Deaths

1923
Theodora Barentzen Brown, May 10, 2003.
On her 80th birthday, Teddy Barentzen Brown and the superintendent danced down the halls of the school where she taught. Students gave her a corsage, and every class sang “Happy Birthday” to her. Her love of dancing was lifelong: As an alumna, she wrote a poem commemorating her class’s success at inaugurating the Ivy Hop in Chase Hall, the first time men and women were allowed to dance together on campus (six inches apart, of course). (Exactly 50 years later, the Class of 1973 championed the advent of co-ed dorms-separate floors, of course). She taught English, speech, literature, secretarial studies, and drama. She directed plays, supervised debaters, and moderated speech tournaments. She started her career as a stenographer in the office of Maine Gov. Carl Milliken, Class of 1897, and was the first tour guide at Blaine House, the home of Maine’s governors, when it opened to the public. She taught at Cony High School in Augusta for two years and then in Red Bank, N.J., until she retired. She was co-chair of the English department there. She also was the head of secretarial studies at Stafford Hall School of Business in Summit, N.J., and was once named Teacher of the Year by the N.J. Assn. of Private Schools of Business. While living in Maplewood, N.J., she wrote plays to celebrate July 4. She graduated from Bates with an A.B. in history and a Phi Beta Kappa key. She received an M.Ed. from Rutgers in 1964. Her husband, Robert C. Brown, died in 1985. Her son, Robert Theodore Brown, also predeceased her. She is survived by her son David; two grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

The First Ivy Hop
Hark ye, Alumni, while we recall
The first Ivy Hop to be held in Chase Hall.
We beg your attention-that you may see
How dancing progressed under Class Twenty-three.

When we were freshmen, to dance was taboo;
But, nevertheless, we remember a few
Sly, daring damsels cutting up capers
And thereby getting their walking papers.

Sophomore year came Women’s Stu. G.
When co-eds announced that girls should be free
To develop charm and feminine grace
With dancing allowed in the proper place.
On Prexy Gray we made a long call-
The edict came forth: “Go use Beacon Hall.”

By the time we were juniors, to dance was the thing;
Even the faculty dared then to swing;
That year, in the spring, came our first formal ball.
Twenty-three’s Ivy Hop took place in Chase Hall.

Of course, there were plenty of rules and restrictions-
Dean Pomery, ‘mong others, had his convictions.
Said he, “By Godfrey, right from the start,
You boys and girls KEEP SIX INCHES APART.”

And often the faculty looked on askance
When a staid honor student dared his first dance.
But slowly and painfully there seemed less spying
As professors and wives on the floor went a-flying.

Said Pa Gould one evening to Miss Teddy B.,
“Are those Methodist legs in a whirl which I see?”
“Oh, no, dear Father,” she quickly replied,
“One Shaker, one Holy Roller, no need to hide.”

Dutchy Leonard, Sammy Harms, our pal Birdie Baird,
Harry Rowe, Prof Rob began dancing like mad.
Along with the classic was mingled with jazz
And old-fashioned notions were given the razz.

So early that spring came the marvelous ball-
The first Ivy Hop took place in Chase Hall.
Now, fellow alumni, give ’23 credit
For taking the dance out of the debit.
Your pleasure you now with all joy can enhance
And shuffle about, without sin, in a dance.
– Theodora Barentzen Brown ’23

1924
Geraldine Dayson Smith, June 4, 2003.
Gerry Smith entered Bates with the Class of 1924 and graduated with the Class of 1949. She was forced to leave college to support her mother and four sisters after her father died. Later, she took courses at Boston Univ., and Bates credited her with that work and awarded her a degree. She used that degree to become a successful writer and editor of mathematics textbooks, first at Ginn and Co. and then at Houghton Mifflin. Her 1977 textbook, Basic Algebra, is still in print. She continued to study throughout her life, and took courses on the modern novel and on the Mideast through Bates in the 1990s. “These are like wake-up calls to my mind: ‘Get busy, explore a field you know little of!'” she wrote. She credited Professor Baird’s debating class with preparing her for work in public. She retired at 72 but continued to work one day a week. She cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 when she was 88 and drove until she was 92. She entered a nursing home last year at 99. She was an avid amateur piano player. (“My cat abhors the sounds I make,” she wrote.) In 1989, she designated much of her family’s property in Ossipee, N.H., as a memorial forest in honor of her parents and stepfather. She established the Geraldine D. Smith ’24 Scholarship Fund at Bates in 1989 especially for women because, “in general, women students can earn less than men.” Her sister-in-law was Lila Paul Smith ’19. She is survived by a number of nieces and nephews.

1925
C. Kenneth Conner, April 24, 2003.
Any time Ken Conner visited campus, he left people guffawing in his wake. His stories of classmates, Bates faculty and staff, and campus goings-on are legendary. He was a moving force behind his class’s “Regular Irregular Reunions,” held immediately following the official reunion on campus. All his classmates decamped to the balmy air at an inn in Southport, where they continued the festivities for another day or two. His career was in movies. He managed movie theaters in Auburn, Lewiston, and various other towns in New England during the golden age of grand theaters. He often recalled the night that Joan Fontaine showed up wearing a mink coat at his theater. He got hooked on movies while watching The Perils of Pauline as a child. His second career was as manager of the book and almanac department at Geiger Bros. in Lewiston, the people who publish The Farmer’s Almanac. He tried to resign there six or seven times, only to be told by Ray Geiger that he’d get sick if he retired; indeed, the day after he finally left in 1988, he ended up in the hospital. In 1989, he received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award; the entire Class of 1925 received the award in 1995. Ken was past president and campaign chair of the United Fund, a trustee of Central Maine General Hospital, and past president of the Auburn Public Library. He was also president of the Class of 1925 for at least 60 years, and served as its secretary for many years, as well. He served his class and college in every capacity possible. As a college student, he went to a dance off campus and spied there a high school senior whom he knew immediately would become his wife. To woo her, he attended a performance of a play she was in and threw a bouquet of roses to her feet, with a card bearing his name attached. His wife, Florence, passed away in 2000. His daughter, Natalie Young ’52, died in 2001. Jeffrey Young ’77 is his grandson, and Richard Baldwin ’47 is his nephew. He is survived by three daughters, Carol Sawyer, Mary Ellen Goss, and Constance Drigotas; 19 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren. Another child died in infancy.

