John B. Hough, Jr., 84, Potsdam

POTSDAM -- John B. Hough, Jr. died at his farm on the morning of June 6, 2025.

As a military history buff, he would have been quick to observe that it was the 81st anniversary of the "D" Day Landings.

John was a descendant of one of the old Yankee families of the North Country. His acreage on the Madrid Road west of Potsdam had been in the family since 1825.

John was born October 2, 1940, at Mercy Hospital in Watertown, NY to John Barnett Hough and Catherine McGowan Hough.

He enjoyed a happy childhood of stamp collecting, comic books, model airplanes, sand-lot baseball, a newspaper route, Saturday afternoon matinees at the Olympic Theater, and evening radio programs like "SkynKing" and "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon."

As he grew older, he enjoyed reading biographies, American History, and John Grisham thrillers.

He loved browsing in the Prose and Poetry Series, and his favorite poems were "If" by Rudyard Kipling and "It Couldn't Be Done" by Edgar Guest, and anything by Robert Service.

He attended the Academy Street Kindergarten, Holy Family Catholic School (grades 1-8), Immaculate Heart Academy (class of 1958), and St. Michael's College in Winooski, VT where he majored in economics, distinguished himself as an ROTC cadet, and graduated with the class of 1962.

In 1963 John joined the Army. He completed his officer training at Fort Dix, and was awarded his Jump Wings at Fort Benning. He served in Germany as a 1st Lieutenant with the Third Infantry Division from 1963 to 1968.

Out of the service and returning to New York State, John worked briefly as a NAPA salesman, and then discovered an ideal employment combination as a UPS driver and part time farming.

He remodeled and moved into the old Hough farm house on "Windy Hill"and with the help of Mike & Linda Mason, Bill & Diane Mackently an some Amish friends, restored the large Red Barn.

He planted a field of Chippewa potatoes and an apple orchard, cleared brush to better view his beautiful green pastures, and married Joyce Smith LaValley, a sweet lady who had grown up on a nearby farm.

John was proud of his ancestors, Jonas Bradish, a Massachusetts Surveyor of Roads, and his son Daniel Bradish, who fought as a "minute man" during the American Revolution.

He joined the Sons of the American Revolution, and helped to organize their Thousand Islands Chapter based in Alexandria Bay, NY. Thereafter he often represented the SAR at patriotic awards ceremonies for ROTC cadets at nearby school and colleges.

John was a member of St. Andrews Church in Norwood, NY, The Knights of Columbus (4th degree) and the Teamsters Union, Local 687. He volunteered and made donations of artifacts to his much beloved St. Lawrence Power & Equipment Museum in Madrid, NY.

Funeral services will be held at St. Andrews Church, Norwood, on Tuesday, June 10 at 11am.

Friends may visit with the family at 10am prior to the Service.

John will be buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Canton, NY with full military honors.

Survivors include his wife, Joyce and stepsons, Randy, Alan and Ricky LaValley. Siblings: Mary (Walter Holman), Frances (Alan), Candy, Jim (Patty), Joe (Lourdes), Jerry (Marie), and Margaret (Don Spruit), plus numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and step grandchildren.

John Barnett Hough, Jr., is predeceased by his parents, John & Catherine Hough, and by his siter, Elizabeth Hough Barker, her husband, Lawrence L. Barker, JR., and Candy's husband, GySgt. John T. Gilligan.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Andrews Church, The Sons of the American Revolution, or the St. Lawrence Power & Equipment Museum.

The Hough Family wishes to express its thanks and heartfelt salute to John's dedicated caregivers: Home Aides Brooke, Jill, Kathy and Heather, the medical providers at Canton Potsdam Hospital, and the Palliative and Hospice care workers of St. Lawrence County.

Arrangements are in the care of Garner Funeral Service, Potsdam, NY.

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