FERRISBURGH — The Ferrisburgh Selectboard on Dec. 18 voted to dedicate the 2019 Town Report to recently deceased Ferrisburgh dairy farmer John Pierce, whose service to the town included tenures as chairman of its selectboard and planning commission.
Family members said Pierce, who was 84, knew before he died earlier in the day on Dec. 18 that the selectboard planned to honor him that evening.
Pierce, a Hinesburg native, moved to North Ferrisburgh in 1964, when he bought a dairy farm there. He ran the farm until about 2000.
He and Irene Gebo Pidgeon married in 1970. They recently celebrated their 48th anniversary.
Pierce served on the town’s first zoning board when it was established in 1967, overseeing temporary zoning by-laws until permanent planning and zoning regulations were established in 1970. In that year Pierce was appointed to the planning commission and served as its chairman from 1970 to 1979.
 In 1974 residents elected Pierce as town moderator, a position he held through 1994.
In March of 1986 Pierce was first elected to the selectboard, where he remained until 1993. In 1989 selectboard members chose him as their chairman, a position he held through 1991. During his tenure on the selectboard he helped lead the effort to build the town’s Route 7 fire station.
Pierce also served as the Ferrisburgh Recreation Committee’s co-chairperson from 1988 through 1994, helping to establish weekly bingo and Saturday morning breakfasts as fundraisers.
Despite his busy schedule with the farm and town work, Pierce and his wife loved to travel, according to family members, and Pierce somehow found time to visit every U.S. state except Hawaii.