1929
Mary Briggs Ridley, June 25, 2003.
Mary Briggs Ridley attended the Univ. of Maine after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Bates. As a student, her passions were literature and history. She was a member of the Bates Key. She taught in Needham, Mass., for a year before returning to Lewiston. Not long after the flood of 1936, she moved to what is now called Herrick House on Wood St., where she heard the Hathorn bell ring every day. She returned to teaching in the late 1950s, first at Sabattus High School, and then at Edward Little High School in Auburn, where she taught English. As a teacher, she was a hard taskmaster, but she tempered her toughness with compassion and an understanding of her students’ problems and needs, for which she won their devotion and respect. She rarely missed an athletic event or school activity. She traveled with her grandson Wallace when he swam in the Hawaiian Invitational Swim Meet. She served as her class vice-president from 1969 to 1979; as secretary of Lewiston/Auburn Alumnae 1946-48; and as president of the Lewiston/Auburn group 1960-62. Her husband, Paul, died in 1970. She is survived by her son Charles ’55 and her sister, Ruth Marjorie Briggs Jordan ’32.

Ezekiel Jewell, June 6, 2003.
Zeke Jewell was an athlete and outdoor enthusiast who worked for 50 summers at Wavus Camps in Jefferson, Maine. In fact, he helped Delbert Andrews ’10 get the camps started in 1922. In 2002, the camp dedicated the Jewell Lodge and Conference Center during its 80th anniversary. “Uncle Zeke,” 97, attended the ceremony with his wife, Kay. In 1972, the camp inaugurated an award in his name, given “to the boy of excellent character, moral strength, courage and fitness for outdoor living; who meets the challenge with untiring effort.” On his 90th birthday, Zeke received more than 100 letters from former campers. Bates professors William Sawyer and Karl Woodcock were both counselors at the camp in the 1920s. At Bates, Zeke played football, ran track, and was active in the Outing Club. As an alumnus, he was president of his class. His first wife was Ruth Yeadon Jewell ’29; she died in 1985. A physics major, he held a master’s in education from NYU. Zeke was a teacher and principal in Sharon, Conn., and Mount Vernon, N.Y. He also coached and umpired baseball and was a football referee. After retirement, he was an officer in the South Westchester Retired Teachers Assn. for 20 years, and held life memberships as a N.Y. state football and baseball official, and in the N.Y. State Science Teachers Assn. He is survived by his wife, Kay, whom he married in 1986; his daughter, Robyn Jewell Abrams ’61; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ruth Skelton Hartley, April 2, 2003.
Sunny Skelton Hartley was active in community and church affairs in Stow, Mass., where she lived for 50 years. She was a life member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the Grange. She also was active in Eastern Star. Her father was William B. Skelton, Class of 1892, and a Trustee of the College from 1908 to 1964. For many years, he was chair of the board. Skelton Lounge is named for him. Her mother was Florence Larrabee Skelton, Class of 1891. At Bates, she was active in many sports and was manager of hiking for the Women’s Athletic Assn. on campus. Her degree was in Latin. Her husband, who received a master’s in education from Bates in 1937, died in 1964. She is survived by her sons, William and Allan; her daughter Joanne Curry; 12 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

1932
Emerson F. Blodgett, Jan. 17, 2000.
Em Blodgett continued his education at Bangor Theological Seminary (B.D.) and Harvard (Ed.D.) after Bates (A.B., psychology). He also studied at UC-Berkeley. His career followed two paths: He was both a minister and a psychologist. He was ordained in New Gloucester in 1932, and served the Congregational parish there, as well as in Bucksport and Wayland, Mass., before entering the service as an Army chaplain during World War II. He continued his pastoral work part time and became counselor-in-chief at the Virginia Guidance Center following the war. He was an associate professor of psychology at the Pacific School of Religion for 10 years and then a school psychologist in the Oakland (Calif.) public schools, from which he retired in 1972. After his first wife, Ernestine Dutch, died, he married Evelyn Jegi, in 1962. She survives him, as does his daughter, Nancy Blodgett Pinion. His cousin, Clara Blodgett Hammond ’49, predeceased him.

Muriel Gower David, May 20, 2003.
Mimi Gower David rang Hathorn’s bell while a student at Bates. A musician, she sang in the glee club and played flute and piano. She continued as a church musician for many years, along with her husband, John A. David ’36. She was a schoolteacher in Rye, Mamaroneck, and Port Chester, N.Y., until she and her husband retired to Jay, Maine, in 1977. She received a master’s degree from Hunter College in 1968. She also founded a nursery school in 1947 and ran it until 1958. Her volunteer activities centered around church, historical societies, literacy organization, AFS student exchange, and at the nursing home where her husband lived for six years of his life until he died in 1995. Muriel was class secretary for several years. She sang in the Androscoggin Valley Choral Society and visited “just about every grange in the area,” she said. He aunt was Marjorie Pillsbury Ross ’23. Her father- and mother-in-law were John and Emma Bray David ’04/’04. She is survived by her sons, John ’64 and Edward; three grandchildren; and her brother, Stanley M. Gower Jr. A granddaughter predeceased her.

