Peter Clawson, a true gentleman with an awful sense of humor and a deep love for his family and friends, especially his wife Kay, died surrounded by family on June 28, 2021 at the age of 85.  The last time he spoke to a nurse, she asked him how he was feeling, and he replied “Remarkably well for a man of my age and habits.” 

The son of Dot and Wit, and younger brother to Nan, Peter was born and grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey.  After his graduation from Pingry School and Lehigh University, Peter would serve in the Intelligence Corp in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. Stationed in Germany, he became fluent in German, Russian and round-the-clock, multi-national fun. “I’m embarrassed to say I had much too much fun in the Army,” he’d laugh. “But what could be better than living in Europe and serving yourself and your country?”

Upon returning home, he would go on to become the President of the Norwalk Vault Company in Plainfield.

Peter became the luckiest man on earth when he met the love of his life, Kay, on a blind date in 1966 and married her only a few months later. Every day during their 44 years together, Peter would make sure everyone could see just how much Kay sparkled, and he would tell everyone he knew how lucky he was, as if people couldn’t already see it in his eyes.

Kay and Peter raised two sons, Doug and Chris, and two daughters, Suzanne and Tory, because a guy who life fancied so much was always going to be dealt just the proper balance.  During their many years in New Jersey, Peter and Kay enjoyed summers ‘down the shore,’ hosted what seemed to be one long and spectacular party with their many friends and family, and decorated and re-decorated each of their many houses to perfection.  There were loads of dogs too. Curry and Midas were both especially beloved, but he also adored Frodo, Frito, Steinway, Bracken and Klondike.

Peter came across as conventional with his preppy clothes, impeccable manners and sophisticated vocabulary. Yet he was anything but.  At the age of 60, Peter and Kay picked up and moved to Kathmandu, Nepal.  A life-long Rotarian, Peter joined the Kathmandu Mid-Town Rotary Club where he served as an officer, developed waste water treatment units, learned how to do Reiki, and volunteered as a reader for blind university students, among many other endeavors.    He became something of a fixture in Kathmandu, attending and hosting parties with his myriad friends, and walking through the dusty streets in his khakis and tidy button-down shirts, often wearing his ascot. He also got to be a hands-on grandfather, with five of his seven grandchildren living in Kathmandu at various points over his fourteen years there.

During and after Kay’s illness and untimely death in 2010, Peter re-invented himself yet again in Nashville, Tennessee.  With his son Chris there to support him, Peter got on with the final chapter of his life without his beloved Kay.  He blazed no less brightly without her, making scores of friends who would love him as everybody who knew him always had.

He joined the local Rotary club and made deep friendships with the ‘coffee crew’ who gathered each morning to swap good cheer, bad stories and worse jokes.  It was a group of friends Peter cherished.   Peter also had many other dear friends in Nashville, including in the building where he lived.  There, he volunteered at the front desk twice a week, and cultivated and delivered narcissus bulbs to all his neighbors every Christmas.

Peter never heard a joke that wasn’t worth remembering or made better in its retelling. He’d always laugh as hard in telling it as he had in hearing it.  He was quick with a story, but painfully careful to make sure he told it just so. He never met a pun he didn’t like. 

Cocktail hour was to be savored and often stretched deep into the night, especially if he had an audience. “Say, did you hear the one about the …”  You most likely had, but couldn’t wait to hear him tell it again.

Gin was his drink.

Peter was a voracious reader and if not entertaining an audience, was never without a book. When he got the news of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in May, he fought through tears to say, “But I have so many books left to read ...”

Peter is survived by his four children and their spouses, Marni, Ian and Steven, as well as his grandchildren Kaitlyn, Kristin, Harry, Peter, Liam, Kirby and Finn. All his grandchildren adored the man they called Heeps, Ta or Peter, and he adored them back with a reverence doled out in soaring platitudes and good humor that always hit the individual mark.

Peter's ashes have been laid to rest together with Kay's at Hillside Cemetery in Plainfield, New Jersey. A celebration of his life will be arranged in Nashville in the weeks to come. Donations in his memory can be made to the Kathmandu Mid-Town Rotary Club.  We have set up a GoFundMe page to gather the donations.  You can copy and paste this link to get to the page: https://gofund.me/c6747e82 https://gofund.me/ec3d35echttps://gofund.me/ec3d35ec