Perkinsville, VT – John Berlenbach, Jr. died on July 10th at Mt. Ascutney Hospital from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.
John was born March 14, 1944, in Quakertown Pennsylvania, second son of John Berlenbach and Virginia Strawn Berlenbach. His family moved to Long Island, NY in 1957, and settled in Hicksville, where he graduated from Hicksville High School in 1962, then graduated from Harpur College, S.U.N.Y. in 1966, followed by a Master of Arts in Teaching from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio in 1967. He married his college sweetheart, Betty Buehl, on August 27, 1966. After their year in Oberlin, they moved to N.J. where John taught 7th grade math for three years in Princeton Middle School, and then, because a student asked him what one did with math, career wise, and he wasn’t sure of the answer, he took a leave of absence from Princeton, and worked at Prudential Insurance Company in the corporate office in Newark, assuming he’d find a good answer and return to teaching…but as it happened, liked working at the Pru, and stayed, working as a financial analyst. While in N.J. they had two sons, John Michael, born 1/16/69 and Peter Joseph, born 2/7/1. He took early retirement in 1995, so he and Betty could move to Vermont, a dream of many years, where they farmed, raising most of their meat, vegetables, and fruits on their farm in Weathersfield. In Vermont, he worked at various jobs until he found the job he wanted, working for Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, as part of a team of four, who reviewed all the bills and recovered underpayments from insurance companies, to the benefit of the hospital and the patients. He retired from DHMC in 2014.
In 2025, he moved to Cedar Hill Memory Care Unit with Alzheimer’s disease.
John was a member of St. James Church, Woodstock, Friends of Hereford Cathedral, UK, the Weathersfield Historical Society, and the Buick Club of America.
He was predeceased by his parents, his son, Peter, his older brother, Thomas, and younger sister Jill. He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Betty L. Berlenbach, son John Michael, grandchildren Peter and Laura, all of Weathersfield, Vt., His brother Daniel and family of California, brother in law Harlon Dalton of New Haven, Ct. Cousin Virginia Tunis and family of Georgia, Sister in law, Lynda Esposito and family, of Florida, and many nieces and nephews.
There will be calling hours at Davis Memorial Chapel on Thursday, July 16th, from 10 a.m. until noon. A Requiem Eucharist will be held at St. James’ Church in Woodstock at 3 p.m. on that same day. John’s remains will be buried in Trinity All Saints Cemetery, Princeton, N.J. later this summer…In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in John’s name to St. James Episcopal Church, in Woodstock, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Springfield, Friends of Hereford Cathedral, Hereford, UK, or your favorite charity. John’s family would like to thank the staffs of Cedar Hill and Mt. Ascutney Hospital, the Rev. Amy Spagna, rector of St. James who came back from vacation to conduct the funeral with John’s nephew, the Rev. Canon Kirk Berlenbach, and his brother in law, the Rev. Dr. Harlon Dalton, and The Rev. Dr. Lee Allison Crawford, whom John trained to carry the processional cross when she was a graduate student at Princeton, all of whom have provided John and his family with superlative support and care during this difficult time, and Scott and Angela and the staff at Davis Memorial Chapel for their calm and professional assistance and care.
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