Geraldine Maloon Paige, Jan. 10, 2003.
At Bates, Geraldine Maloon Paige was an athlete, competing in tennis, volleyball, archery, and winter sports. She received an A.B. in history and government, and then a bachelor of divinity from Andover Newton Theological School in 1935. She served as the director of Christian education at several UCC churches, including Lynnfield, Mass., and Bristol, Conn. For several years, she was the chair of the State Commission on Religious Education for the Vermont Congregational Conference. She volunteered at her local library and as a reader to fifth graders, which, she said, made her feel she had many grandchildren. She made it a point to rock each great-grandchild to create memories of herself for them. Her husband was Howard E. Paige ’32. She is survived by her children, David ’59, Margaret Heath, and Robert; and four grandchildren.

Mildred Vining Bolduc, March 2, 1997.
Mildred Vining Bolduc was an elementary school librarian in Waterville, where she took courses at Colby in literature for accreditation as a high school English teacher. In 1976, she received an award for outstanding contributions to Catholic education in Maine from the Catholic Teachers Assn. Her father was Elmer C. Vining, Class of 1896. Her sons James and Bernard survive her, as does her nephew Thomas ’71.

1933
Mavis Curtiss King, May 19, 2003.
Mavis Curtiss King was active in her church and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She received a B.A. in English from Bates, and was active in hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball, and the Women’s Athletic Assn. while a student. She was a lifelong resident of Meriden, Conn. Her husband, Walter (“Brud”) King ’33, predeceased her. She is survived by her children, Jacqueline Stearns, David, and Richard; seven grandchildren, including Rondi Stearns ’80; nine great-grandchildren; and her dear friend Galina Slater.

1934
Ruth Johnson Thomsen, July 18, 2003.
Ruth Johnson Thomsen worked at Bates for a few years after graduation, as assistant to the registrar and then as placement secretary to several faculty members. She lived in Lewiston, where her husband, Elwyn Thomsen, worked at Bates Manufacturing, until 1957. They then moved to Barrington, R.I., where she lived until her death. In Barrington, she was active in the Barrington Congregational Church, the Barrington Women’s Club, the Barrington Preservation Society, Red Cross, and the League of Women Voters. She was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants. She served as her class secretary 1954-64 and was a member of the Bates Key. While her husband was stationed in Cali, Colombia, as part of the International Executive Service Corps, she volunteered as a teacher’s aide in one of the American schools there. She was active in AFS, serving as treasurer of the Barrington branch for six years. She is survived by three sons, Carl, David, and William; two daughters, Paula Dalessio and Jane Thomsen; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

1935
Russell H. Fifield, June 3, 2003.
Russell Fifield, an eminent authority on Asia, spent most of his distinguished career on the political science faculty at the Univ. of Michigan, where he founded the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. The center has consistently ranked as one of the country’s leading centers on Southeast Asia. He graduated cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. He received a master’s from Clark in 1940 and a doctorate from Clark in 1942. Before starting his graduate studies, he taught Latin at several high schools in Maine. He spoke five languages. During World War II, he was a specialist in historical research with the State Department, and then an officer in the Foreign Service posted to China and Formosa for two years after the war. He spent the 1953-54 school year in the Philippines on a Fulbright grant, and the 1958-59 year as a visiting professor of foreign affairs at the National War College. He was a research associate at Harvard and Cornell at different times. He authored six books and numerous articles, and was a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal. One of his students became an assistant under secretary general of the United Nations; another is now the U.S. ambassador to Greece. He had a keen interest in the Kazushige Hirasawa Symposium and Hirasawa chair in Japanese studies at Bates, and was a member of the American Committee for the Hirasawa Endowment at Bates. A native of Readfield, he returned to Maine every summer to a cottage in Boothbay Harbor. He credited his mother as his inspiration to study and learn. “Without her I never would have been able to go to Bates,” he said. His mother was a teacher in Readfield, and she often recalled the sacrifice her parents made in sending her to what is now Kents Hill School. He, too, attended Kents Hill, and in 1985 was named alumnus of the year. Bates awarded him an L.L.D. in 1963. In memory of his mother, he established the Emma Hunt Fifield Scholarship for students from rural Maine.

1936
Isabelle Minard Kelly, May 22, 2003.
“Bates classmates are still among my best friends,” Isabelle Minard Kelly wrote once. She served on her 55th and 60th Reunion Gift committees, but often missed Reunions because of conflicts with her husband’s bomber group reunions. She was the middle link of three generations of Bates women: her mother was Mabelle Ludwig Minard, Class of 1900, and her daughter is Kathleen Kelly ’67. A French major, she was active in La Petite Academie and a French assistant while at Bates. She won the Greek prize as a first-year student, and was active in the Phil Hellenic Society. She was an assistant in English at the College de Jeune Filles in Cherbourg, France, following graduation. She received her master’s in French in 1940 from Montclair (N.J.) State College, and taught at high schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. She graduated from Berkeley Secretarial School in 1944 and served as secretary of the physical education department of the New Jersey College for Women. She was an expert gardener, developing and maintaining over an acre of gardens and orchards. Besides her daughter, she is survived by her husband, Francis; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Her daughter Judith died in 2001.

Henry M. Wells, July 4, 2003.
Henry Wells was known as “Harry” to anyone who met him before World War II and as “Henry” to anyone who met him during or after the war – the result, he said, of signing his legal first name to his induction papers into the Navy. He was an accountant at the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C., starting there as an auditor in 1942 and retiring in 1977. Immediately after the war, he worked as an accountant for a construction company in Lewiston for several years. At the GAO, he was a transportation specialist. He took some courses at LaSalle Extension Univ., working towards his humorous degree, “Higher Accountancy.” His wife, Ida Roy Wells, died in 1962. He is survived by his sister, Joan Wells Dorman ’40; his brother William; and two nephews, Barclay Dorman ’68 and Michael Dorman, ’70.

