James Edward Tebbetts

James Edward Tebbetts, age 78, died on February 22, 2024. James was born in Manchester on May 25, 1945, the son of Edward James Tebbetts and Victoria Elizabeth Tebbetts (nee Kablis).  Edward died as a casualty of WWII one week prior to the birth of James; his mother subsequently married the merchant Raco Theodore, who became James’s stepfather.

James was a lifelong resident of Manchester.  Growing up in South Manchester, he attended Bakersville School.  He graduated in 1963 from Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH.  He went on to study at the University of New Hampshire, earning a BA degree in Political Science in 1967, followed by an MA in German in 1971. That included four semesters at universities in Marburg and Bonn in Germany.  In 1987 he also earned an MS degree in Computer Science from Rivier College in Nashua.

Upon graduation from the University of New Hampshire James was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Reserve and later attained the rank of Captain in the Corps of Engineers.

His fluency in German landed him a job with the then new manufacturing plant of the German wire company Elektrisola, Inc. in Boscawen in 1976, subsequently being promoted to a supervisory position. When Elektrisola computerized in 1982, James became the company’s programmer.  He later went on to work as a programmer in the International Division of the Bank of Boston for several years.  Following a layoff from the bank during the recession of 1991, for two years he held a programmer’s position with the jewelry company Little Switzerland in St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands.  Following his return to New England, James worked as a software developer and later as a manager at DataProfit Corporation in Waltham, MA until that company went out of business in 2001. Lastly, after telecommuting ten years as a software engineer at International TechneGroup Inc., based in Milford, Ohio, he officially retired in June 2011, though he continued to serve that company as a consultant thereafter for an additional 18 months.

James maintained his fluency in German over many years, attaining some limited fluency also in French, Dutch and Czech along the way.  He was an active member of the New Hampshire Germanic Association for about ten years.

His other interests over the years included astronomy, hiking and mountain climbing, photography, ballroom dance and attending concerts of classical music, folk and jazz.  James began playing tenor recorder in 1987, but mostly as a casual activity during Christmas season.

At age 59 he took a much more serious interest in music, learning to play flute, viola and piano at the Manchester Community Music School, and composed numerous pieces of chamber music for winds, strings, piano and voice, many of which were performed in a series of annual public concerts in Manchester that he organized starting in 2015.

Survivors include his mother Victoria Theodore, his companion of many years Cecile Juneau, cousins Susan Paul, Diane Hersey (Jim), Steven Paul (Linda), Ethan Paul (Elizabeth).

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday April 6, at 1:00pm at the Manchester Community Music School 2291 Elm Street Manchester NH.

Donations to the Manchester Community Music School may be made in memory of James Tebbetts.