09/20/2024
A GREAT MAN AND A GREAT LOSS
My friend Peter Ferry died Tuesday in Indianapolis. I had the honor of knowing and working with Peter on the play Old Heart which is being adapted for a feature film. A teacher, travel writer and novelist, Peter and his wife Carolyn were longtime summer residents of Palisades Park.
They loved the Lake Michigan shoreline. He made a memorable appearance at my book club here in Michigan talkking about his time in the Netherlands as a teacher and frequent visitor. The many stories told him by survivors of World War 2 that inspired him to tell the memorable story of Tom Johnson and Sarah van Praag. Among his many students in Lake Forest, Illinois was the novelist Dave Eggers. He also traveled the world as a writer for the Chicago Tribune.
Peter did a wonderful interview with the Tribune's Rick Kogan on WGN that is here.https://wgnradio.com/after-hours-with-rick-kogan/old-heart-makes-its-stage-debut/
I had the honor of showing him Muskegon Lake on my sailboat, a trip he loved. A kind man, much loved, Peter told me he spent two years figuring out the ending to Old Heart. His patience has left us with a story that has inspired so many of us. All of us who have had the honor of working on the play and forthcoming film are honored to be able to bring his novel to life.
June 17, 1947 -- September 17, 2024
Peter Mundell Ferry passed away in the early morning of September 17 after a long battle with Merkel Cell cancer.
Pete’s first visit to the Ferry cottage, Up Country, was at the age of 6 weeks in 1947. He spent part of every year of his life in this wonderful place. Though he travelled the world, it always remained his favorite, his retreat and place of renewal.
Pete brought his children Asa, Lizzie and Griffin to Palisades and they all developed the same love for the place that he had. Some of Asa’s ashes were scattered off the shore after his death in 2015. His grandson Atticus has visited almost every one of his 18 summers.
Pete spent his career teaching English at Lake Forest High School, where he also coached the forensics team and started a student exchange program with a high school in the Netherlands that continues today and has been so important in so many students’ lives. Coincidentally, his teaching career also left his summers free to spend lots of time at Palisades.
In 1999, Pete married another Palisades Parker, Carolyn O’Connor, on the porch of Up Country with yet another fellow Parker, Mike Mooney, as the celebrant. This union gave him another Palisades outpost at Clint Brae cottage.
Pete loved to hit tennis balls with Kerry Roche in the late afternoon, often followed by a beer on Kerry’s patio or the Brandywine gazebo. He adored the open mike nights and never missed one if he was in the park. He loved gathering fallen wood and hand sawing it - for exercise during the summer and fuel during the spring and fall. His idea of a perfect bathing experience involved the lake and a bar of soap.
He wrote a few books, one of which, Old Heart, was adapted by Roger Rapoport of Muskegan, Michigan, into a play and this adaptation will be filmed by Roger as a movie. He loved writing and getting lost in his writing. His most recent story was just published in the Chicago Quarterly Review.
Pete dearly loved and was loved by so many of you. His death will leave a hole in many hearts.
This family picture was taken at his last visit to Palisades in May, 2024.
