JAMES FRANCIS LENNON, 81, of Pittsfield, died Friday, January 30, at
Berkshire Medical Center.
Born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, December 17, 1927, a son of Michael and
Mary Cullen Lennon, he was educated by the Xavarian Brothers at Mission High School
in Roxbury, graduating in 1945.
He entered Boston College immediately and was drafted into the United States
Army the same year during World War II. He returned to Boston College, graduating
in 1950. He was recalled during the Korean War and was discharged as a United States
Army infantry officer in 1953.
Mr. Lennon worked as an engineer at Pratt & Whitney, participating in the
nuclear aircraft engine project.
In 1960, he joined General Electric working in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in the
Missile and Space Division where he participated in a number of projects including
Nimbus weather satellite. He returned to Lynn in 1964 to work as a project engineer in
fuel cell development where he received a patent award for a methanol/air fuel cell.
In 1968, he was transferred to Pittsfield to work in the design and manufacture
of large power transformers. Until the plant closed in 1988, he worked as a chemical
engineer in various phases of the manufacturing and processing of components and
assembly and test of transformers. After retiring from General Electric, he worked for
three years for a local engineering company as a project engineer before starting his own
consulting business Vacutherm, Inc.
In 1965, he married Caryl Doherty of Milford, Massachusetts. They moved to Pittsfield from West Roxbury in 1968.
Mr. Lennon was a daily communicant of Sacred Heart Church, a volunteer at St.
Joseph's Kitchen and at the Veterans Administration. For over twenty-five years, he
volunteered at Tanglewood. He was a member of Sacred Heart Choir and traveled with
the Berkshire Choral Festival for two years. He loved golf, skiing, and traveling.
He is survived by his wife, Caryl Doherty Lennon, formerly of Milford; his
daughter, Amanda Lennon Ribao, her husband, Darryl, and two granddaughters, Cecilia
Mae and Victoria Ann of Medway, Massachusetts; a brother, Thomas of West Roxbury,
Massachusetts; a sister, Sr. Michael Marie of Baltimore, Maryland; a brother, Rev.
Robert Lennnon, CSsR of Roxbury, and many nieces and nephews.
He was pre-deceased by his sisters, Winifred Lennon Lloyd, Alice Lennon
Hurley, and Mary Lennon Healey, and by his brothers, John and Joseph Lennon.

FUNERAL NOTICE: Funeral services for JAMES FRANCIS LENNON, who died Friday, January
30, will be Saturday, February 7, at 10:15 a.m., from DERY FUNERAL HOME, with
a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m., at Sacred Heart Church, concelebrated by
Rev. James K. Joyce, Pastor, and Rev. Robert Lennon, CSsR, brother of Mr. Lennon.
Burial will be private in St. Mary's Cemetery in Milford. Calling hours will be Friday,
from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Funeral Home, 54 Bradford Street, Pittsfield.

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