HANCOCK, Mass. — Richard P. Hamilton, 86, died on Sunday, March 20, 2016, at Albany Medical Center. 

He was born in Pittsfield on March 14, 1930, the eldest son of Harold P. Hamilton and his wife Doris Hapgood Hamilton. He graduated from Pittsfield High School and went on to the University of Massachusetts for a degree in geology. He continued his education and completed a master's degree in geology at the University of Missouri. 

Following graduation, he enrolled in officers' training at Newport, R.I., in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant. During his Navy years, he spent some time with submarine service but mostly serving on an icebreaker in both the Arctic and Antarctic during the International Geophysical Year (1958). He was posted to Pearl Harbor until his term of service concluded. Deciding that he really liked Hawaii and working with young people, he found work teaching in the eighth grade at the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu. 

Still pursuing his interests in geology and the earth sciences, he returned to the Berkshires to teach at Mt. Greylock Regional High School when it opened in 1961. He retired from Mt. Greylock in 1995. He worked with Boy Scout troops in Pittsfield and Williamstown. 

In the meantime, also continuing an interest in young people and the circus, he presented a proposal for a children's circus camp to Berkshire Community College and became the director of the Berkshire Children's Circus Camp, which ran for three weeks in the summer for 15 years. 

He was a resident of Hancock and served on the school committee and board of health. 

He was an active member of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield, serving on the congregation council, the Sunday school and Christian Education, and the property committee. 

He is survived by his wife, Beverly, whom he met in Honolulu in 1958 and married in Seattle on July 15, 1961; his daughter Martha and her husband Mark Prescott of Stephentown, N.Y., and their children Anna and Benjamin; his son Matthew and his wife Elizabeth of Worcester and their daughters Erin and Olivia; one brother, Harold P. Hamilton, and his children Kristin Gage and Karin Hamilton of New Hampshire and Sara Conversano of North Carolina; his sister-in-law Betsy Hamilton; and nephew Daniel Hamilton of Dalton, nephew Todd Hamilton of Leominster and niece Lori Hamilton of Austin, Texas.

Funeral notice: Funeral services for Richard P. Hamilton will be held at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield on Saturday, April 2, at 11 a.m. conducted by the Rev. Timothy Weisman, pastor. Burial will follow in Pittsfield Cemetery. 

Calling hours will be held at the church from 10 to 11 a.m. prior to the service. 

Memorial donations may be made in his name to the Restore and Renew Fund at Zion Lutheran Church or to the Mt. Greylock Regional High School Teachers' Scholarship Fund, both in care of the Dery Funeral Home, 54 Bradford Street, Pittsfield, which is handling arrangements.