John Dowcett; homebuilder was active in his community
John B. Dowcett, a homebuilder and longtime resident of Carlisle, died June 18 at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, after suffering a heart attack while returning home from work in Billerica. He was 51.
Born in Waltham, Mr. Dowcett was the middle child, with four siblings. He was active in sports, including soccer, baseball, and football. He graduated from Waltham High School in 1975.
From a young age, Mr. Dowcett was involved with his community, said his mother, Julie of Waltham. “I thought he would be a newspaper reporter because he would go out and listen to gossip, then he’d come home and tell me,’’ she said.
Mr. Dowcett attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst for two years before working for a plumbing company in Waltham.
He later spent three years as a sales representative for several small computer companies and ran his own computer resale business in Woburn.
He was at a Cambridge computer store when he met Peggy Edwards, a sales rep, whom he married in 1986. “John came in looking for a hard drive for his Mac, thinking he needed a new one, when really he just didn’t know how to save on a floppy disc,’’ recalled his wife.
On their first date, he took her to a French restaurant in Watertown, the same place he proposed 18 months later.
The couple eventually settled in Carlisle, and in 1989, he founded his own company, Dowcett and Associates, to pursue his passion for building quality homes.
Mr. Dowcett also enjoyed volunteering. Beginning in 1999, he participated in the Concord/Carlisle Youth Baseball organization every spring, repairing batting cages, doing field maintenance, and lending his time and heavy equipment.
Six years ago, he offered his services to help improve The Foss Farm Equestrian Facilities, and spent months working on the large riding arena at the Carlisle farm.
In 2005, he received the volunteer recognition award from the National United States Pony Club and the annual benefactor award from the Old North Bridge Pony Club in Carlisle.
He often shared a story about how his daughter Sarah, at age 7, would cry every night at the dinner table, “If you really loved me, you would buy me a pony.’’ When she was 8, he bought her a pony and built a barn for it and for the other three he later bought her.
In addition to his wife, children, and mother, he leaves his father, Charles of Florida; two sisters, Christine of Santa Monica, Calif., and Julia of Marlborough; and two brothers, Brian of Waltham, and Charles Jr. of Gardner.
Services have been held.
