John G. Kuniholm ’50

John Kuniholm of Greenville, Del., passed away of Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19 on Jan. 24 at age 94. He was born in 1928 in Gardner, Mass., eldest son of W. Gardner and Esther Kuniholm. He was predeceased by brother Paul Kuniholm ’55 of Hingham, Mass. Deeply proud of his small-town roots, John was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Gardner High School in 1946. He was also proud of his Finnish-Swedish heritage and spent many years documenting the family genealogy.

John received a B.A. in history from his beloved Amherst and was a proud member of Beta Theta Pi. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1953 and later received a master’s from NYU School of Law. In 1954, he married Margot Alice Herring of New Canaan, Conn. Soon thereafter, John was drafted and served in the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps. In 1956, he and Margot moved to Wilmington, Del., where he joined the law department of Hercules Powder Co. He retired as the company’s assistant general counsel in 1992. He was valued as a mentor to younger lawyers and relished the role of trusted advisor and friend.

After retiring, John volunteered for Delaware Hospice. He was a shareholder and board member of Island Inn, Sanibel Island, Fla., and a longtime member of Christ Church, Wilmington Country Club and Baker’s Beach Club in Westport, Mass., where his family spent every August for more than 60 years. He was also a dedicated member of the New England Genealogical Society. Though he lived in the Mid-Atlantic for most of his life, New England was always close to his heart.

John is survived by Margot, his wife of 67 years, and four children: Thomas Kuniholm, Julie Kuniholm Weaver ’80, Nancy Aronhalt ’83 and Wendy Sullivan ’88. He leaves 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Wendy Sullivan ’88


Arthur T. Lichtenberger ’51

Arthur T. Lichtenberger, 93, died at home on Feb. 20, surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Memphis, Tenn., to the late Most Rev. Arthur C. Lichtenberger and Florence T. Lichtenberger.

After graduating from Newark Academy and earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Amherst College, Art served in the U.S. Army at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Edgewood, Md., during the Korean War and married his Mount Holyoke College sweetheart, Anne Weston, in 1952. Art and Anne had three children: Carol, Cynthia and Arthur ’80. Returning to private life, Art was the plant manager at Jones-Dabney Co., a paint company in Newark, N.J. He went to Rutgers University at night to earn his MBA. Always hoping to return to Massachusetts, he accepted a position in the lab at Westfield Chemical Co. (later Westfield Coatings Co.). He was head of the lab when RPM of Medina, Ohio, bought the company and made Art president as well as vice president and technical director of RPM.

In 2014, Art and Anne moved to a senior community in Southwick, Mass. Art served on the boards of Noble Hospital and Noble Health Systems, the YMCA and the Red Cross. He was a corporator, trustee and president of Shurtleff Children’s Services and a corporator of Sarah Gillett Services for the Elderly. He was a devoted member of the Church of the Atonement, serving as a Sunday school teacher, vestry member and chairman of the Rector Search Committee. Art also served three terms as chairman of the Commission on Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. He enjoyed being a long-term member of the Get Together Club in Westfield. —Arthur W. Lichtenberger ’80


Richard J. Sexton ’51

Richard Sexton died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 17 at the age of 92. His wife for 58 years, Joan, predeceased him. Dick was a loyal Amherst classmate and Psi Upsilon member even though he transferred to the University of Wisconsin for his junior and senior years to provide family funds for his sister to attend college. His feelings toward Amherst were demonstrated by his hosting an annual dinner in New York City for classmates and attending many reunions.

After college graduation, Dick served four years as a Naval officer on a destroyer during the Korean War, followed by Yale Law School and several years as a litigator with Sullivan & Cromwell. Then he became vice president and general counsel of SCM Corp. SCM’s takeover in 1986 gave Dick the opportunity to become a successful independent lawyer.

In our 35th reunion book, Dick wrote: “Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world and my religion is to do good.” He was on the board of several charities which provided services for abused children, the needy and the homeless. For many years Dick worked on an essay called “Citizen Solidarity,” which stressed the need for people to become more informed and engaged and to act better to one another. He was also on the board of CommonWealth magazine, a Roman Catholic journal devoted to issues at the intersection of faith and contemporary politics and culture.

Dick was devoted to and proud of his wife, six children and 14 grandchildren. Two daughters and two grandchildren graduated from Amherst. Family gatherings at a shore home in Rhode Island were always joyful. —Molly Sexton Read ’80, Tom Bushman ’51 and Hobie Cleminshaw ’51


Richmond Kent Greene ’52

Richmond “Rob” Greene roomed with us in Alpha Delt, three seniors who were about as straight as they came. Rob was quiet, thoughtful and incredibly well organized in juggling his course load and many activities: magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, soccer, lacrosse co-captain, Christian Association, Fraternity Business Management, Outing Club president and Sphinx.

His lineage included pillars of New England intellectual and cultural aristocracy. The family seat, The Manse in Jaffrey, N.H., built in 1787, is still family-owned. In the tradition of his forebears, Rob graduated from Kingswood Oxford School, where his father taught, and, at age 18, became a summer exchange student at Oxford University in England, where he was taken by the beauty of the majestic cathedrals, an experience that would shape his life.

After Amherst, Rob pursued his increasing interest in religion and serving people, graduating from Union Theological Seminary in 1955. He was ordained as a First Congregational minister with 15 years of service in three New England churches, including in Amherst. He joined the civil rights march from Selma, Ala., in 1965, risking life at pistol point, and was jailed. Rob also earned a degree in pastoral counseling and graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute, later serving as its president.

Rob’s many interests embraced a true liberal arts tradition: fly-fishing, horseback riding, collecting antique pistols, writing poetry, becoming a skilled watercolor artist.

Rob married Barbara Fish in 1953, with four children and four grandchildren surviving after his death on Sept. 23, 2021. In 1976 he married the sculptor Katherine Twyeffort, who is arranging publication of a book of Rob’s paintings and poetry. —Jack Vernon ’52 and Nick Evans ’52


John C. Lightfoot ’52

John has been one of Amherst’s most enthusiastic supporters; he has also been among its most disenchanted. These opposites coexisted and were not resolved.

Our 25th reunion gift broke all records, with John playing a decisive role in raising and personally contributing a significant share. Classmates will remember President Julian Gibb arriving at our class dinner in Holyoke with an armored truck safely bringing the long-sequestered Sabrina out of hiding to honor us as “The First Sabrina Class.”

John valued his Amherst friendships—including one president and one professor in particular—and attended alumni association meetings and reunions. He was a regular contributor of news to class notes, sometimes expressing mounting concern about whether the Amherst faculty’s political views were imbalanced, mostly reporting happy encounters with various classmates, and once relating that two granddaughters passed over by Amherst were thriving at Williams and Harvard.

