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Sanford J. Parsons ’56
Sanford J. Parsons ’56, recently, in Richmond, California. Sandy received a BS from New York University in 1958 and a master's in electrical engineering from Texas Western University in 1959. He worked as an electronics engineer in the San Francisco area and was later a partner and chief engineer for an oil and well pumping manufacturer.
Phyllis Irene Putnam Nicholson Allen MA ’50
Phyllis Irene Putnam Nicholson Allen MA ’50, April 27, 1995, in McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. She had earned a BA from Oregon State College before attending Reed, where she earned a master's degree in education. She taught high school mathematics for 37 years in Oregon, teaching in North Eugene and Churchill high schools before retiring in 1984. She also taught self esteem and positive image classes. She married Robert Nicholson in 1962, but the couple later divorced. In 1975, she married Nello Allen. She was an active member of the Church of the Latter-day Saints and served on the Upper McKenzie Fire Board. Her interests included hiking, camping, skiing, windsurfing, canoeing, and kayaking. Survivors include her husband; three stepsons; two brothers, and 15 grandchildren.
John C. Pickett ’91
John C. Pickett ’91, of cancer, April 20, 1996, at his home in Portland. He overcame a difficult past and life of menial labor jobs to become a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Reed and a respected classics scholar. He was pursuing a PhD in classics as a Javits scholar at Stanford when he was diagnosed with cancer last fall. He entered Reed at the age of 27 after working a string of jobs ranging from steel foundries to warehouse work. At Reed, he was known for his incredible stamina, working nearly full time as a legal assistant while pursuing a full class load and spending time with his wife and children, whom he considered his highest priority. His senior thesis work, a translation and analysis of the poetry of Catullus, earned him the Class of ’21 Award, given each spring to honor exceptional creativity by a graduating senior. His own poetry was published in several journals, including Pavement and California Quarterly. Survivors include his wife of 16 years, a son, a daughter, his father and stepmother, two brothers, and two sisters.
Joseph H. Parnell ’63
Joseph Parnell ’63, April 7, 1997, in Houston, Texas. He attended graduate school at the University of Houston and became an electronics engineer, working for a number of companies designing musical instruments and other electronics. He also served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. In 1970, he married Pamela Rogers and the couple had two children. Survivors include his wife, a son, a daughter, and his mother.
Lorraine Hinson Pendergrass ’22
Lorraine Hinson Pendergrass ’22, May 19, 1997, in Portland, where she had lived since she was a child. After graduating from Reed, she married Victor Pendergrass, an attorney, and the couple had three children. She was active in the PTA, scouting programs, and the American Association of University Women. In 1940, she joined the Volunteers of America Day Nursery board and volunteered in their day care nurseries. She also volunteered with the Boys and Girls Aid Society. In her later years, she enjoyed painting, volunteer work, and the company of family and friends. She is survived by a son, a daughter, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Hope Perry Thurmond ’31
Hope Perry Thurmond ’31, March 8, 1997, in Vacaville, California. She married Phillip Thurmond in 1933 and the couple had one child. She was an editor for the Daily Journal of Commerce in Portland. The couple moved to California, where they founded the Sportsman’s Cannery in Eureka and Berkeley and later founded Thurmond Vineyard in St. Helena. Survivors include her son, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Dorothy Pennock Nile ’27
Dorothy Pennock Nile ’27, April 24, 1999, in Bozeman, Montana. She received a master’s degree from the University of Washington in 1929 and later pursued a doctorate at Columbia University, completing all but her dissertation. In 1929, she moved to New York City to marry Stephen Nile ’27, whom she had met while at Reed. The couple lived in New York for nine years while he taught at a variety of schools and she pursued her studies. They moved to Butte, Montana, where he took a position teaching in the physics department at the School of Mines, Montana Tech. There, she managed the school bookstore and worked in the library. She became an accomplished photographer and her photographs of students, faculty, and their families were greatly admired. In 1965, the couple retired to a ranch in the Gallatin Canyon, where they had spent many previous summers. She combined her love of the natural world with her photographic talents to produce many portraits of wildlife, the canyon, and Yellowstone Park. Many of her photographs have been preserved and may be seen at the Pioneer Historical Museum in Bozeman, and some have been included in publications, including the book Montana’s Gallatin Canyon, by Dorothy Vick. She is survived by a cousin and their children, and many friends. Her husband died in 1981.
