John P. Burrows '44 died August 3, 2009.
John Philip Burrows ’44 died on Aug. 3, 2009, from Alzheimer’s disease. John was born on Aug. 14, 1922, and as a young boy, he moved to Philadelphia, Pa. He attended grade school there and graduated from Mount Hermon School for Boys, enrolling in Amherst in 1940. While at Amherst, he was enrolled in the Naval V-7 officers training program, serving his last college year at Dartmouth, thus graduating from Amherst in absentia in the fall of 1943. He served 1943-1946 on a destroyer escort on Atlantic convoy duty and then on a fleet minesweeper in the Pacific—as lieutenant JG-USNR.
At Amherst, John was elected Alpha of the Chi Phi fraternity. He was an outstanding member of the swim team, setting records in long distance events. He was also the Class of 1944 “informal” choregus, leading the “old songs” at ’44’s Homecoming weekends throughout the late 1900s.
On April 30, 1955, John married Katherine (Roddy) Cushing, also from Pelham Manor, and a graduate of Briarcliff College. Roddy quickly became a favorite of all of John’s friends and an Amherst loyalist. She and John had three children—John, Tom and Katy ’81.
In 1968, the family moved to Saco, Maine, where they lived for many happy years. Roddy died in 2006, but the rest of the family still lives in Maine.
Personally, John has been a dear friend since I first knew him in our freshman year. He has also been intensely loyal to Amherst and the Kenneth L. Hardy Memorial Scholarship Fund. I’m sure the College and all who knew John will miss him.
—William C. Hart ’44