douglas "Pete" Sterrett Jr., 87, died at Riverside Convalescent Center Friday, Jan. 28, 2005. He was born in Rockbridge Co., Va., Aug. 22, 1917, to Mary Lackey Sterrett and John Douglas Sterrett . After graduation from Washington and Lee University in 1938, he married Lula McCorkle Moore, also of Rockbridge County.

During World War II, Pete served as a research physicist with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Silver Springs, Md., developing the proximity fuse for the U.S. Navy. In 1945, he was sent to Europe as a scientific consultant when the fuse was first introduced for use by Army artillery.

As WWII ended in the European Theater, he remained for six weeks working with the Alsos Mission (now CIA) as part of a team to trace similar fuse projects under development in Germany.

Following WWII he returned to Lexington where he became manager of the Rockbridge Farmer's Co-op and a part-time farmer. Later, Pete served two terms as the Rockbridge County Treasurer. Beginning as a cashier in the Rockbridge National Bank, he moved on to serve as President of First National Farmer's Bank in Wytheville. There, he became Senior Vice President and Manager when the bank merged with First National Exchange Bank of Roanoke. He was a graduate of Maryland-Virginia Bank Management School at University of Virginia, and American Institute of Banking. In 1972, he became President of Dominion Bank of the Peninsula where he organized offices in Williamsburg, Hampton, and Newport News. He retired as President of the Dominion Bank of Smithfield in 1979.

After retiring from banking, he became the first Executive Director of York County Industrial Development. In 1976, in partnership with his son-in-law, Roger Copenhaver and Ronald Wade, he founded the Grafton True Value Hardware Store.

Always active in church wherever he lived, Pete served as an Elder in the Timber Ridge, Wytheville, Williamsburg and Yorkminster Presbyterian Churches. He was also heavily involved in community affairs and was associated with many organizations in the communities in which he lived.

Pete was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, James Robert Sterrett of Hampton. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Lula Moore Sterrett; three children, Rev. John Douglas "Doug" Sterrett III and wife, Rachel, of Warm Springs, Va., Martha Sterrett Schoonmaker and husband, Bill, of Centreville, Va., and Susan Sterrett Copenhaver and husband, Roger, of Yorktown, Va.; seven grandchildren, John B. Sterrett, Joseph W. Sterrett, Jonathan R. Grover, M. Todd Grover, Christine M. Schoonmaker, James W. Schoonmaker III and Anna K. Copenhaver. He also has three great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Ann Berry Sterrett of Hampton; and two nieces.

Memorial Services will be held at Yorkminster Presbyterian Church in Yorktown, Va., on Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 11 a.m., and at Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Va., on Thursday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m., with Inurnment in the Old Stone Church Cemetery.

Expressions of sympathy may be made in memory of Mr. Sterrett to Yorkminster Presbyterian Church for their Building Fund, 6218 George Washington Memorial Highway, Yorktown, VA 23692, or to the Southeastern Correctional Ministries, 40 Kings Way, Hampton, VA.

Arrangements by Amory Funeral Home, Grafton.


Birth:
Social Security Death Index
Name: John D. Sterrett
Last Residence: 23608 Newport News, Newport News City, Virginia
BORN: 22 Aug 1917
Died: 28 Jan 2005
State (Year) SSN issued: Virginia (Before 1951)

Buried:
Grave location, portrait, obituary, and tombstone photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=93089166

Died:
Virginia, Deaths, 1912-2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
Name: John Douglas Sterrett
Death Date: 28 Jan 2005
Death Place: Newport News, VA

John married Lula Moore. [Group Sheet]

John married Rachel Joyce Livingstone. [Group Sheet]

Martha married William Schoonmaker. [Group Sheet]

Susan married Roger Copenhaver. [Group Sheet]

Joseph married Rachael Bernison. [Group Sheet]