James Patrick Preston

James Patrick Preston, 88, has left our ground time to explore the expanse of rivers and streams in the sky. As a skilled fly fisherman brooks and waterways have always been a part of his heart. Born in 1934, just outside of Boston in Melrose, MA to Patrick and Hazel Adams Preston. James with his older brother, Ken, (N.H,) spent family summers in Stowe Vermont and on Plum Island on the Cape. After graduating from HS, he served three years in the Korean War working for communications in Japan. Returning home, he worked in the heart of Boston as a bank loan officer. Eventually, James with his new wife, Arlene, moved to Lake Elmore, Vt. Where his son Matthew Ivory (Kentucky with Tammy and family) was born. James became the sales manager at station WSKI in Montpelier, Vt for 30 years. Becoming a regular at the famous Coffee Corner. Every Easter, he could be seen delivering a school bus full of floppy seven-foot-tall bunnies safely to each business participating in this WSKI tradition. James was an avid outdoorsman. Fishing and hunting with his son and close friends in remote areas of Vermont. He also maintained a large garden surrounding a little pond, home to the family duck, Dead, who surprisingly lived on. Once, driving to Montpelier, he met a hitchhiker, and the story of James and Eliza began. In 1986 they married in four feet of snow on West Hill in Hardwick, Vt. Both avid gardeners and river followers. And soon to be the parents of two daughters, Gabrielle (Denver) and Zemly (Denver.) A dedicated father to his children, Zemly, Gabrielle and Matthew, He found great joy in participating in their school lives and various projects. Residing the last 28 years in Fort Collins, Co with their two daughters, James, and Eliza traveled steep mountain roads looking for rock formations and friendly brooks Sometimes missing New England, the Atlantic, and a good box of fried clams from the place they still called home. James was smart, funny and a great storyteller. He knew no strangers. He cooked fine dinners, a perfect egg, and was known as debonair man (Nick Sardonis) by Eliza when going out for fancy evenings. A celebration of life is pending, with the destination of his ashes to be placed in Gold Brooke, near Emily’s Bridge in Stowe, Vt.

Tributes

James Patrick Preston

November 18, 1934 - April 25, 2023