Charles Fuller Penfield ’31
Charles Fuller Penfield ’31, February 11, 1999, in Keizer, Oregon. He was employed by the U.S. Weather Service from 1930 to 1972. Survivors include a daughter; five grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and 15 great-great grandchildren. His wife died in 1994.
Amy Perlstein Levinson ’54
Amy Perlstein Levinson ’54, March 31, 2001, in Portland. She married Al Levinson ’54 in 1958, and earned an MS in microbiology from the University of Rochester in New York, while caring for their two daughters, during the same period that Al completed doctorate and postdoctorate work in chemistry at Indiana University. They returned to Portland in 1963. Amy spent the next several years as a homemaker, raising their three children. She enrolled in the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College and earned a JD in 1976. She was an attorney in private practice in Portland, retiring in 1994, and was a member of Congregation Nevah Shalom and past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society. Survivors include her husband, a daughter, a son, and two sisters. A daughter died in 1983.
Barbara English Phillips ’44
Barbara Lee English Phillips ’44, February 6, 2003, in Spokane. Barbara completed her bachelor’s degree at Reed in political science, and returned to her home in Tacoma, Washington, where she established, owned, and operated the Olympic Lumber Sales Company. She then worked for the Tacoma Times, where she met her husband, John F. Phillips. After the Times ceased publication, she returned to operating the lumber company full time. Barbara and her husband traveled to Europe as correspondents for the Tacoma News-Tribune in 1950 and moved to Spokane in 1951. She was active in the Pioneer Association of Washington State and the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Survivors include her husband, her daughter and son, and two grandchildren.
Linda Muchnic Polesky ’58
Linda Muchnic Polesky ’58, February 25, 2003, from lung cancer, in Beverly Hills. Linda received a bachelor’s degree from Reed in political science. She married Reese E. Polesky in 1959, and completed a master’s degree in library science from Emory University in 1961. She and her husband raised a daughter and son, and Linda lent her talents to her home and community. She identified herself as an arts advocate, and served as chair of the docent council for the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts.
Leonard William Potashnick ’58
Leonard William Potashnick ’58, February 14, 2004, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Leonard attended Reed for four years, but did not graduate. He was active in Temple Beth El and president of Jewish Family Services in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and he worked as a cost engineer for an apparel business. Leonardserved in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Survivors include his wife, Harriet Garfinkel; a son; a grandchild; and his sister. A second son predeceased him.
Carol Jean Paton Walsh ’49
Carol Jean Paton Walsh ’49, January 21, 2004, in New York. Carol received a bachelor’s degree from Reed in anthropology and philosophy, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a master’s degree with honors from Columbia University School of Library Sciences, and worked not only as assistant librarian at Suffern Free Library, but was reference librarian for the New Milford (New Jersey) Public Library, pioneering library services for the deaf. "As a small-town reference librarian," she wrote, "I have thanked my lucky stars many times for those humanities courses, one semester of etymology, and the inter-divisional major [at Reed]. (We call ourselves the last of the generalists.)" Carol was active in the League of Women Voters. She was an accomplished singer, who performed with the Bach Chorale of Oxford University. In 1946 she married James J. Walsh ’49, and they had two sons. At the end of her life, Carol developed advanced dementia from Parkinson’s disease. She is survived by her sons, four grandchildren, a brother and two sisters. James Walsh predeceased her.
Phillip Ward Payton ’51
Phillip Ward Payton ’51, September 28, 2004, in Springfield, Oregon, from renal disease and emphysema. Phillip received a BA in economics from Reed. He then earned an MA in university education and economics in 1954 and an EdD in international business in 1960 from Stanford. He lived primarily in the Bay Area, teaching in various institutions including the University of San Francisco; Lincoln University in San Francisco, where he was dean of the business department; San Jose College; and National University in Las Vegas. He continued teaching in retirement, his last position at Evergreen College in San Jose. Phillipenjoyed the outdoors—especially near waterfalls, riding bikes, playing golf, reading, and traveling. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Survivors include his wife; a son; five stepsons and a stepdaughter; eight grandchildren; and cousins, including Almalee Stewart Henderson ’47, who supplied some of the details for this memorial, and Nancy Stewart Green ’50.
