John Towle

John T. Towle died peacefully at home after a long illness on April 6th in Freedom, NH.  He was79.   

John is survived by his wife Terri, son John L. Towle and Daughter in Law Sherri Walker Towle , sister Jennifer Towle Lund, sister-in-law Linda Shamblin, brother-in-law Yngvar Tjersland III, and many cousins, nieces, nephews and their families. 

John was born in Wilmington, Delaware.  His parents were the late William A. Towle of North Carolina and Esther O’Brian Windebank  of Buffalo, N.Y.   He summered in Freedom as a child and eventually returned from Wilmington with his wife Terri in 1976 to make the town their permanent residence. 

He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, and then went on to serve in the United States Army from 1961 to 1964, where his love for shooting was made evident with his achievement of several distinguished marksmanship badges in a variety of weapons.  

This passion for shooting followed him to New Hampshire where he began his own business in 1976, T-N-T Arms, specializing in the design and conversion of competition PPC and Silhouette pistols, many of which were featured at the time in Gun World Magazine and American Handgunner, and touted by some as the world’s most powerful handguns.   A lifelong martial arts enthusiast, holding black belts in two different systems, he was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2002 with an award for Outstanding Leadership.   In addition, he was an avid lover of fast cars and followed the drag racing circuit from an early age.  He eventually joined the more conservative crowd of 9 to 5-ers as a consultant and product design specialist for the GPX Corporation in Gorham, Maine until his retirement in 2012.  

John will be buried in the Towle Cemetery in Freedom following a private family gathering.  Per his wishes no services will be held.  In lieu of flowers those who wish may make a donation, in John’s memory, to the American Heart Association.

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