1937
Virginia Blanchard York, June 13, 2003.
A French major, Ginny Blanchard York taught French and English in Westbrook, Winthrop, Auburn, Bangor, and Wilton, Maine, and in Plainville, Mass. She was active in her church and women’s organizations, including American University Women. She and her husband, Robert M. York ’37, summered at her cottage at Lake Webb in Weld, a special place she loved. (They divorced in 1975.) She was president of the Penobscot County Bates Club in 1952-53, prior to her family’s move to Gorham in 1962. In Gorham, she held offices in United Methodist Women Administrative Board, Trinity Circle, the Gorham Ecumenical Commission, the Cosmopolitan Club, American University Women, and the Gorham Faculty Wives Club. She was also a member of the Gorham Women’s Club and the Cumberland County Retired Teachers Assn. She is survived by her children, Paul and Anne Agan; her sister, Winnifred Oliver Dingley; six grandsons; and several nieces and nephews. Susan Oliver ’72 is her niece. Another grandson predeceased her.

William S. Coffin, Nov. 26, 2002.
William Coffin rose from private to captain in the Army during World War II, and earned three Bronze Stars. For 22 years, he was the executive director of the Development Credit Corp. of Maine. He was a past president of the Industrial Development Council of Maine, president and executive vice president of the National Assn. of Business Development Corp., and president of the National Development Credit Corp. He was listed in Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in the East. In 1980, he formed his own company, W.S. Coffin and Associates. He was active in the Shriners and was a past grand patron of the Order of the Eastern Star. He wrote once that he attributed his accomplishments to the training and experience he gained at Bates. His wife is Amelia Moore Coffin ’40, who survives him. His parents were Dr. Carl and Grace Summerbell Coffin, both members of the Class of 1900. His late uncle and aunt were Dr. Ferris Summerbell ’00 and Laura Summerbell Spence ’02. Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Thomas and William Jr.; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Arnold M. Kenseth, March 21, 2003.
“Among the clergy, I’m known as a poet,” Arnold Kenseth wrote in 1989, “and among the poets I’m clergy. But by being in New England, being where there are birds and trees and meadows, there’s a very natural marriage between religion and poetry.” After graduating from Bates with a degree in English, he landed a plum job at Harvard as curator of the Harvard College Library Poetry Room. There, he cared for the Edwin Arlington Robinson collection and the Amy Lowell collection. Intending to write on the relationship between poetry and religion, he met the Rev. Samuel H. Miller, who later became dean of Harvard Divinity School. Miller got him interested in the ministry, and he received a bachelor’s of sacred theology in 1944 and a master’s in English in 1950 from Harvard. He was minister of South Congregational Church in Amherst, Mass., for 40 years. He also taught at UMass-Amherst. Along with Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Archibald MacLeish, Wallace Stevens, Richard Wilbur and John Ciardi ’38, he was audiotaped for the program New England Anthology by the National Assn. of Educational Broadcasters. The Rev. Kenseth received first prize in the American Scholar Poetry Awards for his poem, “Death and Resurrection.” His poetry was published in all the major poetry journals and many major magazines. He published nine books of his poems, the last in 2002. He twice read at Bates Reunions. At the second Arnold Kenseth Poetry Series started at his church after he retired, Richard Eberhart was the guest poet. For his 50th Bates Reunion, he wrote, “I rejoice in Van Gogh, Henry Adams, Dostoyevski, Chopin, J.S. Bach, Saint Francis, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke, and Mother Teresa – the light bearers.” In 1965, he was charged by the National Committee on Worship of the United Church of Christ to rewrite and revise church liturgies. He translated Pablo Neruda’s first book of poetry, Crepuscalario. He was a founder and board member of the Hampshire Committee on Civil Rights 1950-70, and chair of the UNICEF drive 1952-77 in Amherst. His wife, Betty, died in 2001. He is survived by three children, Elaine Kenseth-Abel ’65, Geoffrey ’67, and Evan; and eight grandchildren. Luella Flett Gahm ’48 was his niece; Deborah Gahm Canavan ’73 is his great-niece.

1939
Frances Carroll Allman, April 20, 2002.
Frances Carroll Allman transferred to Bates after her first year at Mount Holyoke, and received a bachelor’s in history and government. During World War II, she was a supervisor at Columbia, working on a project related to the Manhattan project. On a trip to Oak Ridge, Tenn., she met William Allman Jr., who would become her husband. Mr. Allman predeceased her. She is survived by three sons, William III, Carl, and Paul; four daughters, Toney, Carroll, Susan, and Norah; two granddaughters; and a brother, Robert Carroll.

Pearline Paradis McMillin, May 28, 2003.
Pearline Paradis McMillin worked for the state of Maine as a social worker in Skowhegan for 15 years before marrying Roderick McMillin. She then became the bookkeeper for his family’s construction company. She was active in the Bethel Historical Society and the American Legion Auxiliary. She is survived by several nieces and nephews. Her husband died in 1971.

1941
Saul Bunshaft, April 3, 2003.
Bunny Bunshaft fled Russia with his mother when he was 2 years old. A physics major, he worked at Oak Ridge during World War II. He became a businessman, and owned and operated a wallpaper company. Later, he became president of Ken-Mark Book Co. Inc. in East Wareham, Mass. He leaves his wife of 60 years, Ruth; a son, Steven; a daughter, Karen Sullivan; a sister, Lillian Hyman; and four grandchildren. Another son, Kenneth, predeceased him.

