Genuine Triton SeatStick
Dr. Penelope Witte Allderdice had an accomplished life as a cytogeneticist at Memorial University in St. John’s NL, before retiring and obtaining an M.Div degree at Meadville-Lombard in Chicago. She lived with fierce resolve right to the end.
Penny grew up in a former Shaker Village in Harvard, Mass, where her family owned the “Square House,” previous home of Mother Ann Lee, the founder of the Shaker Movement. The Witte family grew their own food, cooked, knit and sewed, and strove for self-sufficiency. Penny treasured raising animals, riding her bike, and exploring. As an adult she would often credit her childhood in the Shaker Village for fostering her independence, curiosity, self-reliance, self-confidence, and love of nature. She also shared the Shaker belief in equality of the sexes.
Penny earned an A.B. from University of Chicago and landed in a Master’s program in plant genetics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. There she met her future husband, William, a former cowboy. They married and bought a Montana cattle ranch. They taught in a one-room school, lived on venison Bill hunted, and raised what Penny always called her “finest crop:” their three children, Edward, Jacob and Frances. They eventually made the hard choice to sell their below-subsistence-level ranch and returned to grad school in Bozeman, ending up at Columbia University, NYC. They were both hired at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1973.
Penny became a well-known professor at Memorial and the Janeway Children’s Hospital, teaching cytogenetics to medical students, interns, and residents. Her research was widely published and she received many competitive research grants. She served on the National Research Council of Canada and other national bodies. She was best known for finding the cause of severe disabilities among residents of Sandy Point, NL (a “periocentric inversion on chromosome 3,” AKA “Allderdice Syndrome”). Penny retired as Professor Emeritus in 1997.
Penny’s passion for learning and lifelong interest in the sacred (her maternal grandfather was a minister in Oak Park, Illinois) led her back to the Chicago after retiring from MUN. As a Unitarian-Universalist chaplain she worked in Buffalo, Hamilton,Toronto, and in St John’s.
But Penny’s great passion was always her garden. In St. John’s, she was known for her ducks, turkeys, and hens, her tulips, daffodils and scilla, and a forest of special trees: among them beeches, lindens, acer griseum (and even a gingko, grown from a nut harvested in Toronto).
Dr. William (Bill) Allderdice was raised on a Montana homestead as a cowpoke. He studied geography at Utah State and Montana State, was a dryland rancher. Three children were the best harvest.
Earned a PhD from Columbia University (NYC) and became an Economic Geographer at Memorial University. Students called him "Uncle Bill". He too transitioned from rural school. Bill retired in 1996 and painted Montana childhood story memories.
In 2016, Bill had a solo exhibit at The Rooms called A Glimpse of Eden He was active in MUN faculty union, a Humanist working for gender equality.
Auction Terms and Conditions
Welcome to Bartlett Auctions. Thank you for your support and interest.
By bidding you agree with the Terms and Conditions of this auction sale.
Bidders can register online at www.bartlettauctions.com only.
You are free to watch online but please note that if you decide to bid, it takes a few moments to fill out the registration form and you cannot bid without registering. YOU MUST HAVE A CREDIT CARD ON FILE TO BID FOR THIS AUCTION, TO ADD A CREDIT CARD, LOG IN AND GO TO YOUR ACCOUNT. WE STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO SO BEFORE BIDDING BEGINS. FYI: WE DO NOT SEE, OR HAVE ACCESS TO, YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION. IT IS SECURED BY THE LARGEST ONLINE MERCHANT PROVIDER, STRIPE.COM AND THEIR SECURITY PROTOCOLS ARE INDUSTRY LEADING.
All items are presented and sold ‘as is where is’ with no warranties expressed or implied. We do our best to represent each piece but, your own inspection and enquiry takes precedence over all other representation and information. Items may be updated, removed or added, without notice, at the sole discretions of the auctioneer.
*Reserved Items - (Some Auction Sessions have Reserved Items) - Items marked as 'Reserve Not Met' - if the reserve is not met, the high bid is presented to the Owner/Estate for Approval or counter-offer. This may take 24 hours to resolve. Please bid accordingly. Bids placed on items with Reserves are accepted as entered, when the bid is below the Reserve. Once the Reserve is met, Max Bid rules are reinstated. See FAQs for clarity on Max Bid tool.
In the event of a dispute, the auctioneer holds sole discretion in its resolution. This includes, but is not limited to, the removal, re-offering or adjusting the terms of the item in dispute. In the event of a technical malfunction, internet issues, any network failure in general, we reserve the right to continue, start over or reset to a saved moment in the sale and set a new closing date and time. The auctioneer’s decision is final.
Bidding for this auction/sale is online only, however, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU ATTEND IN-PERSON VIEWING unless otherwise noted, available at Suite 706 Atlantic Place, 215 Water Street, St. John's, NL **during the stated times only.
In Person Viewing
Suite 706 Atlantic Place, 215 Water Street, St. John's, NL
Saturday and Sunday, October 4th and 5th - 10am to 5pm
Monday, October 6th 10am til 6pm
This auction features a staggered, soft close - beginning at 7PM, Wednesday October 7, 2025, one lot will close every 15 seconds until complete. If a bid is received in the final 45 seconds, the countdown clock resets to 45 seconds for that lot only.
Buyer’s Fee – a 15% Buyer’s Fee will be applied to the purchaser’s total before HST. Harmonized Sales Tax applies to all items offered and all services rendered.
Pay by cash, e-transfer, Wire, Certified Cheque, Visa, MasterCard, American Express. (If you choose the credit card payment option there is a 2.4% premium added to the purchase to cover credit card fees.) The auctioneer will retain possession of all items until full payment has been received and cleared.
**Invoices are sent out just after the last item closes. Bidders can always find their invoices in the Account. All Items must be paid for within 24 hours following the sale; the successful bidder can initiate this payment process using their card on file, e transferring the amount due to admin@bartlettauctions.com or contacting us to arrange wire transfer, certified funds or other. If this is not initiated by the high bidder within 24 hours of the auction, the auctioneer retains the right to process the card on file (plus the 2.4% premium to cover credit card fees).
See Removal Times for details.
Pick Up Location, unless otherwise noted:
Suite 706 Atlantic Place
215 Water Street, St. John's, NL
Buyers, please ensure the address on your profile is correct.
The auction team appreciates your interest and fair participation in this, and all future auction sales.
Wayne Bartlett
Auctioneer
Bartlett Auctions
wayne@bartlettauctions.com
709-749-9875
Canada
Pick up for this session is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday October 8, 9 and10th from 9am to 5pm.
Those requiring shipping, please contact Wayne Bartlett - wayne@bartlettauctions.com