From Gary De Carolis:
Five words that describe John Montross: Magnanimous, Innovative, Humorous, Conscientious, Pragmatic.
I was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, on January 29, 1949, and grew up in the Town of Hyde Park, just north of Poughkeepsie and home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I attended Hyde Park Schools and graduated from F. D. Roosevelt High School where I was honored as graduate of the year in 1967. During my High School years, I sang in the chorus and attended All County, All State and New York State High School Choirs. The attendance at these was by competition, evaluations and the recommendation of the choir director. I was also sang bass in the Boys Quartet in High School.
During my elementary and middle school years, I traveled extensively around the USA with my parents – with me riding in the back seat of an Oldsmobile 98! We traveled to Florida – down the Atlantic Coast on Route 1. Other trips included the southern, central and northern western states and National Parks on Route 66!
I was active in Scouting and advanced through the ranks in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts where I received my Eagle Scout award in 1964. I was selected to attend the National Scout Jamboree and traveled to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico that same year. In 1967, I was chosen Scout of the year in 1967 for Dutchess County. As a Scout, I was inducted into the Order of the Arrow and given the Vigil Honor in addition to servicing as Nooteeming Lodge Chief (president) during my junior year in high school. From 1964 through 1968, I served in several Scout Camp staff positions. The Summer of 1970, I was Program Director of Nooteeming Scout Camp. Once I moved to Cairo, NY with my parents, I was recruited as the Scoutmaster of Troop 43 for six years. During that time, I received District Award of Merit in Greene County.
I continued my love of singing with the Hamilton College Men’s Choir. While at Hamilton, I spent two summers with the choir singing our way around Europe. My college education was completed at The Whitman School of Business at Syracuse University where I received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1984.
From 1970 through 1974 I worked for an excavation contractor. During the summer of 1973, I was a counselor at Camp Janed, a camp for disabled teenagers in Hunter Mountain, NY. The next year I started with IBM Office Products Customer Engineering where I worked in repair for 13 years and then moved to a staff position in the Service Office. The following year I joined the Service Support Staff at Poughkeepsie Service Planning. In 1992, I was promoted to Site Rep for Kingston and Poughkeepsie, NY plant locations, reporting to Mechanicsburg, PA, where we assured the continuity of supply for parts from those locations for the repair personnel around the country and world. In 1996 I was promoted to a Staff position in Reutilization Organization where my focus was the repair of computer parts as equivalent to new for maintenance purposes. Our department became a global entity in 2009, and I functioned as the Operations Manager for that worldwide engineering Department. After 37.5 years, I retired from IBM in April 2012.
I met Barrie Adams at a wedding on Cape Cod in June of 1976. Two years later we were married on July 8,1978 in Westboro, MA, and moved to Saugerties, NY. On June 17, 1980, our first son, Matthew, was born. On October 19, 1980, our family grew with the birth of our second son, Benjamin. In 1989 we moved to Red Hook, NY. Both boys went through the Red Hook Schools which were highly rated in New York State. Matt graduated in 1998 from Red Hook High School and went on to be a Political Science major at UVM, graduating in 2002 while at the same time pursuing his passion for cycling as a member of the UVM Cycling Team. Ben graduated from Red Hook High School in 2002 and pursued a degree in Environmental Studies at Siena College where he graduated in 2006. During those years he pursued his interests in bag piping, competing nationally and internationally as well as teaching piping at a nearby Celtic Cultural Center. In May of 2007, he graduated from Vermont Law School with a master’s in environmental law and policy.
Barrie and I were members of two different choruses for a number of years – Barrie in the Bard College Symphonic Chorus, while I sang with the Mendelssohn Club of Kingston, NY. During that time I served as president of the club and later as a member of the Board.
After a trip to the Epcot Center in Orlando, FL, in 1996, Ben expressed a desire to learn to play bag pipes. There was a Highland Pipe Band that practiced in Red Hook. The Pipe Major agreed to give Ben lessons. After one lesson she told us that Ben was a quick study and a natural musician! We drove him to practice (he was 13 at the time) with the caveat that it would be another year before he was on the street with them. One night while I sat on the sidelines, I was approached by the lead drummer. He asked if I could help them by playing the bass drum since their bass player was grounded for low grades!! I had never played a drum in my life! I put on the harness and loaded up the drum and started banging away to keep a beat for marching and playing. I was now a band member!! Barrie joined a few months later as a Tenor Drummer. We played with the band for 7 years up and down the Hudson Valley and Canada in Highland Games and parades, even St Patrick’s Day in New York City. During that time, I became the Drum Major who lead the band in parades.
In January of 2000, I became a Mason at Hendrick Hudson Masonic Lodge where I advanced through the 3 degrees that year and proceeded thought the various positions of the lodge leadership to became the Master of the Lodge in 2009. In 2012 I was commissioned as the District Deputy Grand Master for the Dutchess County District. My responsibility was to oversee the operations of the ten Masonic Lodges in my District (Dutchess County). Wherever I went in the county from 2012 to 2014, I represented the Masonic Grand Master of the State of New York.
At the urging of our two sons who lived in Waterbury, Barrie and I moved to Burlington, VT in 2014. I became involved with Masons in Washington Lodge #3 in Williston, The York Rite and Scottish Rite organizations. I have served as a leader in the York Rite and Scottish Rite organizations and have become a member of three invitation only Masonic organizations in which I hold leadership rolls.
When we moved to Burlington, we chose the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul as our faith home. After two years I was asked to join the Building and Grounds Committee (still on it). In 2017, I became a member of the Board of Trustees. From 2015 to 2020, Barrie served as Chair of the Welcoming Committee. In 2021 she became a member of the Vestry. We are both involved with the Lay Ministry of the church – reading lessons at services and/or serving in liturgical ministry positions.
For the past five years I have served as President of our HOA Organization. This is a group of 19 households in the New North end of Burlington.
Barrie and I have done a fair amount of traveling – to the Western States, National Parks and Hawaii. We have also traveled to Vancouver, B.C., Holland, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, China, the Countries along the Danube River from Hungary to Germany, and the Mediterranean Countries from Spain to the Riviera, around Italy to Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia.