Ernst O. Ploeger ’47
Ernst O. Ploeger ’47, March 21, 1998, in Texas. Ernst received a bachelor’s degree from Reed in biology, and had a career as a physician.
Barbara Pierce Wilkinson ’37
Barbara Pierce Wilkinson ’37, May 5, 2005, on Mercer Island, Washington. Barbara earned a BA from Reed in economics. In 1938, she married Dudley Wilkinson; they moved to Mercer Island in 1950 with their three children. Wilkinson enjoyed hiking, camping, and traveling especially to the Oregon and Washington coasts. She was a member of the Mercer Island PEO, the Garden Club, and she also belonged to bridge and book clubs. She and her husband were charter members of the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church. Barbarawas a “warm, gracious, loving presence.” Survivors include two daughters; seven grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and her brother and sister-in-law, Sam Pierce and Lucille Harris Pierce, class of 1943.
Simon Bruce Parker, Faculty
Simon Bruce Parker, April 29, 2006, following a cerebral hemorrhage in Auburndale, Massachusetts. Parker was assistant professor of religion and humanities at Reed from 1967 to 1975. He received a BA from the University of Manchester in modern languages in 1960 and a BD from Asbury Theological Seminary in the Old Testament in 1963. In 1967, he was awarded a PhD in Near Eastern studies from Johns Hopkins University where he held several fellowships. During his career at Reed, he received the prestigious Graves Award—a biennial award for outstanding young faculty members on the West Coast. One of seven award recipients in 1971, Parker used his stipend to cover his investigation in England of the oral history of two Canaanite religious epics. His career continued at Boston University, where he was Professor of Hebrew Bible and Harrell F. Beck Scholar of Hebrew Scripture. Parker produced numerous articles, translations, and books, and he was general editor of seven volumes of the Society of Biblical Literature’s translation series, Writings from the Ancient World. His academic focus at the university was Israel’s inheritance from earlier Canaanite culture and its transformation of that tradition, and the interpretation of biblical literature in its ancient, literary, religious, and social context and on its significance for the church in the present day. Parker was also an accomplished pianist. Survivors include his wife, Sonia M. Palmer Parker, two sons, and two grandchildren. A Simon B. Parker Scholarship Fund has been established at Boston University.
Lloyd Drew Pennington ’39
Lloyd Pennington and Mary Kuylaars Jones Pennington
Lloyd Drew Pennington ’39, March 6, 2007, in Medford, Oregon. Lloyd received a BA from Reed in chemistry. During an adventure with the Reed Hiking Club, he met Hazel P. Franke ’39; they married in 1942 and had two daughters and two sons. He earned an MA from Oregon State College (University) in 1941; he earned his PhD from the college in 1956. Lloydbegan his teaching career at Southern Oregon College of Education in chemistry in 1946. During his tenure, he recruited faculty and developed facilities for the department—including designing and supervising the construction of two science buildings (1959 and 1968). He also served as chairman of department and head of the science division, and retired in 1979 as professor emeritus. He also built his home, and, with Hazel, created extensive park-like gardens on the property. They traveled abroad, and relished the experiences of outdoor living, hiking, camping, travel, gardening, woodworking, and photography. They were members of the First Presbyterian Church for over 50 years. Hazel Pennington died in 1995. Lloydmarried classmate and widow Mary Kuylaars Jones ’39 in 1996. Survivors include Mary, four children, 11 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Norris Humphry Perkins II ’47
Norris Humphry Perkins II ’47, April 16, 2008, in Portland. Norris attended Reed before joining the U.S. Army in Europe. For this service, he earned a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross. He completed his undergraduate education and received an MD from the University of Oregon, and for 30 years, had a private medical practice in Cedar Hills. He was married to Katharine Heath for 37 years. Following her death in 1979, he married Betty Cramer, who survives him. Survivors also include two daughters and a son, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Russell Jack Page AMP ’44
Russell Jack Page AMP ’44, October 15, 2007, in California. Russell attended Reed for a year in the U.S. Army Premeteorology Program. He earned a BS and an MS degree from UC Berkeley in mechanical engineering. In the ’50s and ’60s, he designed rocket engines; and in the ’70s and ’80s, had a successful business, ARTCOR in Costa Mesa. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Leila Norris Page; two sons; four grandchildren; and his brother.
