John William Ryder

John William Ryder
February 22, 1953 - May 24, 2022
Born of David Ganun Ryder and Katherine Bethel, John leaves behind his loving wife, Elizabeth Ruth Ryder. He is predeceased by his oldest daughter, Jenny Spaulding; her children are David Pitts and his partner Kaedee Cantwell, whose child is Preston; Emily Frickey and her husband Tommy, whose child is Eli; and Ashley Angus and her husband Mason, whose children are Lincoln and Elliot, with next child, due in July. John's second child is John Jason Ryder; whose children are Baron Vaughn and Henrik Ferris. John's youngest daughter is Skye Autumn Ryder McCauley, and with her husband Chad McCauley are parents to Theron Mac and Brody True. All of John's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to reside near John's hometown in northern New York.
John's brothers are; Gerome Ferris of Harrisville, NY, David George (Doc) of Panama City, Fla, and Brien Bradley of Bernard's Bay, NY. John's sister, Annette Weigel of Syracuse, NY, predeceased him.
John was born in Gouverneur, New York and grew up in Antwerp and the environs
of northern NY. In 1989, John moved to Brewster.
During his life he wore many hats. From dairy farmer, to general contractor, to plumber, to mechanic, to electrician - there were few trades to which he could not apply his wit and personal style. John's life-long passion was the act of creation, a passion which took on many forms, from building and maintaining houses, restoring
vehicles, playing guitar, building his own instruments, and even constructing his own tools when existing ones were not at hand or did not exist.
He was never more content than when he had a puzzle to solve with his mind, his
heart, and his hands.
John's jam sessions with his friends and his son were legendary. His friends dubbed him Joatamotu, an acronym for John Of All Trades And Master Of The Universe. His skilled and loving hands have touched every bit of infrastructure and every building on Ryder Farm (and even created some new ones!)
Together, John and Betsey built Ryder Farm Cottage Industries, growing organic vegetables for NYC and local markets. Betsey's green thumb had the flowers and vegetables blooming while John kept the trucks and tractors running.
They enjoyed traveling and reached the heights of the world with a trek to Mt. Everest in 1993. John and Betsy also loved their yearly treks to the Caribbean and Florida, where he fell in love with key lime pie and the Golden Coral buffet.
John's left this world on his final voyage from the peace of his living room on the farm, after living with and treating lung cancer the last two and a half years.
John leaves behind memories of his warm and generous spirit of humor, tenacity and kindness - and a pair of work boots that can never be filled.
On Saturday, June 11tth at 3 p.m., John's Memorial Service will be held in the living room of the Sycamores, 406 Starr Ridge Rd., Brewster, NY, at the Ryder family homestead.
The family invites all to join them in this celebration of John's life.
Betsey asks that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John's memory to the Praxair Cancer Center of Danbury Hospital, link follows. https://www.nuvancehealth.org/giving/support-your-community-hospital