Born on April 26, 1920, in Dixfield, he prepared for college at the Garden School in Jackson Heights, NY, and Deering High School in Portland and became a member of Theta Delta Chi Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation in 1941, he was for two years a police officer in Old Orchard Beach and then Biddeford before serving in the U.S. Coast Guard for two and one-half years during World War II, attaining the rank of quartermaster 3rd class. After the war, he was a claims investigator with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Brooklyn, NY, from 1946 to 1958. For nearly 25 years he was first a probation officer and then, from 1968 until 1982, was the supervisor of the Wayne County Probation Department. From 1973 until 1991, he was also a fire instructor with the New York State Bureau of Fire Training and Control. He served as president of the local Rotary Club, as treasurer of the Bethpage, NY, Fire District, as a member of the Nassau Fire Commission, and as a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was married in 1943 to Helene Mitchell, who died in 1948, and was married again in 1951 to Veronica Amter, who died in 1991. Surviving are his third wife, Jean Bond Peters Sturtevant, whom he married in 1996; two sons, James S. Sturtevant of Wichita, KS, and John M. Sturtevant of Syracuse, NY; a stepdaughter, Marcia S. Landgren of Webster, NY; a stepson, Robert Peters, also of Webster; a sister, Judith Harris of Standish; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.