Roderick D. Stinehour

LUNENBURG - Roderick Douglas Stinehour, known to all as Rocky, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on Saturday, July 2, 2016 at the Littleton Regional Hospital, Littleton, New Hampshire at the age of 91. He lived most of his life in Lunenburg, Vermont. Rocky is survived by his wife of sixty-eight years, Elizabeth, three sons, Stephen, Christopher, John and four daughters, Ann Jolda, Mary Stinehour, Margie Toliver, and Kate Grondin. He is also survived by a brother, Laurence Stinehour. He had fourteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by a son Peter, in 1975. He was born on March 21, 1925 in Montreal, Canada to Max and Emily Stinehour. After his first six years, Rocky and his family moved to White River Junction, Vermont and later to Whitefield, New Hampshire, where he graduated from the Whitefield High School. Shortly after graduation he joined the U.S. Navy and was trained as a pilot and was assigned to the USS Valley Forge as a fighter pilot. Returning home from the Navy he married his high school sweetheart and classmate, Elizabeth Ann Maguire and shortly afterward enrolled at Dartmouth College. After graduating from Dartmouth, Rocky and Elizabeth, with Stephen and Ann, moved to Lunenburg, Vermont where they lived for sixty-four years. It was in Lunenburg that Rocky became Lunenburg's second printer when he purchased the Bisbee Press from Ernest Bisbee in 1950. He was beginning what would be his lifetime passion, printing books, done well. The Bisbee Press became The Stinehour Press and Rocky began his vocation in making books. To quote Rocky, the aim of The Stinehour Press was always " to print books better than ordinarily done , a modest goal and an attainable one." His talent of assembling a group of committed people to work with him and share his vision was evident throughout his working life. His first employee was his brother Laurence, who worked at the Press until his retirement. Laurence ran for many years The Hanover Press in Hanover, NH, which served as a division of The Stinehour Press. The Press quickly earned a national reputation for the quality of the design, materials and printing of their books, and was soon printing for some of the great museums, libraries and scholarly institutions in the U.S. In 1976 the Stinehour Press purchased the Meriden Gravure Company in Meriden Connecticut, a premier printer of illustrations. In 1981, Dartmouth College bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature to Rocky, and in 1990 he was appointed Fellow in the Book Arts at Dartmouth and taught a course in the book arts and organized the summer Typographic Workshop for twelve years in Hanover. In 1998 Rocky sold the Press to James Crean PLC, of Dublin, Ireland. Rocky was also an owner of The Coos County Democrat (1970-1978). He was an active member of many local organizations include a member of the Lunenburg School Board, board member of the Weeks Memorial Hospital, including chairman of the board, and an active member in the Mt. Prospect Ski Club. National organizations including the America Antiquarian Society, Grolier Club, the Century Club, the Club of Odd Volumes, the St. Botolph Club, the Bibliographic Society of America, Trustee of Yale Library Associates, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science and the Society of Printers. He received many awards and recognitions including, Vermont Small Business Man of the Year, RIT Frederic W. Goudy Award, Benjamin Franklin Award, the Laureate Award from the American Printing History Association, named a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Science and the Certificate of Honor from the American Friends of the Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Bailey Funeral Home in Lancaster, New Hampshire, where visiting hours will be from 6 to 8pm on Tuesday, July 5 . A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, July 6 at 1pm at All Saints Catholic Church in Lancaster. Reverend Matthew Mason, pastor, will officiate. Burial with military honors will follow in the Calvary Cemetery, Lancaster. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Gate of Heaven Parish of Lancaster, NH or the Lancaster Food Pantry

Roderick D. Stinehour

March 21, 1925 - July 2, 2016