John met his first wife at Mamaroneck High School, where he played football and where Joanne was voted one of the most popular in her class. After Amherst, John served two years in the Army Finance Corps, obtained an MBA at NYU, started his career at Merrill Lynch and rose to senior partner and executive committee member of Oppenheimer & Co.

John and Joanne chose early retirement to follow their dream of venturing west to Sedona, Ariz., while still young. They became a championship doubles tennis team, with USTA ranking, and avid golfers. Their collection of Southwestern painting, sculpture and pottery was noteworthy.

Widowed in 1993, John married Katherine Hoffman, a family friend of long standing. John and Kathy relocated to Vero Beach, Fla., and Cashiers, N.C. John died at home on March 19. His family includes three great-grandchildren. —Nick Evans ’52


William Gird Garrison ’53

In his later years at his home in Sherman, Conn., where Rich Gray ’53 and Doug Williamson ’52 had nearby summer places, Bill showed them the chestnut trees he was trying to grow blight-free, some 12 feet tall and crossed with Chinese chestnuts. Doug writes that Bill stayed in touch with organizations working on reviving the trees. Doug also comments that Bill’s outdoor interest extended to his years as board member of the local land trust and as volunteer inspector of its conservation easement properties.

Dinner parties at the Garrisons’ home were, in Doug’s words, “cousins of classic old salons. The guest lists were seemingly limitless, for six or eight interesting people, and the conversation invariably substantive and spirited.”

Bill grew up in Amherst—where his father was an Amherst College professor of English and public speaking—and prepared for college at Salisbury School. He majored in geology; joined Phi Gamma Chi; and was active in football, track and wrestling, as well as Sabrina and The Amherst Student.

After earning an MBA from NYU and working in banking and investment, Bill started his own consulting firm in New York in 1974 and continued with it until 2021, specializing in close analysis of small companies with growth potential while serving long-term family clients.

Bill’s family fondly remembers his “explaining rock formations on family trips, keeping antiquated equipment running, topping up hummingbird feeders, making pancakes on the weekend” and “relishing outdoor chores and music of Bach and Schubert.” He belonged to the Grolier and University Clubs and served on the board for Salisbury School.

Bill died on Feb. 5, just one month after his twin daughter Kate ’86 died. He also leaves his wife, Helen, and his other daughter, Mary. —Garrison family, Douglas Williamson ’52 and Richard Gray ’53


Piers Ingersoll Lewis ’53

Piers grew up in St. Paul, Minn. His father was a crusading newspaper editor and his mother a writer. Both parents encouraged his curiosity, social conscience and love of language. He prepared for Amherst at St. Paul Academy, where he was a top student, three-letter athlete and champion marksman. In summers, he worked on a railroad, a stern-wheeler and an assembly line.

Piers majored in philosophy, with other interests in literature and mathematics; joined the Lord Jeff Club and Philosophy Club; and wrestled. A Fulbright to Cambridge and Army service in Germany preceded earning his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1964. He went on to teach literature at Wellesley College, Bemidji State University, Hebei University in the PRC and finally Metropolitan State University, where he was a founding faculty member.

At Harvard, Piers met his wife, Katherine Greene, with whom he raised four children and traveled the world. A thoughtful conversationalist, he made friends with all sorts of people. He loved reasoned debate, kept an open mind and didn’t hesitate to challenge conventional wisdom.

His family lists some of his many interests: “He loved Cuban cigars, fly-fishing, baseball, Fellini, Yeats, The Magic Flute, Don Quixote, New Orleans jazz, animals, good scotch, chess, photography, cooking dinners for everyday and large family gatherings,” and time at the family’s St. Croix River cabin.

At 73, Piers got tattoos with the names and birthdays of his grandchildren. In retirement, he studied ancient Greek and mathematics and wrote Shakespearean Questions, a book of essays for the common reader.

Piers died in St. Paul on Dec. 1, 2021, of Alzheimer’s, and leaves his wife, Katherine; his children, Benjamin (Krishnakali), Georgeanna (Sean), Katherine and Rebecca; sister Georgiana; brother H. Finlay; and two grandchildren, Rohan and Bruno. He donated his body to the University of Minnesota. —Lewis family and George Edmonds ’53


Samuel P. Gotoff ’54

Sam was born March 22, 1933, and died on April 24, 2022, surrounded by his family. He attended Horace Mann Academy in Bronxville, N.Y., before starting at Amherst, where we met our first week and became friends—a friendship that would last 72 years. Our friendship deepened as Sam learned lacrosse and joined me, Dave Kirsch ’54, on the Amherst team, where we played for all four years. As sophomores, Sam and I were roommates in South Dorm along with Tom Blackburn ’54, who had begun his friendship with Sam at pre-enrollment gatherings at the Gotoff apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. We three became brothers in Psi Upsilon.

After graduation, Sam earned his M.D. from the University of Rochester, followed by residency at Yale New Haven Hospital and a fellowship in immunology at Boston Children’s Hospital. Sam had a distinguished medical career as department chairman of pediatrics at three eminent hospitals in Illinois, the last being at the University of Chicago.

While at medical school, Sam married his college sweetheart, Myra (Mount Holyoke ’56), who was a classmate of Tom’s sister. They had a long and loving relationship until her untimely death in October 2008.

They raised three children: Elizabeth, Robert and David, who survive Sam. He was predeceased by his brother, Harry ’56. His later years were enriched by his dear friend Judy Ratzan, with whom he made many new memories.

For 50 years, the Gotoff and Kirsch families met every August in Truro on Cape Cod. Three generations of our families became good friends over shared dinners of fish that Sam had landed.

Sam was much beloved and respected by his patients, medical peers, friends and especially his family. He was thoughtful, intelligent, ethical, helpful to all and lots of fun. —David Alan Kirsch ’54 and Thomas Blackburn ’54


John Gray Funkhouser ’56

We lost John the day before Christmas from Parkinson’s and other illnesses.

At Amherst, John was a Phi Gam and chemistry major. His most noteworthy achievement was dating the moon rocks brought back from the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. The age-dating of lunar rocks brought to Earth by those Apollo astronauts revealed that the moon formed 4.51 billion years ago—just 60 million years after the solar system itself took shape. When the results were published, John’s name appeared in news articles all over the world. He parlayed his scientific expertise into a forensic consulting firm and later authored a bestseller, Forensic Science for High School.

In 2007, John and wife Andrea moved to Ajijic, a town about one hour south of Guadalajara, situated at 5,000 feet on Mexico’s largest freshwater lake. In 2009 they dropped down to sea level, bought a lot and built a sizeable “villa” on the beach nearby. Friends from around the world have joined them every Christmas season to create very special memories.