Rose Jeannette Papac ’49
Rose Jeannette Papac ’49, May 10, 2008, in Lewiston, Idaho. Rose attended Reed, and earned a BS in chemistry from Seattle University in 1949. She received an MD from St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, and did her residency at Stanford University Hospital. She was the first American awarded a fellowship at the Chester Beatty Institute in London, and the first woman to achieve tenure in internal medicine at Yale University. She also completed fellowships at the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York and the Cancer Research Institute in San Francisco. Her reputation as a brilliant oncologist was furthered by her great compassion as a physician. Rose worked at Yale for 40 years; retiring in 2006, in order to complete a comprehensive history of cancer treatments through the ages. She published and presented her work all over the world, though her favorite place remained her home in Connecticut. Survivors include two sisters and her brother.
Doris Ann Freeburger Parker ’41
Doris Ann Freeburger Parker ’41, November 28, 2000, in Oklahoma. Doris received a BA from Reed in psychology. She married Dean N. Parker in 1944; they had a son and daughter, and lived in Grants Pass, Oregon. Her husband died in 1983.
Norman Bert Petigrow ’41
Norman Bert Petigrow ’41, August 12, 2003, in Coral Springs, Florida. Norman received a BA from Reed in mathematics. He was a construction estimator for Essex Contractors in Union, New Jersey. He married Janet D., and they had three sons.
Richard Kenyon Pope ’53
Richard Kenyon Pope ’53, January 20, 2008, on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, from congestive heart failure. Dick received a BA from Reed in anthropology, and an MA in anthropology from the University of Chicago. His field studies were with the Kickapoo Indians in Oklahoma. In 1957, he began his teaching career-first at UC Berkeley and then at the University of Chicago. He participated in an interdisciplinary experimental college, Monteith, at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and also taught at York University in Toronto, before accepting a position at the University of Regina in 1967. Dick had three sons and a daughter. Survivors include his wife, Susan.
Colette A. Pouteau Roest ’51
Colette A. Pouteau Roest ’51, February 23, 2008, in San Luis Obispo, California, from cancer. Collette's introduction to Reed came from her parents, C.L.M. and Corinne J. Poteau, who were instructors in French at the college in 1928–49. She did not complete a degree at Reed and was married to Aryan I. Roest in 1951. Colette cared for her home and family, volunteered for the P.T.A., and was a charter board member of the League of Women Voters. Later, she taught income tax and owned an H & R Block franchise, before opening her own tax accounting and bookkeeping business, Colette Roest & Associates, which she operated for 37 years in Los Osos, California. She studied painting at the San Luis Obispo Art Association and exhibited her art in local galleries. She also sang and played piano, to the great pleasure of her family. Survivors include her four daughters, four grandchildren, and her brother, Jean L. M. Pouteau ’47. Her husband died in 2002.
Paul C. Parker ’40
Paul C. Parker ’40, April 29, 2009, in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. Paul earned a BA from Reed in political science and attended grad school at Harvard University. During World War II, he served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Savo Island in the Pacific. He then worked for the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C., and headed the department's international finance section for the Middle East. In 1953, he joined the Ford Foundation in New York City, working in an overseas development program. From there, he represented the Bank of America in the Middle East, Africa, and Rome. He then worked for the Mellon International Finance Corporation as a Middle East representative, retiring in 1987. Paul lived in numerous locations, including England, Lebanon, Greece, and Canada. In his marriage to Willa L. Crowder ’42, he was father to four children, including three Reedies,Douglas A. Parker ’67, Catherine L. Parker ’77, Anthony S. Parker ’80, and Gary Reed Parker. He later married Laurice Haddad.
