John R. Cronen

Montague Center, MA
John R. Cronen, 87, a resident of 46 North Taylor Hill Road, passed peacefully on Monday evening, May 29, 2017 at the Hospice of the Fisher Home, 1165 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA, following a period of declining health.
A native of Greenfield, MA, he was born on October 18, 1929 to Hazel B. Mowry and Martin Cronen.  He attended Montague Public Schools and graduated from Turners Falls High School. John was employed by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA for 43 years, as a heavy equipment operator in the Animal Sciences Service Department, retiring in 1990.
John was an avid outdoorsman, who enjoyed hunting, camping and snowmobiling. He enjoyed tractor pulling and was an ardent competitor. John was a NASCAR racing enthusiast, who in his youth was a dirt track driver at the former Rhythm Inn track in Turners Falls, MA and in West Brattleboro, VT.  John was a member of the Montague Center Volunteer Fire Department for many years, and was formerly Assistant Chief. 
He married the former Alberta M. Marvell on April 10, 1949 in Newton, MA.  They resided in Montague Center, where they raised their loving family of four daughters.  Sadly, Alberta predeceased John in July of 2012 having celebrated 63 years of marriage that April.  John is lovingly remembered by his daughters, their spouses and grandchildren who include: Alice Royce, her husband Ralph and their sons: Greg, Tom, Barry and Doug; Linda Boulden, her husband Gib and their children: Laurie, Sheri and Gary; Shelly Terault, her husband Rick and their daughters: Erica and Kelly; and Patricia Leveille, her husband Bud and their children: Stacy and Dan, as well as 8 great grandchildren.  Additionally, he leaves his brother Harold M. Cronen and his wife Madeira, of Douglasville, GA and several nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
Services in celebration of John’s life will be observed on SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 2017, from the McCarthy Funeral Homes, 36 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA at  3:00PM., with Mr. Jack Cooper, Celebrant to officiate.  Rites of committal and burial will follow in the Elm Grove Cemetery, Montague Center, MA.  The Cronen family will receive guests on Saturday from 2:00PM until the time of the services.  Expressions of affection in the form of a charitable contribution in John’s memory, are suggested in lieu of flowers to the Montague Center Volunteer Fire Department Firefighter’s Relief Association, c/o Chief David Hansen, P.O. 237, Montague, MA 01351, or to the Hospice of the Fisher Home, 1165 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002. 
 

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