1930 – 2016
The Villages, Fla. — Guthrie Stuart Colpitts, 86, died Sunday, Oct. 2, at The Villages Regional Hospital after complications from pneumonia.
Born on Aug. 28, 1930, in Campton, N.H., Gus was the son of Stephen S. Colpitts and Minnie L. Colpitts. He was a graduate of Plymouth High School and the University of New Hampshire, Class of 1952, as a social service major. Gus was married from ’52 until her death in ‘00 to Dorothy Bolton Colpitts from Beebe River, N.H. Gus had a long successful career in retail, with a true passion and talent for “running store.” For 14 years he managed stores for JJ Newberry throughout New England including Haverhill, Mass., Manchester, N.H., Clinton, Mass., Littleton, N.H., and Farmington. In ’70, he left Newberry’s and bought his own Ben Franklin store in Madison which he ran for 13 years. An entrepreneur at heart, he also opened a Hallmark store in Farmington — Mickey’s Hallmark, along with a variety of other retail enterprises during that time. Always community-minded and highly respected for his remarkable intellect, integrity, quick wit and generous loving spirit, he became a civic leader in Farmington in the ’70s while serving as President of the Chamber of Commerce.
In ’78, Gus was asked to join the Board of Directors at Franklin Savings Bank and served as Chairman from ’92 to ’03. Upon retiring, he was elected Director Emeritus recognizing his dedicated years of service to FSB. Gus married his new love, Janet Phillips in 2002 and they shared their life together in The Villages, Fla.
Surviving family members include his wife Janet; daughter, Deborah Ross and her husband, Roderick, of The Villages, Fla.; son, Jeri Colpitts and his partner, Rita Hamilton, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; two granddaughters, Joanne Tarantino with her partner, Troy Harris, of North Chelmsford, Mass., and Jill Pellerin and her husband, Brian, of Reston, Va.; and four great-grandchildren, Nina, Benjamin, Alex and Owen; and many nieces and nephews. He loved his extended family which included four stepchildren, their spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He is predeceased by his siblings, Priscilla O’Brien, Charles Colpitts and Dorothy Colpitts.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Share your condolences, kind words and remembrances below. You must be logged into the website to comment. Subscribers, please login. Not a subscriber? Register to comment for free or subscribe to support our work.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.