Bands Peter Sturtevant played in (from most recent)

• Three-fold Chord (with his wife Tammy) 2004-07, Christian rock.

• Green St. (Dave Heath, Steve Spring, Bob Whytock, Maryanne Milcetic, Tony Smith) started 1999.

• Timbrel (with Greg Boardman, a well-known New England fiddle player, and Jeff Taylor, Mike Hanson), traditional folk music.

• Parabola (with Jan Gill, Paul Camire, his sailing buddy and longtime friend), jazz/fusion

• S.A.L.T. (with Jan Gill, Gary Gemetti, Jeff Taylor) Christian rock/jazz/blues

• J.P. Wrigley and Co., probably the most well-known band

Musician remembered as ‘poetic genius’

FAYETTE – A man known for his ability to take someone’s thoughts and put them to words and music was remembered Monday for his willingness to share his talents with others, his sense of humor and his love of children.

Peter Sturtevant, 51, died Friday after a boating accident in Androscoggin Lake in Wayne.

A memorial celebration of his life will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, Dec. 7, at Fayette Baptist Church.

Foothills Art Center Director Anne Geller said that Sturtevant was generous with his time and energy and helped the Farmington center connect to the community.

“His smile was electric and he just drew people in,” Geller, of Farmington, said.

When she heard about Sturtevant’s death, she said, “I was just breathless, as most people were. Immediately his voice came floating through: his music, his speaking voice and singing voice and the voice of his soul. The poetry that came out of him was just amazing. I always said to him he was a poetic genius. He had a way to put someone’s thoughts into words and music.”

When people spoke during workshops, he listened and then nearly immediately he would express them through words in a poem.

“He had a gift of words,” she said.

When Carolyn Bean Merchant, now deceased, shared stories of her late grandmother, Charlotte “Ma” Pike Bean of Livermore Falls for the 1999 Foothills’ project “Ma Bean’s Front Porch Memories,” Sturtevant was instrumental.

He wrote “If This Porch Could Talk.” The song told about stories the porch could tell of days gone bye.

“If this porch could dream and talk while in its sleep, we could enter in the love it knows so deep. In the floorboards we hear the steps of purpose, supporting timbers, a strength that endures time: slamming screen doors, chores of which there’s surplus, chairs are rocking, life is in its prime,” Geller read from the lyrics.

He also wrote “The Button Song,” a story about a button collection. Twelve children sang the song he composed.

“I just remember him sitting with them and teaching them. He was like a child himself. He loved it. He wrote it so each child had a solo in it,” Geller said.

Sturtevant was also involved in the planning of “Voices of the River,” a Foothills’ musical about life on the Androscoggin River in the early 1990s. He also wrote the words to “Enduring Love,” a song about a local couple’s love for the 2000 Continental Harmony Project.

“Foothills Art Center really became what we are today, Foothills, with Peter’s help,” Geller said. “He brought the community right to the project. … He brought his sunny spirit and charisma.”

Sturtevant also was active in SAD 36 schools when his children were growing up.

“What a tragedy,” said Anne Weatherbee, director of the Livermore High School Community Theatre.

Sturtevant had played in the pit band for her student and community performances.

“Peter was always positive,” she said. “He had such a great sense of humor. He was such a great guy. … He was kind of low key and was very, very involved in what his children, Leah, Luke and Jake, were doing from arts to sports to academics.”

He was also supportive of other children, teaching and coaching them along with his own, she added.

Sturtevant and Russ Cotnoir spearheaded getting a soccer program going at the high school, which started as a club and years later was sanctioned as a school sport.

“He was a very talented man,” said Sue St. Pierre, a teacher at the school who also played with Sturtevant in the “One Night Stand” band. It’s name originates from playing one gig at a time.

“It’s just a shock he’s gone,” St. Pierre said. “He’ll be missed by a lot of people.”

Sturtevant played with bands around the state. He played acoustic and electric guitar, fiddle and mandolin and also taught lessons in Wayne, Livermore Falls and Fayette for years, influencing countless students.

His sons followed in his footsteps: Luke plays bass with bands in the Central Maine area, his son Jake is a music teacher in East Machias, and has a master’s degree in music composition.

“I know I wouldn’t be half the musician I am today if it weren’t for Pete’s constant encouragement and influence,” Aaron Cotnoir, a family friend, said.