Peter Price Britton

S. Hamilton - Peter Price Britton, 81, of South Hamilton, passed away Friday April 26, 2024 at Beverly Hospital after a brief illness. The son of John Delaplaine and Margaret (Ferguson) Britton, Peter was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in 1961 and then pursued a pre-baccalaureate program at Upper Canada College in Toronto. After graduating from Yale in 1965 with a degree in American Studies, Peter joined the Navy and served as a repair diver and as gunnery officer on a Navy repair ship.
Peter married Beatrice Totten in 1970 and went on to teach at Belmont Hill School, in Belmont, Massachusetts while living with his wife in Lexington. In 1975, Peter and Beatrice built their family home in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where they lived with their two children, Nathan and Willoughby.
Peter was a civic leader and was involved in numerous local and international non-profit environmental organizations. He served on the Hamilton planning board for many years and was a supporter of The Trustees of Reservations as well as the Essex County Greenbelt. He also was a long-term board member of Outward Bound International and helped to establish programs for youth wilderness education in countries like Oman and Rwanda. Peter founded Brick Ends Farm in Hamilton with the vision of restoring fallow lands along the North Shore to agricultural production. His commitment to land restoration continued as he transitioned the farm into a pioneering operation for the processing of organic waste into usable compost. His track record finding water using only a dowsing rod was locally renowned.
Peter was an avid athlete. He was an enthusiastic equestrian and a long-term member of the Myopia Hunt. He ran the Boston Marathon and was once the only person in his age group to complete the Sea to Summit Triathlon. He loved to kayak in the ocean all around New England, and he was particularly proud of having skied more than one million vertical feet of untracked powder in the Canadian Rockies in his lifetime.
Peter is survived by: his loving wife Beatrice "Bea" (Totten) Britton; his son Nathan Britton (and his wife Sara Dunsky and their daughter Tabitha Dunsky-Britton) of Seattle, Washington; his daughter Willoughby Britton (and her husband Jared Lindahl) of Jamaica, Vermont.
A memorial service celebrating Peter's life will be held in June, details to follow. Arrangements by the Campbell Funeral Home, 6 High St., Ipswich, MA. Information and condolences at www.CampbellFuneral.com.