1932 – 2015

COVINGTON, Tenn. — John William York, PE, passed away peacefully on Sunday, Aug. 2.

He was born on Sept. 5, 1932, in South Paris at Mrs. McAllister’s birthing hospital. John was the son of Charles and Hilda York. He attended Waterford and Norway schools and graduated from Norway High School in the Class of 1951. He went to the University of Maine at Orono and graduated in 1955 with a mechanical engineering degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. While at the University, he was a distinguished military student and received the American Ordnance Association gold key.

Upon graduation, he went to work for the General Electric Co. on its engineering training program, continuing his education in company and available college courses. He took a leave of absence from GE to go on active duty in the U.S. Army, after which time he spent several years as a captain in the active Army Reserves, commanding the 871st Ordnance Company in Saco. He later returned to GE and took a position as a production and design engineer with the Meter Department in Somersworth, N.H., living in Kennebunk. While residing in Kennebunk, he was active in Christ Church, Boy Scouts, the Masons and educational activities, being one of the original directors of the new school administrative district.

His next employment was with Rogers Fibre Co. as plant engineer. When Rogers Fibre merged with Colonial Board Co., he became a corporate engineer and traveled the world, building and maintaining company facilities. When Colonial Board became Lydall Inc., he resigned and went to San Paulo, Brazil, to work, organizing and operating an engineering consulting group. Araujo-Ford, Bacon & Davis was organized to support one of the largest Brazilian construction firms in the paper industry. Upon returning to the U.S., he joined with an old friend and papermaker in purchasing and modernizing an old binders board (book cover board) mill. When the deal fell through, he joined Simons, an international engineering consulting firm as a process engineer. He advanced to the vice president of technology for the Atlanta operations.

Upon reaching the age of 62, he took semi-retirement and ran the Portland office. At age 65, he started his own engineering consulting engineering company, York Consultants Inc., which hired other retired engineers from the paper industry for part-time pulp and paper process troubleshooting. However, his greatest love in later life was his tree farm in Waterford.

Early in life, he married Susan Gale Ashton, his school sweetheart, and they had three children, Jay York of Portland, George Morrill York of Portland and Catherine Lucille York of Waterford. Later in life, he married Sarah S. Scott of Covington, Tenn., and they spent many happy years dividing their time between a home in Covington, Tenn., and the tree farm log cabin in the woods of Maine.

Online condolences may be shared with his family at www.oxfordhillsfuneralservices.com.