David H. Jerrett, 64, of Mill Road, Ipswich, husband of
Linzee (Parker) Jerrett, died Friday December 18, 2009
in the Beverly Hospital of complications from bladder
cancer.
He was born in Patuxent River, MD on December 23,
1944, the son of the late Robert and Hope (Harkness)
Jerrett .
Educated at Exeter, Brown University, and SUNY Buffalo,
David was a renaissance man. A lifelong scholar, he was
well-versed in Water’s history of Ipswich, and spent the
last years of his life working on a history of Mill
Road. He had a passion for genealogy and was also
working on a biography of his ancestor Aaron Dwight
Stevens, who fought alongside abolitionist John Brown.
In addition to his historical writing, David was an
accomplished poet and could provide verses for every
occasion from the satiric to the lyrical. Music, too,
was an important voice for him. He had a fine baritone
and played the guitar.
David lived in Ipswich for 30 years and, as one
acquaintance observed, he embodied the best of small
town living. A stop for milk could lead to a half-hour
conversation about anything from town affairs to
philosophy -- almost everywhere he went he was greeted
by name.
In his working life, he was a gifted woodworker whose
cabinetry embellished many North Shore homes. The same
talent for woodworking also built several boats. He was
an avid sailor and relished any opportunity to get out
on the water.
In addition to Linzee, his wife of thirty-four years, he
is survived by his children Kim Opratko-Jerrett of
Vienna, Austria, David H. Jerrett Jr. of Vienna and San
Francisco CA, Eliza G. Jerrett of Ipswich, and three
grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
Arrangements are under the direction of the
Whittier-Porter Funeral Home of Ipswich.