A key part of their life together was their shared love of travel. Andrea and John visited more than 100 countries over the years—from Borneo to Timbuktu; Barrow, Alaska, to Tokyo; Bali to Toronto.

A bucket list item was to take each of their grandchildren on an international trip. In so doing, they covered Brazil plus both sides of Iguazu Falls; Norway, Sweden, Latvia and Iceland; Italy, Greece and Turkey; Colombia; Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, Argentina, plus a cruise to Antarctica; Darwin and Kakadu National Park in Australia, plus Papua New Guinea, plus Tonga with the youngest grandchild—14 at the time.

In addition to wife Andrea, John is survived by three daughters, Sarah Funkhouser, Susan Musson and Lisa Funkhouser; a son, Peter Funkhouser; and seven grandchildren. —Peter Levison ’56


William E. Lewis ’56

Bill died peacefully in February 2022. He played baseball, basketball and football at Deerfield. At Amherst, Bill was named the College’s best intramural athlete, majored in economics and pledged Theta Delt.

After graduation, he served in the U.S. Air Force, finishing navigation training at Ellington AFB in Houston and radar observer training in Waco, Texas. He flew F-89s until discharge in 1960. Bill then worked for Western Electric in NYC, where he met Carola Gewinner. They married in August 1961 and moved to Oneonta, N.Y., taking over the family business, Oneonta Grocery Co., which he transformed, constructing a new warehouse with refrigeration and freezers, enabling considerable growth.

Bill and Carola raised sons Mark, Graham ’90 and Britt. Bill was a practiced skier, golfer and tennis player. He was a Giants football fan with season tickets for more than 50 years, a lover of Cooperstown’s Otsego Lake and a passionate world traveler.

Bill was remarried in 1989 to Karen. Together they built warm communities of friends in Cooperstown and at The Villages, Fla. He served on Hartwick College’s board of trustees from 1985 to 2003, receiving an honorary doctorate in 2016. He also was president of the board of the Oneonta Unitarian Universalist Church, as well as a member of the Oneonta Kiwanis and Elks Clubs, Cooperstown Country Club, SUNY Oneonta Educational Foundation Board, Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Mechanics Exchange Savings Bank and Dime Community Bank of New York. He was also an active member of the Congregational Church in Summerfield, Fla. Bill’s quick wit, love of people and sense of loyalty brought him many dear friends. Truly a role model for all who knew him, he is remembered for his amazing generosity and kindness.

Bill is survived by wife Karen; three sons and daughters-in-law; stepdaughter Jessica and family; and seven grandchildren. —Peter Levison ’56


Roger Sherman Loud ’56

We lost Roger on April 29. He came to Amherst from Phillips Exeter. He was a math major and pledged Delta Upsilon. He began his 64-year teaching career at the Hillsdale School in Cincinnati in 1958, teaching history and math, and was headmaster in 1969–70. He moved to Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1970, joining the faculty of North Country School / Camp Treetops, and became director from 1982 to 1992. Then he began a lengthy stint teaching math at Lake Placid’s Northwood School, finally retiring in 2021.

Roger’s greatest passion, outside of family and teaching, was the mountains, especially the Adirondacks. He was an Adirondack 46er, #125, completing 12 rounds of the High Peaks, and in the 1970s he co-led summer hiking/climbing expeditions to Wyoming, California, Oregon, Washington and Alberta. He strongly believed in connecting children to the beauty and challenges of the wilderness. He co-founded Camp Gawee in 1964 and began the Treetops West program in 1974—both designed to immerse teenagers in intense mountaineering experiences.

Roger is survived by his wife, Patricia; son David Roger Loud of New York City; daughter Jennifer Vann of Longmont, Colo.; son Patrick George Loud of Virginia Beach, Va.; daughter Brigit Loud of Colchester, Vt.; and his beloved grandson, Bodie.

Roger had a great sense of humor. On a personal note: this writer has fond memories of him. In some classes, there was alphabetical seating. More than once, we sat next to each other. For one course, Professor Beebe’s Chemistry 21, we each took notes in very small handwriting and had the entire course notes on a single page. We both aced the course. —Peter Levison ’56


Arthur W. Renander ’56

Art passed away at his home in Missoula, Mont., on April 25 after a long illness borne with great dignity and courage. He was 87.

Born in New York City, he started his professional career in Republican politics in New York, while also serving as an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, an experience of which he was forever proud. After his time in politics, he moved on to business development and pursued opportunities in every corner of the globe, including Hawaii, Thailand, Fiji, Canada and, ultimately, Montana.

In Montana, he truly found his home and cultivated a deep desire to see the state grow economically. In this vein, he created a World Trade Center in Montana and donated the license to the University of Montana’s College of Business. He loved Montana not only for its frontier spirit but also for the outdoors. Nothing exemplified this more than the famous river trips he enjoyed with many friends from across the country.

Throughout his life, Arthur was dedicated to his family, his country, his church, education, international affairs and politics. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Zara; three children, Erik ’97, Kiki and Sonja; and three grandchildren.

Art came to Amherst from Mount Hermon. He pledged Phi Psi and majored in political science. He was attendance chairman for our very successful 60th reunion and was a major factor in our record turnout. He loved to drive long distances, often making the more-than-2,000-mile drive from his home in Huntsville, Ala., to his other residence in Missoula, Mont.

May he rest in peace in true Big Sky Country. —Peter Levison ’56


Richard E. Winslow III ’56

Dick was a man of many diverse interests. Born in Boston, he came to Amherst from Mount Hermon. He earned a B.S. from Union College, an M.A. in history from the University of New Hampshire, an M.L.S. from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in history from Penn State. His career included teaching at Penn State, working as a research expert in special collections with the Portsmouth Public Library and authoring seven books, five of which focus on the history of Portsmouth, N.H., and its shipbuilding industry.

Dick had a love of outdoors and a passion for all things nautical. He explored, paddled and rafted from Scotland to Canada, north of the Arctic Circle, and he chronicled his experiences in written pieces, many of which appeared in the aptly named Messing About in Boats and the last of which, a narrative of his 2019 canoe expedition on the Thomsen River, was illustrated with his own photos. His later-in-life hope to explore the Antarctic from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Falkland Islands and onto the subcontinent itself were dashed by the onslaught of the pandemic and Dick’s health issues. As he said in his Christmas 2020 letter: “Things happen.” He was determined by summer 2021 to head out to the Maine lakes for some paddling with a guide.

