Deceased October 6, 2023
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In Memory
Pete Wickham was an optimistic, cheerful, energetic man, who was a joy to be around. He spoke fondly of his time at Amherst. Some of his happiest memories involved chemistry, friends and birding. He majored in chemistry, was active in the Outing Club and lived at the Lord Jeff Club.
He told me that while he was at Amherst he was trying to decide whether to major in chemistry or French and chose chemistry because it was the most difficult thing he had ever studied. When I was making my own career decisions, he shared this recollection and told me it was vital to really challenge myself in life.
In addition, Pete loved birding and hiking outdoors. He had some legendary birding adventures with his buddy George Clark Jr. ’57 during his Amherst years. In particular, one weekend, shortly after graduating, they decided to drive south and take the ferry to Nantucket to see some unusual birds. Being typical impoverished students, they were short on cash and decided not to rent a hotel room and sleep on the beach instead. They hollowed out some spots to sleep on the beach, and everything was going quite well … until the tide came in! They had to move upland, and in their new location, they got eaten alive by mosquitoes until the sun came up. They were still laughing about this trip decades after they graduated.
Dad kept in contact with a number of friends from the class. Erich Cramer ’56 was able to attend Dad’s memorial service on Long Island, and it was so nice to see him.
Nancy Wickham ’89