Falmouth, Maine — Col. Roland Eustace Peixotto, U.S. Army, retired, has made his final change of station, dying peacefully at his home in Falmouth, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. Born to BG Eustace Maduro Peixotto and his wife Catharine in 1926 at the Presidio of San Francisco, the second of three boys, Roland enjoyed a typical Army childhood living in officer’s quarters from Ft. Warren, Wyo. to Ft. Bragg, N.C. In 1936, the family transferred from Ft. McKinley in the Philippines to Ft. McKinley, Maine, by way of a boat and train tour of Japan and China. On Oct. 16, 1943, while a student at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, DC, Roland went on a blind date with Catherine “Kitty” Otterman, an event which marked the beginning of their 75 years together. They were married in 1949 upon his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point. As the first couple of the ‘49ers to wed in the cadet chapel, their wedding was immortalized and seen by movie goers around the country in a CBS Newsreel.
Commissioned into the Infantry, Roland’s first major assignment was with the 33rd Infantry at Ft. Kobbe in the Panama Canal Zone where his and Kitty’s older two sons Randy and John were born. A subsequent assignment at Ft. Gordon, Ga., brought the birth of their third son, Bob. Other highlights of his distinguished military career include assignments with the 31st Infantry, 9th Division in Korea; with the Cuba Branch of Army Intelligence at the Pentagon during the Cuban Missile Crisis; with the Inspector General’s Office in Heidelberg, Germany; and as the Province Senior Advisor in Binh Long, Vietnam. While in Vietnam, a helicopter carrying Roland and several others crashed in Viet Cong territory. Despite injuries to his back which would pester him the rest of his life and armed with only a pistol, Roland set out in the dark to find help, eventually signaling a passing search helicopter with a spark from his nearly empty zippo lighter. His last few Army assignments brought him to the world of computing and he retired as Commander of the Computer Systems Command Support Group at Ft. Lee, Va., in 1978. Roland’s military commendations include the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Soldier Medal, Air Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Joint Services Commendation.
Retirement finally allowed Roland and Kitty to move full time to their farm in West Topsham, Vt., a place Roland described in a letter home from Vietnam as the best place in the country. Roland found good use for his Army computer experience at Dartmouth College as Director of Administrative Computing where he helped the college become an early adapter of widespread student computer use and ensured the younger members of his family were exposed early to Apple computers. He retired from Dartmouth in 1991.
Roland continued to serve even after he retired from the Army. He famously went to a community meeting in 1978 thinking he might be asked to join the board and came home a few hours later elected president of the Tri-Village Fire Department, a position he held for 13 years. Over the next 30 years, Roland would also serve as treasurer of the fire department and of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Barre, Vt., as town and school auditor, as a trustee and treasurer of the Valley Health Center and Little Rivers Health Care, as a justice of the peace, and as a snowmobile safety instructor. Roland was awarded the 2005 Town Citizen Award by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
Around the farm, following a morning game of cribbage with Kitty, Roland enjoyed the endless projects necessary to keep the place in working order. He could often be found in his shop, where among many other things he built replicas of their old New England farmhouse as doll houses for his granddaughters, or in the barn muttering and sputtering over some piece of equipment.
‘Consarntut!’ was a favorite invective directed at stubborn bolts. He taught his grandchildren to walk the brook after a good day’s work and to drive his Massey Ferguson and John Deer tractors in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. Roland loved dogs and in moments of idleness, the dogs knew to position themselves under his hand for unceasing head-pats and ear scratches. With Kitty, Roland maintained strong connections to his West Point classmates, hosting and attending ‘49er gatherings across New England and around the world. In 2006, Roland and Kitty moved to Ocean View in Falmouth, Maine, their 27th move together, the 35th of Roland’s life.
Roland is survived by his beloved wife, Kitty; his younger brother LTG Ernest Peixotto (U.S. Army, ret.) and his wife Libby; Syl, the widow of his eldest son Randy; son John and his wife Lynn; son Bob and his wife Susie; grandchildren Becca, John and his wife Sonya, Kristin, Chris and his wife Sveta, Betsy and her husband Mark, and Rob and his wife Kelsie; and four great-grandchildren. He is predeceased by his elder brother Col. James Maduro Peixotto (USA, ret.) and his son Lt. Col. Roland Eustace Peixotto, Jr. (USAF) who was killed in the line of duty in 1992.
A private memorial service was held at The Episcopal Church of St Mary in Falmouth and Roland will be interred with full military honors at a later date.
His family will think of him in West Topsham, sitting on the back porch he built himself, watching the light fade and the seasons change on the hills across the brook.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor Roland’s life and service are invited to make donations to the Tri-Village Fire Department (447 VT Route 25, West Topsham, VT 05086) or the West Point Association of Graduates (https://www.westpointaog.org/page.aspx?pid=4752)