Muriel Ruth Sanford, June 23, 2003.
M. Ruth Sanford was an editor and actor. She got her start as an editor at Bates, working on both the Student and the Garnet. A member of Actors Equity and the New York Actors Guild, she acted for two years in A Thurber Carnival. As an editor, she worked first for the foreign editing section of the Army Map Service during World War II, and then did market research for The Washington Post. In 1959, she joined the staff of Prentice Hall in New York and edited elementary textbooks. While in New York, she studied at the New School for Social Work. In 1969, she became an editor at Brown Univ. Press. This allowed her to return to her hometown of Bristol, where she was active in the First Congregational Church and the Bristol Historical Society. She is survived by her sister, Jessie S. Huey.

Dorothy Stead Goodell, May 16, 2003.
Dot Stead Goodell was active in many organizations at First Congregational Church of Yarmouth, Mass., and the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth. She was especially fond of the nature trails near her home. She married Trenor F. Goodell ’39 in 1943; he survives her, as does her son, Trenor F. Goodell III; her daughter, Marcia E. Johnson; a sister, Mae Brooks; six grandchildren; five and great-granchildren. Deborah Austin-Brown ’87 is her niece.

Stanton Burgess Smith, Aug. 4, 2003.
Stan Smith came back to Bates in 1981 for an unusual reason: He needed to borrow a chemistry lab to complete his analysis of the Manchester, N.H., water works for an EPA-supported demonstration project in water purification using granulated activated carbon, a project he took on after retirement. At Bates, he was the leader of the Bates Bobcats dance band and continued to play trumpet throughout his life. He was a member of the Callanwold Band in Atlanta for many years, and later joined community bands in Hallowell, Auburn, and Bath. He graduated cum laude and received a Phi Beta Kappa key. During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge National Laboratories. He earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Univ. of Rochester in 1948. He became an expert in the manufacture and use of activated carbon, and held four patents. After his retirement, he volunteered for the International Executive Service Corps and traveled with his wife, Irene Towle Smith ’42, to Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and Venezuela, where he helped develop activated carbon manufacturing facilities. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Arthur D. Little Co., researching the migration of packaging materials particles into the food they packaged. He also was a sugar industry technologist, and maintained memberships in the American Chemical Society, the American Sugar Works Assn., and the Cane Sugar Research Project. His brother, Robert ’48, and sister, Dorothy Smith Jordan ’44, also attended Bates. His granddaughter is Paula Wood ’94, and his niece is Martha Larrabee LaRiviere ’74. Clifford ’44 and Carolyn Towle Larrabee ’44 are his brother- and his sister-in-law. His father was Paul R. Smith ’15, in whose name his cousin, Dr. Luther S. Mason, Class of 1896, endowed a scholarship. In addition to those mentioned previously, Stan is survived by his three children, Pamela Smith, Stanton David Smith, and Gary Smith; and five other grandchildren. His wife passed away in 2000.

1942
Arthur F. Cole, March 7, 2003.
Arthur Cole believed strongly in converting “raw land to a community asset,” he once said. To him, unused land was little more than a “fire hazard.” After 35 years programming and selling computers for RCA, Diebold, and National Cash Register, he became a real estate developer, working with both industrial and residential projects. In the late 1940s, he taught briefly at Peirce College in Philadelphia. He was a class agent and president of the Philadelphia Bates Club in the early 1950s. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Cole; their children, David and Peter; and a grandchild. Another son, Richard, is deceased.

James Clarence Scharfenberg, March 23, 2003.
During World War II, Clarence Scharfenberg served in the Army with the military police in North Africa and Italy, and was in charge of prisoners of war. He had a long career in insurance, and owned his own agency in Pittsfield, Mass., for over 15 years. In Pittsfield, he served on the planning board, finance committee, and historic district commission. He was elected as a Massachusetts representative to the board of directors of the Independent Mutual Insurance Agents Association of New England and, in 1967, was chosen outstanding committee chairman for his work on the association’s education committee. He also served as president of the Pittsfield Association of Insurance Agencies. His first wife, Elisabeth Avery Scharfenberg ’42, died in 1965. His son, Kirk, died in 1992. His second wife was Elizabeth Lent. His third wife, Lois Cunningham, survives him. He also is survived by three grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews, including Lyn Avery Gray ’65 and Christopher McLean ’70. Marjorie Avery McLean ’35 was his sister-in-law. Cousin Urban Avery Jr. ’37 and in-law Virginia Keith ’53 also survive him.

1943
John Graichen, April 15, 2003.
John Graichen attended Bangor Theological Institute and was the minister at the East Sumner Congregational Church before attending Bates, from which he received a B.A. in sociology. While at Bates, he held the pastorate at the South Gardiner Congregational Church. He later worked at Pratt and Whitney for 26 years. He is survived by his wife, Marion Lackey Graichen; two sons, Charles and John; two daughters, Marilyn Lackey Merrill and Faith Graichen; two brothers, George and Charles; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Virginia Wentworth Reel, March 23, 1999.
Ginnie Wentworth Reel attended Bates for two years and then completed her nursing degree at Massachusetts General Hospital. She became an RN there in 1944. “Although I spent only two years at Bates,” she wrote, “those two years laid the foundation for an exciting and rewarding life.” She served in the Army Nurse Corps in the Philippines during World War II, where she helped build a hospital. She met her husband, A. Frank Reel, on a blind date. They married in 1947, “thereby acquiring a name which has caused much hilarity over the years,” she said. She described herself as going from a WASP background to a “flaming liberal,” and became “very anti-war, very pro-choice, very pro-gay and lesbian rights, etc.” She worked for many years as a nurse in an ob/gyn office. Her husband died in 2000. Three sons, Thomas, Christopher, and Jeffrey, and a daughter, Judith, survive her.

