M. John "John" Storey '65 P'89

2 comments on M. John "John" Storey '65 P'89

1. I just heard about John’s death. He and my husband, Mike Burton, were childhood friends in Chatham New Jersey. Mike went to Wesleyan, and they both enjoyed the rivalry between their two schools. Mike was in John and Martha’s wedding in 1965; John was in our wedding in 1966. Although not geographically close, we have remained friends all these years. I am devastated to think John is gone. He was truly one of the
   best – honest, caring, loyal and fun. My heart goes out to Martha and the family and all of his classmates at Williams.

2. It is difficult to imagine the Class of 1965 without John Storey. He served as a class officer for three different terms, as Treasurer from 1985 to 1990, as President from 2000 to 2005, and as VP since 2015. He and his wife, Martha, served as editor and publisher of the 25th and 50th Reunion books as well as the smaller books produced for our 20th and 40th reunions. They hosted class dinners at their house in Williamstown for more than one reunion.

   In 2012 John was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. He was able to manage it and carry on an active life until about 2019, when neurological problems caused difficulty with his gait and limited his activity. But he was still able to enjoy spending time with his large family, both in Williamstown, where he lived since 1983, and in Westport, New York, in the Adirondacks, where he and Martha had a second home on what they liked to call “Storey Farm.”

   > Born in 1943, John grew up in Chatham, New Jersey, where he played soccer and basketball at Chatham High School. At Williams he majored in American History and Literature and was a member of Delta Upsilon, where he served as Social Chairman. He was a Junior Advisor and was elected a member of Gargoyle. He played soccer for four years (captain in his senior year), basketball for two years, and remained a soccer and basketball fan all his life. Ron McGlynn, met John when they first assembled for freshman soccer on Cole Field in September 1961, later roomed with him and became his fraternity brother and lifelong friend. Ron remembers that John “demonstrated optimism and enthusiasm for everything he did.” Even in John’s illness, Ron says, he “never complained other than to say that getting old was not fun.” John Trainor, his soccer co-captain, remembers that “on and off the field I admired John”s intelligence and calm demeanor, his dignity, warmth, and good sense. We resumed our friendship in later years through mini-reunions, soccer alumni games, and Williams games. (I even had a chance to referee one of his son Matt’s games at Mount Greylock High School). In more recent years John and I created something of a tradition in taking our freshman soccer coaches, Hank Flynt and Phil Smith, to brunch at various restaurants.”

   > Shortly after graduation, in the summer of 1965, John married his high school sweetheart, Martha Mullendore. That fall he enrolled in the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, spending a year in Bologna (where he developed a love of Italian food) and graduating with an MA in 1967. Offered an appointment in the State Department, he chose to go into publishing, working first for Time-Life Books in New York (1967-73) and then as Director of Mail Order for Hearst Publications (publisher of Country Life and other magazines).

   > Beginning in 1973 he and Martha also organized The Gardener’s Marketplace, an index of gardening products sent out to a large mailing list of customers twice-a-year, and wrote and published a series of “Storey’s Country Wisdom Bulletins.” In 1976 he was hired as Executive Vice President of Garden Way, Inc., a gardening products company in Troy, and bought a house on Ide Road in Williamstown. In 1983 he and Martha bought tjhe publishing arm of Garden Way and turned it into their own publishing company, Storey Communications, publishing books on gardening, farming, cooking, building, and crafts. Its mission was to provide “practical information that encourages personal independence, in harmony with the environment.” By 1990, with the help of 40 employees, they had published 250 books, and 400 by 1997. By 1997 they had 65 employees and annual sales of $10 million. They set up an office in Pownal and in 1999 moved to the new MassMoCA campus in North Adams. John and Martha wrote some of the books themselves, including “Cold Storage for Fruits and Vegetables” (1997) and “Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance” (1999). Sharing an entrepreneur’s insights, he also wrote four books — three of them with Wiley Publishing — on entrepreneurship. Pam Art, a longtime friend who worked for Storey Communcations and later became president and publisher, says that John was “the idea guy; a veritable fountain of ideas. He could come up with a book idea from just about every newspaper article he would tear out. And Martha owned the ‘get it done’ part — where ideas got formed into type, pictures, drawings, pages, and eventually books. Ideas and the expression of those ideas: a perfect pairing.” And as Pam says, the Storeys “lived the life” they wrote about.
   >
   > He and Martha sold Storey Communications in 2001. Now owned by Workman Publishing, it continues as Storey Books, with the same mission and many of the same employees. Retaining the Storey direct-marketing business, John founded and served as chairman of Berkshire Direct, Inc., a direct-marketing company in Williamstown operated by his son, Matt. In 2010 he sold the company to a senior employee.

   > In 1990, at the time of our 25th Reunion, John described his passions as watching college basketball, playing basketball and golf, and eating Italian food. In later years his great passion was Camp Dudley in Westport, NY, where he had been a teenage camper and leader. He served for many years as chairman of the Dudley Board of Managers and later as its Director of Development. In the 1980s he and Martha bought a house near Dudley in Westport where they grew mountains of vegetables and hosted big family gatherings. Family was very important to him, and a great source of support.

   > In his final years John especially enjoyed watching the Williams soccer and basketball teams either on the sidelines or on the computer. He had grandchildren athletes at three NESCAC schools — Hamilton, Middlebury, and Bowdoin — and loyally rooted for them too. Although unable to attend class events in his last years, he kept in regular touch with other class officers to the end, and could always be relied on for sound advice about reunions and fundraising. He was upbeat and positive, convinced that there was a solution to every problem. He was one of the pillars of the class. He lifted us up.

   He is survived by Martha, his wife of 57 years, three children, including Jennifer Storey Gillis ’89, Jessica Storey Dils, and Matthew Storey, and ten grandchildren. He was predeceased by one grandson, Charlie Gillis. A celebration of John’s life will be held next spring at Camp Dudley in Westport, New York.

   > One of John’s favorite phrases, especially in his last years, was “carpe diem.”
   >
   > — Dusty Griffin, President, Class of 1965