Peter Loring Valentine passed away unexpectedly on August 25, 2022 in Aberdeen, Idaho.
Peter was born in 1952 to Joseph Willard Valentine and Betty Valentine in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in Framingham and Sherborn, Massachusetts. He lived in Erie, Pennsylvania from the mid-1990s until 2017.
Peter had a lifelong interest in technology and engineering and received a Bachelor of Science, cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He began his career in aerospace work, propeller design and use of composite materials as couplers and aircraft body components. He then spent 22 years in locomotive engine support, much of that time at GE in Erie, primarily working on fuel delivery and cooling systems to meet increasingly stringent pollution and efficiency requirements. He held ten patents and was cited more than 280 times in subsequent patents and papers.
His interests in “things that move and do stuff” extended into his hobbies as well. An avid sailing fan, he spent his early twenties crewing on ships, first the Brigantine Romance in the Caribbean and later putting himself through school crewing on barges in the Chicago area. He owned and restored numerous boats on which he would take family and friends.
He also restored cars, motorcycles, and designed and built radio-controlled mechanical dragonflies which he would then fly. He had active correspondence with both ornithopter (winged flying machines) and biological researchers into dragonfly flight in order to achieve similar flying efficiency with his mechanical designs.
In contrast to his technological interests, he had a lifelong interest in music and the arts. He taught himself guitar in his teens, playing with his brothers and continuing to play both “country style finger picking” and “Western swing” styles. His listening tastes were even more varied with interests in soul/R&B, jazz and classical music. As a visual artist he studied colored pencil drawing, both figurative and still life, for some ten years. For many years, he was part of Fran Schanz’s art group in Erie. After settling in Tucson, he became active in lapidary arts and silversmithing.
Peter was also an active outdoorsman, despite physical challenges as a result of motorcycle accidents in his youth. He enjoyed bird watching, rockhounding, seeing dinosaur footprints and fossils, and hiking National Parks as much as he could.
He met his wife, Mary, in Boise, Idaho in 2012 at a Meetup for science enthusiasts. They married in Tucson, Arizona in 2017 and lived both in Arizona and Idaho.
Peter is survived by his wife, Mary, of Aberdeen, Idaho; brothers Edward Valentine and Robert (Tirtsa) Valentine; stepsiblings John (Elaine) Purcell and Meg (Steve) Longley; nephews and nieces Tal Valentine, Maya Valentine, Daze Purcell and Harold Purcell; stepchildren Ramona Bodley and Lilian Bodley.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
There will be no memorial service at this time.
Charitable donations may be made in Peter’s name to The Nature Conservancy and The Audubon Society.
Posted online on September 15, 2022
Published in Erie Times-News