1944
Arnold F. Card, Dec. 11, 2002.
An Auburn native, Arnold Card was a football star at Bates. He made the trip to the Glass Bowl on a leg just healed from a fracture suffered in a game against UMaine. The broken leg caused him to miss the 6-0 victory over Colby that gave Bates the state title. He was an aerial navigator during World War II, which delayed his graduation with an A.B. in geology until 1947. He also played basketball and baseball. He studied at various universities, mostly in Texas, before receiving an M.Ed. from Sul Ross State University in 1952. He was a school administrator in El Paso for many years. His brother Kenneth was “the mailman of Bates.” He is survived by his wife, Nellie Raney, and his son, Arnold Francis.

1946
Bennett V. Schultz, April 26, 2003.
Bennett Schultz’s years at Bates were interrupted by World War II, and he graduated cum laude with a degree in chemistry in 1947. He worked as a chemist for Remington Rand, Celanese Corp. of America, and Tecnifax Corp. Tecnifax became part of Scott Paper Co., and he was the education director there. He then became president of DCA Educational Products, a spin-off of Scott, that made audio-visual materials. He received an M.B.A. from American International College in 1957. He is survived by his wife, Susan Stertz Schultz; three daughters, Diane Schneider, Marcie Dwyer, and Linda Schultz; a brother, Sydney; and one grandson.

1948
Frank A. Rubricius, May 24, 2002.
Frank Rubricius was a geology major, and a geology assistant for two years. He worked at First Federal Savings and Loan in New York City. He is survived by his wife, Theresa Pencak Rubricius.

1949
Robert R. Strong, March 18, 2003.
Bob Strong served as a U.S. Army engineer in England, France, and Germany during World War II. He played tennis, basketball, and intramural football. He received a M.Ed. from Boston Univ. in 1955, after teaching at Berwick Academy for three years. He then moved to Dover, N.H., and taught history, social studies, and math for 29 years at the junior high school. He also studied at Trinity, UNH, and the Univ. of Maine-Portland. He served as class president from 1965 to 1970. His wife, Arlene Black Strong, died in 2000. He is survived by his son, Dana; daughter Karen Heider; two grandchildren; and a brother, Donald.

1952
Jean Fletcher Jones, Oct. 27, 2002.
Robbie Jones worked for four years at the Univ. of Pennsylvania library after graduation, and briefly for Travelers’ Insurance. At Bates , she was president of the Women’s Athletic Assn. during her senior year, and a biology assistant. Her father was Gerald Fletcher ’25. Her niece is Gwenith Jones ’80. She is survived by her husband, Thomas ’52; two sons, Timothy and Gary; a sister; and four grandsons.

1953
Jean Moulton Caldwell, Jan. 20, 2001.
Jean Moulton Caldwell transferred to Barnard after her freshman year at Bates. She earned a degree in comparative religions there in 1953. She earned a master’s degree in English from UNH in 1977 and taught at the Univ. of Southern Maine for 17 years after that, specializing in contemporary Irish literature. She was active in choirs her entire life, and met her husband, S. Anthony Caldwell, while singing in the Columbia Univ. Chapel Choir. Dr. Caldwell, who died in 1977, taught at UNH. She was the granddaughter of one of the founders of the Star Island Hotel at the Isles of Shoals, and worked there occasionally. She is survived by three sons, Stephen, David, and Christopher; and two grandchildren.

Betty Sinclaire, June 12, 2003.
Betty Sinclaire was a classics major whose interest in the subject never waned. She traveled to Rome to visit the ruins there, and was a life member of the American Classical League, the Classical Assn. of New England, and the Vergilian Society, which is named after the great Roman poet Vergil and dedicated to furthering knowledge of ancient Rome and Greece. She graduated from Bates cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and then received a master’s in library science in literature from Wesleyan in 1959 and a master’s in classics from Trinity in 1968. She taught briefly at Brunswick (Maine) High School and then for 25 years at Cromwell High School in Connecticut. She then became a librarian at the school for six years, and finally a library assistant in the public library in Rocky Hill, Conn., for 10 years until retirement in 1986. She was a life member of the library, the Rocky Hill Historical Society, the Connecticut Education Assn., the National Education Assn., and AARP. She was treasurer of the Connecticut Women of the United Church of Christ and played handbells at her church.

1956
Leola Daker Defoe, April 11, 2003.
Lee Daker Defoe taught English at Kennebunk High School and worked at Dartmouth before she married. She met her husband at Dartmouth, and spent the rest of her working life running the family business, Sugarloafer Ski Camp and Wilderness Waterways. She was a lifelong learner and adventurer. When she was 50, she suited up for Pee Wee hockey. At 60, she rocked out at concerts with her son. At 65, she studied chaos theory. Her parents were Alta Harris Daker ’23 and John Daker ’25. Two of her cousins attended Bates: Kristina Pray ’89 and Alexandra Pray ’93. She is survived by her husband, Gardner Defoe; two sons, Darren and Derek; a sister; and a granddaughter. Her daughter, Alta Lee, died in 1962.

1959
Peter D. MacLean, May 28, 2003.
Peter MacLean was an actor who excelled both at MacBeth and at Buffalo Bill Cody. He worked on Broadway, in film, and on television. He left Bates after one year and completed his studies at Emerson College in Boston. He met his future wife, the actress Dorothy Constantine, while teaching a class on theatrical makeup at Arlington (Mass.) High School. She enrolled at Emerson, where they both received bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His 1969 Broadway debut was not auspicious: the play, Fire! closed after a week. But he landed in a hit, Child’s Play, not much later. The play won five Tony awards. At the same time, he was working in soap operas, including Secret Storm. He guest-starred on many TV series as well, including Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch. His film debut was in The Cardinal in 1963. He also appeared in The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Both films were based in Boston, his hometown. He acted in 27 of Shakespeare’s 36 plays, with leading roles such as King Henry IV, Othello, Claudius, Marc Antony, and, of course, MacBeth, the role for which he was best known. In 1992, he was selected from more than 4,000 hopefuls to play Buffalo Bill at Disneyland Paris. He learned to ride a horse for the role, and gave 1,800 performances over seven years. His identical twin, the Rev. Garvey F. MacLean ’57, was the chaplain at Bates for a number of years. He is also survived by his children, Christopher, Julie, and Emily; a granddaughter; and another brother, Stephen.

