Charles Peter Hemingray

Charles Peter Hemingray, aged 81, passed away peacefully on the evening of July 2, 2026. His final days were filled with celebration of his daughter Julia's recent marriage, spending time with the family he loved.

Peter was born on March 13, 1945, in Leicester, England, to Charles Owen and Ivy Hemingray, who always planned on calling him Peter but chose to avoid confusing the initials with Police Constable Hemingray. The only son, Peter was raised along with his three sisters in a home that deeply valued faith and education. He pursued his passion for engineering at the University of Manchester, ultimately earning a PhD with his dissertation, The Technology of Machine Tools.

In October 1969, Peter married Patricia (Pat) Hyde of Birmingham. Their 56-year partnership was defined by an unwavering devotion to one another and a shared spirit of adventure as they loved traveling together.

In 1974, Peter and Pat took a leap and relocated “temporarily” to the United States for Peter’s engineering position with Brown and Sharpe in Rhode Island, a state they initially failed to locate on their map. They quickly fell in love with life in the US and the arrival of daughter Julia in 1979 and son Steven in 1983 made it their permanent home.

Peter often joked about his role as a harbinger of failure, as a string of manufacturing firms he worked for closed down or restructured, in addition to being a fan of the New England Patriots in the 1980s and the Hartford Whalers (who?).

These business outcomes prompted multiple relocations, taking the family to Farmington, CT, in 1983, and then to Rochester, MI, in 1996. In 2016, Peter and Pat retired to Oakmont, PA, to be closer to their ten grandchildren living in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

A man of profound conviction, Peter was a lifelong member of the Christadelphian faith and dedicated a decade of his life to serving as the editor of The Christadelphian Tidings of the Kingdom of God magazine, guiding its voice across North America. An avid amateur historical researcher, Peter was passionate about preserving the heritage of his community. He authored four books, notably John Thomas: His Friends and His Faith, which explored the origins of the Christadelphian faith in America. Many family road trips involved detours to dusty archival libraries or to stand on a barren field where supposedly a notable house once stood.

Peter had a fondness for fruitcake, often happily accepting the unwanted regifted leftovers from past Christmases.

Beyond his professional and religious life, Peter was a voracious reader who loved used book stores and enjoyed all the perks of being married to a librarian.

He will be remembered by those who knew him for his curiosity and his willingness to engage in discussions on nearly any intellectual subject. He showed his love not through grand words, but through quiet acts of service: always ready to fix what was broken, change the oil in overdue cars, make endless trips for his children back and forth to Michigan State, give tech advice or make thousands of photocopies.

Peter is survived by his beloved wife, Pat; his daughter, Julia Mutter (Jeff Smenyak); his son, Steven (Kristen) Hemingray; his sisters, Sonia Hemingray, Rosemary (Trevor) Hanson, and Jocelyn (Carl) Roberts; and his ten beloved grandchildren: David, Levi, and Asher Mutter; Riley, Bridget, Carson, Quinn, Jaden, Evolet, and Lucian Hemingray, who were a constant source of pride and joy.

A celebration of Peter's life will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the Pittsburgh Christadelphian Hall, 501 Spruce St, Verona, PA.

Any memorial contributions may be made in Peter’s memory to the Christadelphian Bible Mission of the Americas (cbma.net).