Jeanette Pike Mayo

Jeanette Pike Mayo, formerly of St. Johnsbury, VT, passed away on Thursday, September 4, 2025, at the age of 82.

She was born on January 10, 1943 in Brooklyn, NY, to John Benton and Virginia (Nuffer) Pike, the first of their six daughters. To her sisters, she was “the Jeanetter,” a nickname bespeaking the singular determination she exhibited her whole life. As a child, for several summers Jeanette and her sister Mary Jane attended Silver Lake Camp, where Jeanette was famous for rising, dressing, and going to the dining hall before any other campers had awakened, every day– such was her lifelong, gleeful love of a good breakfast. Summers later, as a teenager, she realized that the busy details of her parents’ lives meant she’d need to teach herself to drive: she practiced for weeks in Virginia’s car, going up and down the long lane leading to the family’s cottage on Lake Champlain and studying the New York State driver’s license manual. She passed her road test the first time she took it.

When Jeanette began high school in Massena, NY in 1956, construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway had caused a population spike that led Massena schools to have to run their schedules in half-day shifts. As a result, in 1957, Jeanette and her parents made a decision that was more far-reaching than they could have known, and as a high school sophomore, she enrolled as a boarding student at St. Johnsbury Academy, from which she graduated in 1960.

Like her beloved father Ben and later, three of her sisters, Jeanette attended St. Lawrence University, where she majored in English and savored her time as a Kappa Kappa Gamma. Following graduation in 1964, intense love of her SJA experience and the town of St. Johnsbury itself led her back there; she accepted a position teaching English at the junior high school. That same year, ‘Miss Pike’ met Bernier Mayo, an English teacher at SJA whose passion for the school and the town equaled her own. They married in 1965.

When Bernier accepted his first school headship on Long Island in 1972, he and Jeanette left St. Johnsbury with the shared dream of returning. They were both elated in 1981 when he was appointed headmaster of St. Johnsbury Academy. Jeanette had loved and admired previous headmasters’ wives Claire Twombly and Marge Jacobs, and she stepped into the role she would serve for 20 years with deep commitment and grace, a partner to Bernier in making the Academy flourish. During these two decades, she raised Erin and Darcy, served on boards at the Athenaeum and Catamount Arts, sang in the choir at North Church, and greatly enjoyed all of the time and travel shared between her family and that of Michael and Priscilla Mayo. She also made a mean margarita.

Jeanette was diagnosed with dementia in 2019. Her family is most grateful for the excellent, compassionate care she’s received since 2020 at HarborChase of Madison in Madison, CT.

Predeceased by her husband Bernier in 2016, Jeanette is survived by her loving daughters and their families: Erin Mayo and Peter Gurnis of Burlington, New Jersey, and grandchildren Musa, Maeve, and Gunnar, and Darcy and Scott Dugas of Guilford, Connecticut, and grandchildren Andre, Molly, and Parker. She also leaves sisters and brothers-in-law Mary Jane and John Schremp of Hudson, OH; Valerie and Bill Dunning of Moira, NY; Patricia and Robert Ryan of Beaver Falls, NY; Virginia and Thomas Sullivan of Plattsburgh, NY; Vanessa and Seth Denning of Delmar, NY; nieces, nephews, and their extended families.

Visiting hours will be held at Sayles Funeral Home on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 4-6 p.m . Funeral services will be held in St. Johnsbury at United Community Church with the Rev. Lahoma Howard officiating on Friday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, St. Johnsbury.

Memorial contributions may be directed to either St. Johnsbury Academy, 1000 Main St., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819, or United Community Church, 1325 Main St., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.

Memories and condolences can be shared with the family at caledonialifeservices.com