He is survived by a sister, Ellen Ruhl, and her extended family. —Peter Levison ’56


William P. Donohue ’57

Bill Donohue of Savannah, Ga., formerly of Manhasset, N.Y., passed away peacefully on Feb. 16, 2022. Born on Sept. 21, 1935, Bill was raised in Westfield, N.J. After graduating from high school, Bill matriculated at Amherst College, where he earned an economics degree and the moniker “Bear” because of his stature. Maybe it was the relatively small and, at the time, all-male enrollment; his Beta brothers and football and lacrosse teammates; or the quirky mascot—whatever the many reasons, Amherst became an instrumental part of the rest of his life. Purple blood ran through Bill’s veins, and he was an enthusiastic fundraiser and unbridled cheerleader until the end. Amherst is also where Bill met his future beloved wife, Carolyn “Cris” Donohue, who predeceased him in 2015 after 55 years of marriage.

Immediately after graduating from Amherst, Bill enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration. Bill then began a long and successful Wall Street career as an investment banker, working at prominent firms such as Kidder, Peabody & Co. and Merrill Lynch, and concluding with JPMorgan Chase.

Bill and Chris raised their children in Manhasset, Long Island, where both were extraordinarily invested in the community. Town organizations of which Bill was president included the Booster Club, the Community Fund, the Board of Education and the Tower Foundation. Bill was treasurer of the Police Boys Club, where he was also a beloved football and lacrosse coach.

Bill was known for his warmth and affable nature and fiercely loved his family, friends and golf. Surviving Bill are his children Mimi “Little Bear” ’82 and William Donohue Jr. and grandchildren Michael, William, Megan, Sean, Mark, Caitlin, Maxine and Hetty. —Mimi Donohue ’82


Edwin Stanley Gardiner ’57

My father, Edwin Gardiner, died on Dec. 27, 2021, following an extended battle with Parkinson’s disease and complications. It is one of the few battles he ever lost, and he was far more of a lover than a fighter.

At Amherst, Ed navigated the challenging pre-med curriculum with aplomb while also playing as a midfielder on the soccer team. True to Amherst’s liberal education traditions, neither athletic exploits nor the pre-professional curriculum defined his time there. In what was perhaps less of a fib than a white lie, when my father first met my mother, Wita, he told her he had been an English major. Plainly, it was not true. But his education was broad enough that he could discuss Camus’ The Stranger and existentialism—and, of course, Robert Frost’s poetry—as if literature or even philosophy had been his educational focus. My mother has occasionally admitted that if she had known then he was a doctor, she might have broken off the relationship before it really began.

But his career was medicine. After earning his M.D. at New York University and training at Massachusetts General as well as New York’s Bellevue Hospital, he persuaded Wita that it would be all right to marry a doctor who was also a poet. After a move to San Diego, he established his practice in urology, centered on Grossmont Hospital. Ed rose to be the hospital’s head of surgery. After that, he was appointed by Gov. Edmund “Jerry” Brown to California’s Board of Medical Quality Assurance.

In retirement, Ed returned to his Amherst roots and became an accomplished and eloquent poet. He and my mother traveled around the world, often with their tandem bicycle in tow. He is survived by Wita Gardiner, the love of his life, and his children, Jacqueline and me. —Michael Gardiner ’85


George Atterbury Mathewson ’57

George passed away on Jan. 4. He graduated from Ithaca High School, where he was a student government officer, tennis player and all-star quarterback. Later, he played semi-pro football. George graduated cum laude from Amherst, where he played quarterback on the football team and rowed on the heavyweight crew. He received an LL.B. from Cornell University and an LL.M. in antitrust law from the University of Michigan.

George worked for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and then in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He had a law practice for more than 40 years and was an adjunct instructor in business law at Onondaga Community College. He was active in the Greater Manlius Chamber of Commerce, Steuben County Historical Society, Arts Center of Yates County, Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, South-Side Business Association, Onondaga Kiwanis Club of Syracuse, Town of Lake George Comprehensive Plan Committee and Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes. George volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and was a sponsor and worker at the Winter Special Olympics. He was a congregant and later a deacon at Onondaga Hill Presbyterian Church. He helped coach his son Jim’s football, baseball and basketball teams, along with assisting his Boy Scout troop. After retiring, he wrote four books, including The Dried Earth, What Happened to Our Water and A Boy Named Martin.

George was a lifetime learner, studying Spanish with his wife, history (especially World War II), genealogy and scientific advances. He and his wife, Ann, were fortunate to travel around Europe and to New Zealand and Australia to visit a Michigan Law School classmate. He also enjoyed traveling to visit Amherst classmates, including Rob Goutell ’57 and Bill Patrick ’57.

George is survived by wife Ann, son James and two grandsons. —James L. Mathewson


George Bennett Todd ’57

“Creativity Personified” and “A Banquet of Delights” are descriptions by fellow professors emeriti at Middlebury College of George Todd, who died Aug. 27, 2021. At Amherst, George was seen as a musical virtuoso who arranged songs for and sang with the Zumbyes, played in the Delta Five and composed music for our senior show, among other productions. He earned an MBA at Stanford and an M.F.A. at Princeton, where he began his lifelong interest in electro-acoustic music.

As a tenured professor of music and frequent head of the department at Middlebury, George ensured that his students would never hear music the same as they once had. In 32 years at Middlebury, the courses he taught spanned from music theory to composition, medieval/Renaissance and classical music, through ragtime, to computer music, all with his infectious passion that inspired scores of students.

The breadth of his interests and talents knew no bounds. He designed and built two houses and learned Szechuan cooking by somehow persuading chefs at his favorite Chinese restaurants to allow him into their kitchens. In retirement, he took up painting.

A colleague called him an innovative artist at the keyboard and the easel, a daring chef and a deeply serious man with a reckless sense of humor. His love for and pride in his children was manifest in his many comments recorded for our class reunions. He enjoyed reading poetry aloud and traveled the world, leaving a trail of warm friendships.

George was convinced that Amherst provided the best education possible in the ’50s, but its focus was on the functions of the left hemisphere of the brain, ignoring those of the right. The latter would achieve dominance throughout George’s full life.

He is survived by his sons, Grey and Scott; his daughter, Kate; and his grandsons, Clayton and Jeremy. —Carl Gray ’57


Charles McIntyre Webster ’57

Chuck passed away peacefully on April 19 in Bloomington, Minn. He is survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Nancy; son Chuck Jr. ’85 and wife Karin; daughter Ann ’87; and grandchildren Elise, Jennifer and Peter.

Chuck was raised in Edina, Minn., graduating from Edina High School in 1953. He was a three-sport athlete and is a member of the Edina High School Athletic Hall of Fame. At Amherst, he majored in economics, dabbled in football and baseball for a year or two, and was a Beta.