1960
Judith Atwood Grandahl, April 18, 2003.
Jay Atwood Grandahl graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with high honors in physics. A double major, she went on to get an M.A. in math from Smith in 1961, and a certificate of advanced studies from Wesleyan in 1974. She worked at the Naval Underwater Sound Lab in New London, Conn., for two years in the early 1960s, then taught math at Southbury High School until 1967. An athlete at Bates, she coached girls’ basketball and softball at the high school. She was a member of the Bates Key, treasurer of the Southbury Historical Society and an avid environmentalist. She said her best classes at Bates were Cultch. Her husband, Herbert, predeceased her. She is survived by her sister, Beth S. Atwood.

1961
Richard C. Knudsen, Feb. 21, 2002.
Richard Knudsen received a master’s and doctorate in microbiology from the Univ. of Arizona. He did post-doctoral studies through the National Institute of Health and the National Research Council. He was a medic in the Army after graduating from Bates with a degree in biology, and then became an immunologist at the Naval Medical Research facility in Bethesda, Md. In 1976, he studied swine flu virus for the USDA. Ten years later, he moved to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and later became chief of laboratory safety at the Centers for Disease Control. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and two children, Lauren and Erik.

1962
Stephen Daton Gilbert, April 17, 2003.
Above all else, Steve was a fighter, a fighter on behalf of life – not just his own, but for anyone struggling to live fully. He took what to his family was his last breath at least three times. He had a congenital disease called alpha-1antitrypsin deficiency and underwent a lung transplant in 1999. He spent hours every day taking medication so he could continue to breathe. Steve was confident in his role as a pastoral counselor. He had a degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and worked at a number of counseling services in the Washington, D.C., area, before starting his own business, Pastoral Counseling and Consultation Centers of Greater Washington. This allowed him to do therapy the way his heart and spirit directed him. Through his ministry as a pastoral counselor, he shared his journey, his doubts, his joy and pain with clients in a way that helped them do the same. Steve’s ministry, his calling in life, was to help others live more fully, and in doing so, lived his own life with intensity and perseverance that all who knew him admired enormously. Survivors include his wife, Jacqueline, whose remembrance of her husband forms the basis of this writing; two sons, Timothy and Benjamin; two stepsons, Jacob Darsch and Christopher Stevenson; a sister, Patricia G. Keane; and his mother, Barbara W. Gilbert. The family asks that all consider becoming organ donors.

1963
Carole Murphy Ellis, May 31, 2003.
Carole Murphy Ellis used her degree in psychology to work as a psychological examiner for a child development study at Brown Univ. She also was a teacher with Head Start and a customer service representative for Shoecraft Corp. in Norwell, Mass. She was a longtime volunteer at South Shore (Mass.) Hospital and worked at Allerton House in Hingham, Mass. At Bates, she was news editor of the Bates Student. Her husband, Richard B. Ellis ’61, died in 1996. She leaves two sons, Mark and Craig; a brother, Richard; and two grandchildren.

Linda Wilsieffer Wittig, March 23, 2003.
Linda Wilsieffer Wittig attended Bates for two years. She was a flight attendant for United Airlines and later a passenger services coordinator for American Airlines Admirals Club. She owned her own travel agency for a while. She lived on Cape Cod for most of her life. She is survived by two brothers, Carl and Eric; and three stepsisters, G. Jean Pessano, Mardee Brown, and Beth Walters.

1976
Robert C. Riley, June 25, 2003.
A history major, Bob Riley worked in medical sales and was awarded sales representative of the year five times during his tenure at Kimberly-Clark. He was national sales manager at Tecnol Orthopedic, which became part of Kimberly-Clark. Following his sales career, he became the national accounts manager for the health care sector of K-C. He lived in Keller, Texas, where he volunteered as commissioner for soccer and coached his children’s soccer teams. He excelled at sailing. He is survived by his wife, Tammy Griffin Riley; his children, Craig and Alexandra; his father and stepmother, George and Mercedes Riley; brothers G. Christopher and P. Bruce Riley; and sisters, Sara Rutledge and Alison Cody. His mother, Janet, predeceased him.

1979
Craig T. Miller, April 9, 2003.
On Earth Day 2002, Craig Miller started the morning with his usual workout: He climbed 2,054-foot Spencer’s Butte in Eugene, Ore., to meditate and practice yoga. At the summit, he found a helicopter grounded by fog. The helicopter’s mission, its pilot said, was to spray herbicide on a nearby reforested clearcut. Since the only level place left to meditate and do yoga was under the helicopter’s tail rotor, Craig settled there for his morning routine. After several more amiable conversations with the pilot over several hours, Craig was arrested by a dozen police officers, some in SWAT gear, who had climbed the butte to charge him with kidnapping the pilot and grand-theft helicopter. For that, he was awarded the “wolf meditating with a monkeywrench in its mouth” by the Earth First! journal. Craig’s love of high places was well known. At one time or another, Craig led all of his friends to the summit of Tumbledown Mountain near campus, one of his favorite places on earth, at least until he started traveling the world. He explored China with Professor George Fetter during one Short Term, the second delegation to visit China after President Nixon, and then wandered through Asia. At Bates, he was part of the FreeLunch group, which published a ‘zine before there was such a thing, and indulged in performance art before it had a name. He worked with mentally ill children in San Diego and Oregon for a number of years. He was an anti-war activist, and a member of two performance groups, The Comedy Workout and Urgent Carnival, a progressive political action guerilla theater. He wrote for the Portland Independent Media Center under the pen name Sumold Gote. A musician, he wrote and performed music and comedy with his wife, T.K. McDonald. He was the chief executive officer of Riff Raff Recordings and the Oregon Independent News Center. Besides his wife, he is survived by his brother, Ross, and his sister, Lucia Miller.

