Deceased April 23, 2015

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50th Reunion Book Entry

In Memory

Blaine “Buckets” Rawdon died April 23, 2015. He attended Western Reserve Academy, where he and 11 others applied to Amherst. All 12 were accepted. After one semester at Amherst, he was drafted by the Army after being rejected by the Navy, Air Corps and Marines due to his color blindness.

His unit landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. He marched through France with Patton’s Third Army. During the Battle of the Bulge, he was captured on Christmas Eve 1944. After four months in captivity, he escaped during a march. He lost 65 lbs. and spent months recovering.

Three months after discharge, he returned to Amherst. He immediately joined the swim team. We all remember those broad shoulders. And they carried him to victory, only one month after returning, in the breast stroke in the NEI Championships at MIT. He suffered from back pain for years caused by the requirement then to use the frog kick with the breast stroke. Now the dolphin kick is allowed.

Buckets met Margaret “Peg” Knight on a blind date at Smith, and they were married in September 1948, just months after both graduated. They had three sons (Blaine ’73, Matthew ’79 and Robert ’77) and a daughter.

He went on to the Columbia School of Architecture, graduating in 1952. They moved to California, where he was active as an architect, including teaching architecture at the University of Southern California. He designed his homes in Hollywood and Riverside; they were featured in Sunset magazine and architecture journals.

As Woody Steinwart ’46 said of Buckets, “He was a solid, salt-of-the-earth guy.” A large loss to the class.

Dick Banfield ’46

50th Reunion

Peg (Margaret) Knight, wife of 47 years, Smith '48. Founder, first Executive Director, Riverside Hospice. Pres. LWV. Member of Riverside Unified School Board. Drawing, painting, sculpture & ceramics. Swimming & walking. Mother of four:

Blaine K., born 1951, Amherst '73, U of Southern Cal, BS in Architecture. Designer of Blended Wing 800 passenger experimental aircraft, McDonnell Douglas. Six patents involving cargo systems and aircraft. Married, lives in Rancho Palos Verdes CA. Also teaching aeronautical engineering at USC. Model airplanes, thermal gliders, windsulfing.

Matthew N., born 1954, Amherst '79. Pres. Seattle Exhibit, an exhibit & convention display architecture/advertising firm. Married, three children, lives in Hood River OR. Golf, choral music.
Robert C., born 1955, Amherst '73-75. Classical guitarist. Single, lives in Riverside, heading for Mexico, we think. He has made good friends here, including two Amherst musicians, although they are pop types. He is our resident computer whiz.

Katharine Rawdon lvo Cruz, Pomona College '82, Manhattan School of Music '83. Married Manuel Nuno d'Elvas Leitao lvo Cruz (National Conservatory, Lisbon & Amsterdam Conservatory, Netherlands) in Riverside 1991.Lives outside of Lisbon. Kat & Nuno are the principal flutists in the Orchestra Sinfonica Portuguesa, Lisbon. Music teaching & publication, dog trainers, skateboarders, computer nerds.

PERSONAL
Our small architectural practice kept us more than busy for 25 years: University & Community College work, churches, savings & loan and bank work, a Convention Center, County Administrative Center, Justice Center, a convent, a few private office buildings, a private analytical laboratory and an occasional residence.

My business partner died in '89 and I continued the practice for another five years until the last of the projects in progress was finished and we closed the office. It wasn't hard to do that, but learning to organize the day when there really weren't any deadlines has been difficult. Involvement with Church board and choir, golf, a photography club, house renovation, travel to Portugal, Sweden, England and Pacific Northwest has helped.

We look forward to more travel, getting out more often in my new-to-me Boston Whaler for some ocean fishing, attending some elder hostels, concerts, plays, visiting old friends and family, before we get too decrepit.

We are just beginning to wonder why we stay in this smoggy area and a move is a possibility, but we have many friends and attachments here, as you can imagine, after being in Riverside for 31 years.

We are looking forward to the 50th with great anticipation!