Montgomery, James O.

Description

James Oliphant Montgomery was born on September 6, 1908, in Rye, New York, to Ethel Dean, age 31, and Hugh Devereux Montgomery, age 31. He had one sister Ruth and in Rye his family lived on Ralston Street and were members of Christ’s Church.

James attended the Hackley School in Tarrytown and before the war was employed by Abercrombie and Fitch.

He enlisted on February 17, 1942, when he was 33 years old. James served as an officer in U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and was stationed at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. In August of 1943 He volunteered to escort the body of his friend Lt. Mark Rainsford, who was killed in an air crash, back to Rye. James was honorably discharged in April 1946 after attaining the rank of major.

He married Mary Antonette Pfiester in Pelham, New York, on June 9, 1950, when he was 41 years old.

He worked for the Abercrombie and Fitch stores in Manhattan and Chicago from 1930 to 1954, retiring as advertising manager. James and Mary moved back to Westchester County in the 1960′ s. They were longtime Pelham residents and he was the former village clerk-treasurer of Pelham from 1967 to 1976.

He was warden of the Church of the Redeemer in Pelham until the church merged with Christ Church in Pelham Manor. He was a former vestryman of Christ the Redeemer Church in Pelham Manor, formed in the merger.

James Oliphant Montgomery died on May 21, 1988, at Calvary Hospital, the Bronx, of cancer, when he was 79 years old.