1990
Scott Peura, April 14, 2003.
Scott Peura was a three-year student and graduated cum laude with a degree in chemistry. He pole vaulted, and played football at Bates, winning a senior varsity honor award in football and serving as co-captain of the outdoor track team. He was an athletic trainer for three years and co-founded the Bates Sports Medicine Club. In 1992, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, which caused his death. He received a master’s degree in cell biology from UMass Medical School in 1994, and a master’s in physical therapy from Simmons in 1997. He was a research associate in the orthopedic department at the Univ. of Vermont and held a black belt in karate and akido. He leaves his parents, Robert and Carol Peura; brothers Glenn and Brent; a sister, Karla C. Peura; and grandparents Sulo and Hertta Peura, and Olive Gustafson.

1995
Sarah Hills Plummer, June 10, 2003.
Sarah Plummer was a graduate student in classics at Tufts when she died of epilepsy, which she had had since she was an infant. She was hoping to work as a museum curator. Her thesis topic was to be the Roman deity Priapus and the use of phallic sculptures in worship. But career plans were not the most important thing about Sarah, friends say. Anything she did, she did wholeheartedly. She spoke Latin well enough to make puns in it, just one way her sense of fun showed itself. She loved science fiction conventions and game conventions. Ancient Greece and Egypt were special interests. She had a special ability to turn dry topics into funny stories, and hoped to use this to make history come alive for children. She especially loved swimming and sailing, and worked for several summers as a waterfront counselor at the summer camp she had attended as a young child. In high school, she developed a funny video presentation about water safety as part of earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouts. As “uncool” as Girl Scouts were thought to be, Sarah took full advantage of camping and other trips offered by her troop. One friend says that as soon as they got over being “nerds,” they had a great time participating in the art club, literary magazine, library committee and even some Star Trek conventions. Nearly her entire Girl Scout troop came to her funeral. Sarah is survived by her parents, Hubert and Ann Plummer; her grandmother, Gwen Plummer; a brother, Hubert; a sister, Cary; and a niece and a nephew.

1998
Jennifer Lynne Edwards, May 21, 2003.
Jennifer Edwards was working hard to make her dream of owning her own business a reality when she died unexpectedly. Jenn and her friend, Sharon Deitz, did all of the carpentry, plumbing, and other work to get their gourmet coffee shop and pub open in Morrisville, Vt. The restaurant opened in June, a month after her death. Jenn was a talented musician. She served as organist at the Houlton (Maine) United Methodist Church while in high school, and sang in several choirs while at Bates. She also sang in community choirs and choruses in Memphis, Tenn., and Morrisville. She played piano and clarinet as well. She was a VISTA volunteer in both Memphis and Morrisville. At Bates, she volunteered at the Good Shepherd Food Bank and was a Dean’s List student, majoring in English. She spent her junior year at the Univ. of East Anglia, England, where she acquired a passion for Indian food and tea. Jenn is survived by her parents, Gary and Jeanne Edwards; a brother, Mark Edwards; her grandparents, Patricia and Nelson Edwards; two aunts; and three cousins, including Heather Josselyn-Cranson ’95.

Advanced
Chauncey Lauriston Fish, Jan. 4, 2003.
Chauncey Fish earned a master’s degree in math and education from Bates in 1934. He received his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin in 1925, and was one of its oldest alumni, a record previously held by his brother, Stanwood, who died a few months before he did. He was a math and science teacher in York and Rangeley. He also taught math and was a guidance counselor in West Hartford, Hamden, and New Fairfield, Conn., and Hicksville, N.Y. He taught courses in education at the Univ. of Bridgeport (Conn.) and was dean of student personnel there. He was a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves and an instructor in air navigation in Georgia, Louisiana, and Washington during World War II. He continued to fly after the war, and owned a Piper Cub. In the 1960s, he was the education officer for the N.Y. wing of the Civil Air Patrol. From his first marriage to Caroline Kusterer he leaves two children, Mardrey Swenson and William. From his second marriage to Clarice Hogan, who survives him, he leaves two stepsons, John and William. He also leaves five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Faculty
Douglas Edward Leach, July 1, 2003.
Douglas Leach began his career at Bates, where he taught American history. In 1956, he joined the faculty at Vanderbilt Univ., from which he retired as professor emeritus in 1986. During the course of his career, he received appointments as visiting professor at the Univ. of New Mexico, the Univ. of Rhode Island, the universities of Leeds and Liverpool in England, and the Univ. of Aukland in New Zealand. While at Vanderbilt, he served a term as chair of the department of history, a term as president of the Vanderbilt chapter of the American Assn. of University Professors, and two terms as director of graduate studies. He received the Harvey Branscomb Distinguished Professorship Award and two Fulbright Lectureships. He is the author of five books on early American history, a naval memoir, and many articles in professional publications. His books won two awards. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown, and his master’s and doctorate from Harvard. He is survived by his wife, Brenda Mason Leach; his children Carol Lea-Mord and Brad R. Leach; a sister, Marilyn Schmid; and many nieces and nephews.