Sylvester Sutton Hamilton III died peacefully from complications of Parkinson’s disease in his home of nearly 50 years on May 3 at the age of 87.
He was under the care of Greenwood hospice and died surrounded by friends and family.
He was born June 9, 1935 in Punxsutawney, PA – proud home of the famous weather forecasting groundhog.
As a child and teen, he was fascinated with the rapidly developing fields of electronics and photography, often spending afternoons experimenting in the sunroom of his childhood home.
He was likely one of few in town with a large Van De Graaff generator.
After graduating high school, he attended the University of Pittsburgh where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
He attended medical school at the University of Pittsburgh as well, graduating with AOA honors.
He was accepted into residency in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania; he reported having no address or abode apart from the hospital during his internship.
He graduated from residency after serving his final year as chief resident.
In 1966 he married Carol Julie Dudrick and moved to San Antonio, Texas to serve as a psychiatrist in the Air Force.
They were married until her death in 2020.
After his time in the service, he returned to the University of Pennsylvania as residency director.
Tired of his long commute, he accepted a position in 1976 as the director of Princeton House in Princeton, New Jersey, where he served for twenty years before transitioning to private practice.
Finding great joy in the practice of psychiatry, he practiced well into his 80s only ending when his voice – weakened by Parkinson’s disease – no longer possessed the strength to continue.
The few patients he worked with during his 80s included patients from residency some 50 years earlier.
Piloting the family in an inline twin engine Cessna 337, he flew to destinations including the Bahamas and the Alaskan panhandle.
Aviation highlights include a near fiasco after the family dog jumped onto the controls, and an unsuccessful attempt to land at the LBJ ranch in Texas.
Logging several thousand hours of flying, he became a licensed instructor as well as a float plane pilot.
He finished his aviation experience with an aerobatics plane, the American Champion Decathlon, and a WW2 trainer, the iconic “taildragger” Piper J-3 Cub.
His other hobbies included amateur radio, computers, and hiking.
To the dismay of neighbors, he constructed a large antenna beside our house to extend the “ham” radio range.
As a fitness jogger he entered 5 and 10K races where, largely by preserving his middling pace, he often found himself a top finisher in the 70 and over segment.
Parkinson’s limited his mobility in his final years, but he remained busy with frequent guests and phone calls, and he maintained an active and curious mind until days before his death.
He is survived by his two children, Sylvester Sutton Hamilton IV and Julie Carol Hamilton, and five grandchildren: Sophie, Micah, Cleo, Aiden and Liam.
They will all look up when they see small planes flying overhead and think of him and imagine for a moment that it’s him, flying gently and joyfully above them.
A memorial service is planned for May 27th at 4:00 at Stone Hill Church in Princeton.
Arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