After Amherst, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1958 to 1961 in Okinawa, the Philippines and Washington. While home on break from the Navy, Chuck met Nancy Bateman on a blind date in 1958 and courted her through daily letters. They married in June 1960 and returned to Minnesota in 1961, when Chuck started his career in the trust department of First National Bank. During these early years before starting a family, he got MBA from the University of Minnesota and his CFA.

Chuck had an enjoyable 57-year career in money management, retiring from Webster Partners in 2018 at age 83. He was a man of faith and lived his life with integrity, humility and deep love for his family. Chuck had a close-knit group of friends from high school and Amherst, and he treasured these relationships throughout his life. He was an avid reader and loved to travel, especially with Nancy to Europe and New York City and to the frequent Beta reunions in beautiful locations throughout the country. —Ann Webster ’87 and Carl Gray ’57


Robert Bradley Wood ’57

Born March 5, 1935, Bob died on July 25, 2021, with family at his side after a brief illness.

Bob entered Amherst as a member of the class of 1957. He was a star player on football and baseball teams in high school and continued his athletic success at Amherst. He had a brief hiatus from Amherst to complete service with the U.S. Army. After returning, he graduated with the class of 1959. Bob studied history and was a member of Chi Phi. He met his wife, then Debby Dodge (Mount Holyoke ’60), while they worked together on a local campaign as part of a political science class. He was among the students and athletes featured in a Life magazine article on football weekends at Amherst, “Good Time in the Small Time,” Nov. 24, 1958.

Bob continued his education at Boston University and Wesleyan University and began his career as an educator. He taught history at George J. Penney High School in East Hartford, Conn.; chaired the social studies department; coached baseball and football; and served as athletic director.

Bob served as deacon and trustee and on many committees in his church, as well as soup chef for countless church suppers. He was a longtime Rotarian, was active in fundraising, served a term as president of his club and was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow.

Known for his humor, Bob enjoyed traveling and socializing with his many friends. He enjoyed reading mysteries and history, playing golf and taking long walks with Debby. They often spent summers at Moose Pond in Bridgton, Maine: boating, mountain climbing and welcoming friends.

Bob is survived by his sons and daughters-in-law, Timothy Wood and Kate Stover and Stephen ’86 and Ping Wood, and four grandchildren. His wife, Debby, died in November 2021. —Stephen Wood ’86


Michael Buckley Wray ’57

Michael died at home in Maine on April 29. During most of his adult life, he managed heart problems, and in 2002 he was fortunate to receive a heart transplant. Michael was born in New York City, the youngest of three sons of Charles G. Wray 1921 and Ernestine Wray. Both of his brothers, David ’52 and Pete ’56, graduated from Amherst. In addition to winning many bridge games in James and making lifelong friends in Beta house, Michael graduated magna cum laude and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Later in life, he stayed in touch with numerous college friends and visited and traveled with a handful of his ’57 classmates and their families.

Following graduation from Columbia Law School, Michael practiced at Morgan Lewis & Bockius in Philadelphia. Always looking for new opportunities, Michael returned to New York in the 1970s to work in the investment business. After a decade in New York, he moved to Texas and shifted his focus to finance work for a wide range of oil and gas exploration companies. He ended his career at Benton Oil and Gas in California, where he served as president and chief executive officer.

Michael was intellectually curious and enthusiastic throughout his life. He adored classical music and the fine arts, and was a rolling stone that never grew moss. After Amherst, he lived and worked in eight states and was married three times.

Michael was a proud Amherst graduate. Surviving alumni family members include nephew David Wray ’78, son Charles Wray ’86, great-nephew Tripp Wray ’11 and son-in-law Pierre Kolisch ’75. He is also survived by his son, Michael; daughter Anita Kolisch; eight grandchildren; former wife Mary Denny Scott; and wife Caryl Beadel. —Charles Wray ’86


Richard Irving Burnham ’58

Richard Irving “Dick” Burnham died peacefully in Newport, R.I., on April 26 at the age of 86.

At Amherst, Dick pledged Alpha Theta Xi fraternity and joined the band, Christian Association, Debate Council, Harlan Fiske Stone Law Society and Outing Club. He was also named to Delta Sigma Rho, the honorary debating society.

The descendent of Burnham ancestors who had served in the American Revolution and the Civil War, Dick had a lifelong interest in history. After majoring in history at Amherst and graduating in 1958, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1961.

A fluent speaker of French, Dick then joined the Foreign Service, first serving at the U.S. Embassy in Paris and later as vice consul in Bordeaux. Returning to the United States, he received special training on Vietnam at the Foreign Service Institute and the U.S. Army Special Warfare School before being sent to Saigon and the central provinces of Vietnam, where he worked on counterintelligence, intelligence coordination and pacification in the mid-1960s.

In 1968, Dick left the Foreign Service and began his second career as an investment banker, first at Morgan Stanley and later for 25 years at the International Finance Corp., where he procured funding for numerous businesses and projects throughout the developing world.

During the early 1970s, he met and then married Monty Watkins, a Vassar graduate. They enjoyed traveling together and engaging in philanthropic projects such as assisting Vietnamese immigrants in the Washington area. After Dick retired, the couple focused on historic preservation. Dick served as president of the Newport Historical Society and was responsible for the creation of a Summer Scholars in Public History program.

In addition to Monty, his wife of 50 years, Dick leaves two married children and five grandchildren. —Ned Megargee ’58


Donald Frederick Moores ’58

Donald Frederick Moores, 86, died unexpectedly on Sept. 5, 2021, at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., of complications from coronary heart disease.

While we probably remember Don best as co-captain of our outstanding 1957 football team, his professional colleagues regarded him as an internationally preeminent figure in researching language development and ways of educating deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

After graduating from Amherst in 1958 with a major in psychology and a double minor in religion and history, Don enrolled at Gallaudet University, earning his M.A. in education of the deaf in 1959. While working with deaf children as a classroom teacher, football coach, summer camp director and researcher, he earned his M.S. in educational administration from California State University, Northridge, in 1963 and his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Illinois in 1967.

Don served as a program director / chair at the University of Minnesota and as a chair at Penn State before joining the faculty at Gallaudet. As director of Gallaudet’s Center for Studies in Education and Human Development, he supervised and conducted research in child development and mental health, reading and secondary education as well as psycholinguistics, learning theory and deafness. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Don authored more than 150 scholarly publications while also serving as associate editor (1978–90) and then editor (1990–2010) of the American Annals of the Deaf.

After 27 years, Don retired from Gallaudet in 2007 and accepted a position as director of the Deaf Education Program within the Department of Exceptional Student and Deaf Education at the University of North Florida before retiring in 2015.

