Peter Pineo Jenkins Jr.

Peter was born on March 16, 1936 in Schenectady New York, the son of the late Peter Pineo Jenkins and Rowena Rae Benjamin Jenkins. Peter excelled in school, skipping ahead in grade school and earning a scholarship at Phillips Andover Academy for 11th and 12th grade. Peter went on to Amherst College where he played football, basketball, and rugby and earned his BA in History as well as made many lifelong friends.

After Amherst, Peter joined the Navy as an officer and was stationed in Long Beach, California where he traveled the Pacific on a minesweeper. During this time, he met the love of his life, a drama and English teacher named Laurel Morris. Peter and Laurel were married on August 19th, 1961. In the early years of their marriage, Peter worked in sales, selling plastics and extruders. After finishing his MBA, Peter found his dream job, selling precious metal alloys for the dental industry, which allowed him to travel the globe, wining and dining people from many cultures and continents.

Peter and Laurel’s family grew including daughters Kimberley and Karin and sons Peter III and Nelson. The childrearing days in Simsbury, Connecticut were filled with crafts, fires, fondue parties, love, laughter, song, trips to Cape Cod beaches and sandbars, hockey games, soccer games, badminton games, gardening, tennis, paddle tennis, kielbasa sandwiches, hilarity, gourmet dinner parties, hikes, and much time spent with good friends.

As their children reached adulthood, Peter and Laurel moved to Ireland, to launch a precious metal alloy manufacturing business named Phoenix Kilkee. Missing their homeland and children, they settled on Cape Cod, purchasing a Sylvan Learning Center and expanding the business to include three centers where they nurtured and tutored the children of Cape Cod for over a decade.

Retirement on Cape Cod was idyllic. Peter enjoyed attending classes at the Academy for Lifelong Learning, playing bridge, clamming, gardening, discussing world events and politics, traveling, and enjoying time with his friends, children, and grandchildren. But most of all he enjoyed time spent with his beautiful wife Laurel.

No one will ever come close to filling Peter’s size 16 shoes as he had it all: brains, brawn, bravery, and a beautiful soul. He filled all of us with a sense of wonder, of being truly loved, he radiated love at us. Peter shared the magic of pancakes after early morning skinny dipping, or freshly dug clams steamed on the sandbar, or the joy of a hike before breakfast. He could curse with wild abandon that made us roar. His wit was legendary. He was a champion of morality, manners, and good behavior. He detested stupidity and traffic. He sang silly tunes that spoke to the joy in his heart as he puttered around the house. There is a bright golden haze o’er the meadow wherever he is now. And his heart is filled with love for Lollie and us and you his dear friends.

He leaves behind his beloved wife, Laurel M Jenkins, daughter Kimberley Tracy and her husband Jeffrey, daughter Karin Walsh and her husband Stephen, son Peter P Jenkins, III and his wife Pauline, and son Nelson C Jenkins and his partner Weldy Webb. He will be sorely missed by his cherished grandchildren Josie Tracy, Shawn Tracy, Emma Walsh, Stephen Walsh Jr, Peter P Jenkins IV and Johanna Jenkins and many extended family members and friends.

Peter was predeceased by his two younger brothers, Edwin Benjamin Jenkins, Sr and John Palmer Jenkins. In lieu of flowers please donate to Amherst College or the 1717 Meetinghouse Foundation.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday December 10, 2022 at 11:00 am at West Parish of Barnstable Church.