Eric F. Tenney

Eric F. Tenney, 81, of Antrim, NH, passed away peacefully on September 19, 2025, surrounded by the love of his family. He was born on October 27, 1943, in Greenfield, MA, to Stanley and Beverly (Nute) Tenney. At four years old, the family moved to Francestown, NH, where they lived until 1954, when they settled into Antrim, NH.

After high school, Eric studied agricultural business at Cornell University. “Not because it was Ivy League, but because it was far enough away that I didn’t have to come home and milk cows every darn weekend”, he loved to say. Besides getting weekends off from tending to the cow herd, the choice of attending Cornell paid off for him when he met the love of his life, Linda Wisz, now Linda Tenney, who was attending nearby Elmira College. The two would have been married 60 years this upcoming February. They had two children together, Andrew Tenney and Crista (Tenney) Salamy.

Shortly after graduating college and becoming a married man, Eric enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served as an officer on the USS Shangri-La aircraft carrier from 1966 until 1969 during the Vietnam War.

Upon completing his military service, Eric and his wife Linda moved back to Eric's family farm in Antrim, where they would plant roots for the rest of their lives.

Eric recognized that small-scale dairy farming was a struggling industry during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although he was a lifelong dairy farmer, Eric decided to take a big gamble and convert his family's dairy farm into fruit and vegetable production. “It was slow going the first couple of years, at times we were barely making it, but look at where we are now”, he would say with a big smile and a twinkle in his eye.

The “New Tenney Farm” that Eric took the gamble to create is still growing 55 years later. It is now run by his daughter Crista, son-in-law Chris, and grandsons Hunter and Jaxon.

Besides creating and running a successful farming operation, Eric was highly involved in the inner workings of the town of Antrim, especially its government. Eric served three terms as selectman, fifteen years as sewer and water commissioner, and chose to stay on as an employee of the department for many years after his time as commissioner. Eric also served on the selectmen's advisory board to the ConVal School District, town treasurer, USDA Farm Bureau Representative for Hillsborough County, and head of the town’s budget committee.

Besides his official roles, Eric is also credited with playing an instrumental role in gaining support throughout the town in an effort to keep Antrim’s Great Brook Middle School open when the possibility of closure was on the table in 2013 and again in 2015. Eric’s involvement in the town politics didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, famous New York Times journalist Mary McGrory referred to Eric as an “archetype Flinty granite stater. A wise individual dispensing wisdom and guidance on government and politics” in her columns.

Eric was a prominent figure in the Antrim and Bennington Lions Club, as well as Antrim’s Historical Society. He and his wife Linda are longtime members of the Scottie Rescue Organization.

Eric was a history enthusiast. He and his wife Linda made it a point to visit every roadside historical sign marker in the state of NH, as well as nearly everyone in the state of Vermont. Eric was deeply fascinated by the Erie Canal System, a place where he and his wife took trips multiple times per year in an effort to learn as much about it as he could.

Eric’s life’s work was studying the American Civil War. On his laptop, Eric amassed numerous statistics from every regiment on both the Union and Confederate sides of the war, a project that took many, many years to complete. Eric visited numerous Civil War battlefields. Some of which he visited multiple times a year. He enjoyed taking anyone along who would go with him. He thoroughly enjoyed sharing his knowledge and passion.

Eric was known in town as Antrim’s “Road Scholar”. Name any road in Antrim, and Eric could fire off enough history and facts about it to make your head spin.

Eric was inherently kind, outgoing, jolly, and curious. He was rarely seen without a smile. It didn’t matter who you were, whether a close friend or a stranger, Eric would pull up a chair and make hours of conversation feel like seconds. His life was extraordinary, and his legacy even more so. The world would be a far better place with even a few more Erics.

Eric is predeceased by his son, Andrew Tenney, and nephew Benjamin Tenney.

In addition to his wife, Linda (Wisz) Tenney, Eric is survived by his daughter, Crista (Tenney) Salamy and husband Christopher Salamy, Grandsons Hunter and Jaxon Salamy, Brother Mark Tenney and Husband Richard Hanlon, His niece Amy (Tenney) Corcoran and husband Shawn Corcoran, Sister-in-law Wendy Wisz and husband Ellis Lutwak.

A graveside Service will be held on Friday, September 26, 2025, at 3:00 PM at Maplewood Cemetery, 63 Concord Street, Antrim, NH 03440.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Eric’s name to the Antrim Historical Society, to the Beverly Tenney and Antrim Scholarship fund, or to the Benjamin Tenney Antrim Scholarship Fund.