Don leaves behind Margery Rose Miller Moores, his wife, collaborator and colleague of 30 years; three sons; a daughter; two stepsons (one deceased); 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. —Ned Megargee ’58


Richard A. McCann ’59

Skip, a lifelong educator, died March 14 from Alzheimer’s disease, after battling dementia for many years.

He was born Nov. 7, 1937, to Virginia Millicent Peterson and Richard Twinem McCann.

His wife, Gretchen, recalls that Skip “was sent to Hotchkiss School, and his greatest adolescent rebellion, never forgotten by his mother, was turning down Yale to attend Amherst.” After Amherst, he earned an M.A. in education from Harvard.

After Harvard, he taught English and social studies at a middle school in Newton, Mass., until 1965, when he was called to Washington to serve in the U.S. Office of Education, where his team received the Superior Service Award from the Commissioner of Education.

In 1974, he joined Research for Better Schools, working with teachers, schools, districts, state departments of education and university researchers for more than three decades.

Skip was an engaged and committed father, leaving for work at dawn so he could play with his children before dinner. He blasted classical music—Beethoven, Sibelius and Mahler—on the downstairs stereo. His enthusiasms had lasting influence on his children: his daughter is an expert in early childhood public policy, and his son a professional musician.

Skip worked until 80, when he and Gretchen downsized from their suburban Philadelphia home to an apartment in Chicago, near son Andrew and his family.

In Chicago, he joined others with memory loss and their caregivers in the Good Memories Choir. The loss of such support at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a steep decline in his condition. In June 2021, he and Gretchen moved to Oregon to be near their daughter, and Skip joined residential memory care.

He is survived by Gretchen, children Carey and Andrew, their spouses, and grandchildren Griffin and Adara. —Claude Erbsen ’59


Russell J. Kirschenbaum ’60

Reuben Clay ’60 wrote, “I knew Russell from September 1956, when we were Amherst freshmen living on the second floor of Morrow. When my steamer trunk arrived, I looked for someone to help; Russell put it on his back and carried it up by himself! In my sophomore year, Russ, Peter Gilbert ’60, Jay Barnett ’60, John Slocumb ’60 and I were roommates in South. Junior year, we went to our different fraternities, with Russell living in DU. He was always close to me, driving me to pick up my date to go to Williams and to Tufts with his girlfriend (later, first wife) for another date. After we graduated, Russell went to business school at Harvard. In 1964–65, when I interned at San Francisco General, Russ was in the East Bay and took me to lunch. Back in San Francisco as a resident at UCSF in 1968, I went to his son’s bar mitzvah. Our interactions were interrupted until Peter Gilbert ’60 visited, and we all had dinner together. Thereafter we exchanged more frequent visits with Russell and Debra, the last occurring in 2021.”

In our 25th reunion book, Russ described establishing branches of his family’s moving and storage business in the Oakland area. He switched to commercial real estate until dropping out of corporate life “to play for a few years.” For our 50th, he reported marrying his second wife, Debra, in 1981, and their seeing the world in 30 countries on six continents. They resumed real estate projects and diversified into commercial rental investments. “Always trying new things and helping people,” as his son described him, Russ learned to ski, took up fly-fishing after 60 and returned to playing bridge in his 70s, while also making his four grandchildren part of his “new passions.” —Reuben Clay ’60 and Dick Weisfelder ’60


David B. Rowell ’60

David Rowell was a large fellow, a “Townie” whose family members were well integrated by various college jobs into the Amherst College community and who took advantage, as a local schoolboy, of many opportunities the College offered its students from elsewhere.

I met Dave freshman year in Morrow dorm and enjoyed his friendly demeanor and introduction to aspects of Amherst town life. He had a distinctively shaped olive green 1940s Chrysler Royal, which, as a Townie, he could use to drive us to Smith College for double dates at a time when other underclassmen could not have cars in town. This car was also notable for the olive green metal mammoth on the driver’s side of the dashboard, in honor of Dave’s size and, I should add, the size of his heart. Dave left the College to join the Navy in his junior year, returned and graduated in 1965, but chose to remain associated with his buddies of 1960.

After marriage to Jan Fortune (Smith graduate, whom he met through me), he worked various jobs in Amherst, promoting the town’s cultural and business communities. When Jan obtained teaching jobs at private women’s schools, Dave accompanied her to Santa Barbara, Calif.; Schenectady, N.Y.; and ultimately Las Vegas. In all these places, he readily found jobs in civic and charitable organizations, media sales, real estate, etc., where he always had success dealing with people in his friendly fashion.

He also followed his avocations of jazz music, festival organization and production, missing only one Monterey Jazz Festival in 38 years. I last saw him in Las Vegas, where he hosted a weekly FM radio jazz show. Remembering my interests, he drove me through the congested city, out to a park with an excellent geological vista.

Dave was an all-around good man. —Phil Heckel ’60


David L. Elwell ’62

David Leslie Elwell died in Wooster, Ohio, on Dec. 3, 2021. He graduated from Amherst cum laude with a degree in physics. He received a Ph.D. in physics from Duke and taught at the College of Wooster for a number of years. After that, he was employed by the Ohio Development Center, exploring alternate energy sources including solar ponds. He is survived by his wife, Judith, and three daughters. He was a lifelong learner, a man of faith, and he excelled at games, especially chess and Go. He was a frequent blood donor, giving more than eight gallons total!

Bill Stoever ’62 remembers David fondly as a physics lab partner and enthusiastic chess player. David Perera ’62 knew Elwell as a classmate at George School in Newtown, Pa., and fondly remembers their lunch together at their 50th school reunion in 2008.  —David Perera ’62


Edward L. Yourtee ’67

It is impossible to remember Ed Yourtee without remembering his smile. Ed seemed to have a positive attitude about practically everything, and his optimism was contagious. He was a diligent student, a skilled clarinetist, an empathetic friend. I had the good luck to live next door to him one year in Theta Xi, and our conversations were warm, easy and restorative. As for his social life, suffice it to say that his prom date in his senior year was that year’s prom queen.

Born in Austin, Texas, and raised in Clinton, N.Y., Ed went on from Amherst to earn his M.D. at Johns Hopkins, then to develop his specialty in infectious diseases at Yale. He had a long career in internal medicine, serving as chief medical officer at the Parkland Medical Center in Derry, N.H., and for 35 years as a partner of Southern New Hampshire Internal Medicine Associates.

In 1991, after traveling to Romania to adopt their son Jonathan, Ed and his wife, Elaine (MacEwan) Yourtee, founded Nobody’s Children, an organization that provides medical and humanitarian resources to needy children. Working directly with doctors in Romania, they developed a wide network of donors and a carefully monitored system of delivering antibiotics, medical equipment, children’s shoes, clothing, toys and other supplies directly to the people who need them. They created a similar program in Bosnia.

