Peter Burrill Sholley

Peter Burrill Sholley (1)Peter Burrill Sholley, of Milton, formerly of Wellesley Hills, West Falmouth, and Boca Grande, Florida, died on April 3rd surrounded by his loving family. Born to Sidney and Aya Sholley in West Newton in 1927, he attended Noble and Greenough School and graduated from Rollins College, where he met his late wife, Nancy. Peter served as a first lieutenant and ordinance instructor in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. After a successful career as vice president of marketing for Keystone Custodian Funds, Peter became an inventor in late middle-age, focusing on finding ways to bring clean water to developing countries. His most recent invention, the Safewater Sensor, is currently in a pilot program in South Africa and will soon be introduced in Haiti.  Peter was a devoted community activist, a founder of the Wellesley Community Center, and past president of the Norumbega Council of the Boy Scouts of America where he received the Silver Beaver Award for distinguished service. He was a board member on the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority, and director of development for the Boca Grande Chapter of Solutions to Avoid Red Tide. He was also president of the Sholley Foundation, which provides support for a variety of non-profit organizations. Peter was yankee to his core, an ardent environmentalist and conservationist, and an early advocate of recycling and repurposing. He was courtly and a gentleman but took keen delight in shellacking his opponents in cribbage, poker, scrabble, tennis and golf. A gentle and imaginative father, Peter made up a long-running bedtime story for his children about Yisha Opp, a little boy who lived in a cereal box. He was much beloved. Peter leaves his sister Janann Clanton of Altamonte Springs, Florida; children Lucy of Dedham, Adam of Milton, and Nicholas of Santa Rosa, CA; son- and daughters-in-law Ted Rabidoux, Joan Moynagh and Thais Harris; grandchildren Elizabeth O’Keefe and George, Anne, and Peter Sholley; and his dear friend, Gladys Hampton. He also leaves his grumpy Jack Russell Terrier Ollie Sholley, now a treasured member of his daughter’s family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Buddy Dog Humane Society. Services will be held on May 17th at St. Michael’s Church in Milton at 11am.