John Bradley Pierce of Kennebunk, died peacefully at home on Friday, June 23, 2023, after a long and tenacious battle against cancer, surrounded by his wife and children.
The elder son of Henry Pierce and Ardath Nadeau Pierce, John was born on Aug. 5, 1946, in Biddeford and grew up in Kennebunk. After graduating from Kennebunk High School in 1964, he spent time in California before volunteering for Vietnam.
He served as a warrant officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, earning the Bronze Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Returning stateside, he rose to the rank of captain and established updated flight standards for the UH-1 “Huey” based on thousands of flight hours and several dozen combat missions. While stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, he met the love of his life, Patricia Smith, whom he married on Dec. 7, 1968.
After being honorably discharged, John served as a flight instructor at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute (now University) in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he was also a student, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1972 with support from the G.I. Bill. Upon returning to Kennebunk, he worked for Andrews Enterprises before becoming a private general contractor and buying a farm in Alewive, where he owned and operated a custom haying business.
An engaged member of the community, he served on the Kennebunk Planning Board, on the boards of directors for both Camp Waban (now Waypoint) and Kennebunk Free Library, as a volunteer firefighter in West Kennebunk, and as a volunteer middle school football coach. Whether on the sidelines, at a swim meet, or in the audience for a performance, he was always there to support his kids, and his piercing whistle rang out over the loudest crowd.
John’s irrepressible curiosity and love of learning led him to pursue an interest in computers, from purchasing an early Commodore desktop, to building his own MS-DOS computer, to becoming an early Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), to eventually becoming senior information officer with the Maine Science and Technology Foundation. In this latter role, he was instrumental in securing grant funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to build the first network to connect Maine’s public libraries and school systems to the Internet. He would subsequently work as a NIST contractor on an initiative to enhance the technological capacities of small businesses in Ireland.
In his later years, John enjoyed rebuilding heavy machinery to use on his farm, spending time at the family camp on Moosehead Lake, four-wheeling in the North Woods, and touring the country with Patti in their fifth-wheel trailer. Though his health declined, his insatiable desire to learn and to develop new solutions never did. He participated in five clinical trials, including two for Churg-Strauss syndrome (now called eosinophilic granulomatosis and polyangiitis, or EGPA) and three for cholangiocarcinoma.
So strong was his self-advocacy that he was afforded the almost unheard-of opportunity to sit on his tumor board alongside clinicians and researchers from Jackson Laboratory’s Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative. Though that tumor would eventually claim his life, he was proud to contribute to genomic testing and targeted therapy programs that he was certain would eventually lead to a cure.
John is survived by his beloved wife of more than 54 years, Patricia Smith Pierce, of Kennebunk; his son, Jason Pierce, and his wife, Joanna Tapp Pierce, of Asheville, North Carolina; his daughter, Sara Pierce Esperti, and her husband, Nicholas Esperti, of Barnstead, New Hampshire; his grandsons, Cameron Pierce, Ian Pierce, and Daniel Esperti; his brother, Thomas Pierce, and his wife, Christine Griffin Pierce, of Rockwood; and several nieces and nephews.
At John’s request, there will be no public service. His family asks that those who wish to memorialize him consider making a donation to the JAX Cancer Center, https://www.jax.org/give, to support their efforts in targeted genomic cancer research.
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