Ed was a sailor, photographer and birder, and he enjoyed travel, especially to Italy and to Prince Edward Island. He died in July 2021 following a battle with kidney disease. He is survived by Elaine; his children, Jonathan, Sumiko and Matei; and his golden retriever, Mr. Gibson.

As his classmate Jack Hailey ’67 observed of Ed, “He was a standard-bearer for a better and more peaceful world.” —John Stifler ’68


John Aung-Thwin ’68

Born in postwar Burma (now Myanmar), John Aung-Thwin came to Amherst in 1966 as a junior, following high school at the Kodaikanal International School in India and two years of community college in Massachusetts. Amherst was one stepping-stone in a life of constant personal growth and public service.

John studied political science and spent summer 1967 in West Point, Miss., tutoring Black students who were about to enter desegregated schools. A highlight of that summer for him was meeting Fannie Lou Hamer. That June he married Evelyn Macdonald, whom he had met in eighth grade. They were married for just five months shy of 50 years.

After Amherst, John studied international relations at McGill University. In his thesis about Burma’s postwar negotiations with China, he contended that Burma did not feel threatened by the Chinese. Professors wanted him to reverse his view, but he stuck with it.

John taught at a Mohawk Indian Way School near Montreal, ran an assisted-living program for adults with intellectual disabilities and eventually ran the two largest services in Quebec for mentally disabled adults. Meanwhile, he and Evelyn bought a farm, raising three children there and later in a cottage he renovated near the Ottawa River. They raised goats, horses, chickens and pond trout. John developed skills in meat brining, salting, marinating, smoking and cooking, welcoming many visitors to share dinners and wine. In retirement, he began writing a historical novel of Burma during World War II.

John died of kidney disease on Jan. 13, 2017, under what Canada’s earliest inhabitants called the Full Wolf Moon. He is survived by his wife, sons Chris and Mila, daughter Kira and four grandchildren.

Shall we go gently into our last years,

Or will some of our generation rise up and do something for future generations? —Evelyn Macdonald
Aung-Thwin


Mark A. Peterson ’68

Brilliant. Gentle. Kind. Friends, colleagues and students offered these words about Mark Peterson, who taught physics and mathematics at Mount Holyoke for almost four decades. They treasured his joy in teaching—how he would come out of class with a smile on his face and was constantly thinking of new ways to work with students; how he was willing to say, “I don’t know,” and then work to find out, to keep learning and discovering. Younger colleagues considered him a mentor who helped them be better teachers.

His was an extraordinary mind, full of curiosity, with an enormous breadth of interests and astonishing facility in science, languages, literature and music. Much of Mark’s scholarship was interdisciplinary, exploring the underpinnings of the Western scientific tradition, especially as expressed in the life and thought of Galileo. His wonderful and very readable book Galileo’s Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts was a key accomplishment.

Mark had an easy sense of humor. He was a good singer who loved Renaissance and Baroque music and an avid swimmer, doing 40 laps daily in the pool until a few months before his death. At age 67, he took up open-water swimming—in the Virgin Islands, the Hudson River and the seas around Greece, Croatia and Sardinia. He was a fan of good coffee, good beer and good ice cream.

Mark approached his brain cancer diagnosis with equanimity. He had lived a good life and had a close-knit, loving family. He looked forward to the arrival of a grandchild last summer, but his daughter, Maya, and her baby died in childbirth. The shock and sorrow of this unexpected tragedy brought profound sadness to his final months. He died peacefully at home on May 27 with his loving wife, Indira, at his side. —Jon Solins ’68


Margaret R. Vendryes ’84

Margaret Rose (Cohen) Vendryes joined the class of 1984 as a burgeoning art historian and mother of two. Just seven years older than many classmates, she was fully formed through an intense humanism that cohered her acute eye, life experience, personal bearing and kindness. We were drawn to Margaret for her profound wisdom and friendship. She credited her academic work at Amherst with propelling her professionally. Margaret was a prescient scholar, even as an undergraduate. Her senior thesis was on 20th-century African American painter Archibald John Motley Jr., whose work first entered the Museum of Modern Art collection in 2021. In 1997, Margaret became the first Black Ph.D. in Princeton’s 115-year-old Department of Art and Archaeology.

Margaret lectured and taught at Amherst, Boston University, Princeton and Wellesley. She chaired the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at CUNY’s York College and was, at her death, poised to become dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. As an artist, Margaret began a multimedia and multiyear project, the African Diva Series, in 2005.

Since spring 2020, 12 women from our class have gathered regularly on Zoom. It began as a check-in during the pandemic’s worst days and evolved into a joyful gathering of friends. We forged a renewed sisterhood, reflected on our hopeful and perilous world, and shared memories of Amherst. Margaret was a beautiful member of this group. Some of us got to know her during this time, while the authors below knew her well since college.

Though shocked and heartbroken to learn of her death on March 29, we are deeply grateful to have had the privilege to reconnect with Margaret over these last two years. We express our deepest sympathies to her sons,
Damian and Erick Cohen, and her wife, Jacqueline Herranz Brooks. —Brooke Kamin Rapaport ’84 and the Rev. Marie Tatro ’84


Hilary J. Englert ’91

We are heartbroken to mark the passing of our dear friend and roommate, Hilary Englert, on April 25 at her home in Jersey City, N.J., after a long battle with cancer.

We arrived at Amherst in 1987 wearing pastel turtlenecks. We left in 1991 wearing black and quoting Derrida, but Hilary was the only one of us who understood what she was saying.

Hilary also had an uncommon gift for expressing, explaining, translating and teaching. She earned her Ph.D. in English literature from Johns Hopkins University, with primary scholarly interests in 18th-century literature, particularly the development of the novel, the history of reading, reader response criticism and print culture. At New Jersey City University, she was a leader within her department and across the university. She was beloved by her students and will be remembered as a teacher without peer.

We borrow liberally from beautiful remembrances of those who knew and loved her best, especially her lifelong love and dearest friend, Tris McCall (Greg Saliceti ’92).

Hilary was a hero to all who knew her and many who didn’t. Her reputation for passion and intelligence preceded her, and when people met her, they were never disappointed. Most straight-up fell in love with her—the only rational thing to do.

We will remember her for what she was: a great, gorgeous blaze, crackling and laughing, always a little dangerous, radiating warmth, brilliance and illumination to everything near her. She could always be counted on to speak out for what was right and fair. She cared deeply—for her friends, for the world, for lively discourse and a well-turned sentence, for balsamic vinegar, for handed-down recipes and manual transmissions on country roads, for farm-fresh vegetables, for emo music and aspiring painters and singer-songwriters, and for life in all its color and variety.

Launa Schweizer ’91, Jackie
Sherman ’91 and Erin Ash Sullivan ’91


Faculty

Richard J. Cody

Richard John Cody died at home in Anniston, Ala., on April 30. He was 93 years old. Dick (as he was known to family and friends) is survived by wife Anne Johnson Cody; daughter Madeleine Cody and her husband, Henry Taylor; daughter Beatrice Cody and her children, Maxwell and Connor; stepchildren Charles E. Johnson III, Samuel W. Johnson, Mary Laurie Cece and Margaret Johnson Torell; two nephews; one niece; a great-nephew and great-niece; 13 step-grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Born in 1929, Dick grew up in the Blackheath neighborhood of London. In 1952, he took his B.A. and diploma of education at University College, Southampton. Dick moved to the United States in 1953, studying and teaching at the University of Mississippi and the University of Minnesota, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1961.

In 1963, Dick was appointed associate professor of English at Amherst College, where he taught until retirement in 2002. He was awarded an honorary A.M. in 1968 and the Eliza J. Clark Folger Professorship in 1975. His scholarly book, The Landscape of the Mind: Pastoralism and Platonic Theory in Tasso’s Aminta and Shakespeare’s Early Comedies, was published by Oxford University Press in 1969.

Married in 1995, Dick and Anne split their time between Amherst and Anniston until his retirement, when they moved to Anniston permanently. He was active in the Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, where he co-taught adult education classes with Anne for years. He was involved in many local book clubs, tennis groups and social groups. He also completed two novels, Neighbouring Eyes (2004, under the pseudonym John Offord) and Perfect Witness (2009).

He was preceded in death by his beloved parents, William and Elizabeth Cody; brother John and sister-in-law Maria Cody; his first wife, Violetta Cody; and niece-in-law Ali Cody.


Staff

Marlin Ball

Marlin Lee Ball, age 72, of Sunderland, Mass., died on May 23. Marlin was born on April 4, 1950. He came to Amherst College in 1975 as a dining hall assistant. In 1980, he transferred to the College’s Landscape and Grounds division, where he worked as a groundsman, and in 2007, he became the truck driver in the recycling program. He retired from the College in 2014.


Raymond J. Decker

Raymond J. Decker Sr., age 96, died on April 24 in Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough, Maine. He was the husband of the late Pearl I. “Penny” (Linton) Decker, who died in 2021.

Raymond had been the postmaster for the U.S. Postal Service in the towns of Chesterfield and Hatfield, Mass., for 31 years and managed the Post Office at Amherst. He was also veteran’s agent for Chesterfield.

He was born Jan. 18, 1926, in Saginaw, Mich., son of the late Jacob Decker and Mary O’Connor. He was a veteran of both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, serving in World War II.

He was a member of the Rehoboth Senior Center and enjoyed making and serving the meals.

Raymond is survived by his son, Raymond J. “RJ” Decker Jr.; daughters Carol M. Decker and Joan A. DeSousa and her husband, Dean; and three grandchildren—Dr. Christine Fitzsimmons Van Singel, Thomas Fitzsimmons and Christopher DeSousa—and their spouses. Raymond had two great-grandsons, Ezra and Oliver. He was predeceased by his siblings, John Decker, Robert Decker, Henry Decker, Dorothy Goldynia and Catherine Stevenson.


Gordon A. Jones

Gordon A. “Bill” Jones died peacefully on April 11 in Englewood, Fla. Bill loved hot boiled crawfish, Spam, homemade horseradish sauce and corned beef hash, powdered doughnuts, mowing grass, cutoff jean shorts, Florida sunsets, country and Irish music, horseshoes and beer.

Born in 1938 to the late John and Kathryn (Barcombe) Jones, Bill was the seventh of 10 children. He attended Northampton High School before enlisting in the Air Force in 1955. There he earned his high school diploma and attained the rank of Airman 2nd Class. In 1958, Bill was selected for the space program at Ohio’s Wright Air Development Center. He made 100-plus simulated launches and re-entries in the human centrifuge, assessing the effects of space travel on the body. Discharged from active duty in 1959, Bill served in the reserves until 1963. He went to work for the Northampton Veterans Association Hospital.

Bill became a patrolman for the Amherst Police Department in 1967. He completed an associate’s degree in law enforcement at Greenfield Community College in 1973 and a bachelor’s from UMass in 1976. He served with the APD for more than 22 years, receiving multiple commendations for valor. Upon retirement from the town’s department in 1989, he transferred to the Amherst College Police Department, where he served until retiring to Florida in 2000.

Bill spent his retirement enjoying the company of his family and friends. Nothing made him happier than spending time with his five grandchildren. Bill is also survived by his wife of 23 years, Deborah (Knowles) Jones; daughter Tammy; son Jeffrey and his wife, Michelle; brothers Norman, Donald, Warren and Larry; and sister Carol. In addition to his parents, Bill was predeceased by his first wife, Lana (White) Jones; brothers John and Leslie; sisters Kathryn and Mary; and brother-in-law Daniel White.


Hardy Thrasher

Hardy Thrasher died on March 31. Thrasher came to Amherst in 1991 as a second cook in Dining Services and worked in that position until his retirement in 2021.


Notices

Death Notices Received by the College Since the Last Issue of Amherst Magazine

Clifford P. Diver ’46

S. Thomas Martinelli ’46

William T. McCague ’46

Stewart Washburn ’46

John A. MacLeod ’47

Robert R. Schlein ’48

Norman H. MacLeod ’49

David F. Sheldon ’51

Richmond K. Greene ’52

Piers I. Lewis ’53

Joseph E. Zalot ’53

Samuel P. Gotoff ’54

Edward L. Ruegg ’55

Roger S. Loud ’56

Arthur W. Renander ’56

John G. Walker ’57

Charles M. Webster ’57

Michael B. Wray ’57

C. Michael Bliss ’58

Richard I. Burnham ’58

D. Chandler Young Jr. ’58

Colin Dickson ’59

Richard A. McCann ’59

William A. Alonso ’60

Albert H. Fine ’60

Roderic M. Prindle ’60

Joseph Scattergood III ’61

John A. Woodcock ’61

Kenneth W. Sawyer ’66

Frederick R. Lofgren ’67

John Aung-Thwin ’68

Mark A. Peterson ’68

Steven M. Gluckstern ’72

David D. McCarthy ’73

John F. Ross ’79

Lydia A. Aaron ’82

Margaret R. Vendryes ’84

Jonathan G. Powers Jr. ’87

Hilary J. Englert ’91

Gloria E. Uhm ’94

Chike B. Nnaji ’09

Morgan A. Venezia ’15