Eugene Poluianov ’60
Eugene Poluianov ’60, February 5, 2005, in Barstow, California. Eugene earned a BA from Reed in mathematics.
Anthony James Pattison ’63
Anthony James Pattison ’63, August 22, 2009, in St. Louis, Missouri, from complications related to Parkinson's disease. Anthony earned his BA from Reed in mathematics, and then earned a JD from the University of Idaho. He was a cartographer for the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center and a computer programmer at the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis. Anthony was a generous supporter of the college throughout his life. His partner, Myrna Smith, notified us of his death.
Patrick T. Pruyne ’83
Patrick T. Pruyne ’83, July 28, 2010, in Springfield, Massachusetts, following a long illness.Pat grew up in Texas, Massachusetts, and Morocco, adored for his sunny disposition. Throughout his life, he made friendships on the strength of his humor, kindness, and intelligence. “The first time I saw Pat Pruyne he was wearing a big velvet hat,” classmate Anne Lauer Schwab ’83 wrote. “He looked like a Renaissance prince, the one in the fresco who has turned away from the procession and is measuredly gazing out at you. Of course I was drawn to him. He seemed to manufacture his own gravitational force” (see ). Pat's interest in genetics, which earned him a BA from Reed, led to his positions as a flower hybridizer for Oregon Bulb Farms near Sandy, Oregon; a research associate and member of AIDS vaccine development team for Chiron Corporation in Emeryville, California; and an associate scientist with Xoma Corporation in Berkeley. In 1992, he and his newly wed wife, Jeannette Tokarz, moved to Ithaca, New York, where Pat did graduate studies in pomology, researching sustainable orchard practice in the agricultural science department at Cornell. Later, Pat and Jeannette moved with their two sons to Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts. Jeannette worked as a pediatrician, and Pat became a stay-at-home father and an enthusiastic volunteer for his sons' activities. “I ran into him years after college and we talked about pomology and the history of gardens, and he was clearly crazy in love with his children,” Anne remarked. Pat coached soccer and served on the board of directors for the Common School in Amherst. He also pursued interests in woodworking, stone walls, and web design, and was a volunteer with the Montague Fire Station. Pat was regional coordinator and an interviewer in New England for Reed's Oral History Project. He served on the college's alumni board for nine years, and was president of the Alumni Association in 2002. In his address at the inauguration of President Colin S. Diver [2002–12]he remarked: “We're driven by an unusual passion: it's a gratitude for our time here, when we learned to reject any sense of limits to our abilities and to accept excellence as the only worthy standard.” Survivors include his sons, father, grandfather, and two sisters, and his former wife, Jeannette.
Delphine C. Parr Frazier ’44
Delphine C. Parr Frazier ’44, August 5, 2011, in San Jose, California. A gifted musician and an accomplished swimmer, Delphine grew up in Portland and earned her BA from Reed in literature. Memories of Reed included Rex Arragon [history 1923–74] and his passion for the rise of civilization and the humanities; Barry Cerf [English 1921–48] on the touchstone theory of Matthew Arnold; Victor Chittick [English 1921–48] and the connection of literature and art to the richness of everyday life; and Lloyd Reynolds [English and art 1929–69], who really knew how to teach writing and to inspire a passionate hope for all of mankind, she wrote. “By encouraging my desire to learn, to think, to use reason, to question, and reach for the best in literature and in life, Reed provided a foundation for my life’s philosophy.” At Reed, she met another musician, Thomas L. Frazier ’42; they married in 1947, following his return from service in the army during World War II. (Tom’s early life in Germany and his intelligence work behind German lines in France and Italy during the war were the subjects of his memoir, Between the Lines, which Delphine helped him publish in 2001.) After Reed, the couple moved on to Washington and California for graduate study in social work. Tom completed a master’s degree in 1961, and Delphine completed an MSW 10 years later. Both retired in 1977 and began teaching humanistic theories and providing workshops on transactional analysis in Europe. In 1996, the International Transactional Analysis Association recognized their work with the Hedges Capers Humanitarian Award. Delphine was highly regarded by her peers and loved by her students. She was devoted to her husband and three children. Tom died in 2004, and Delphine moved to San Jose to be near family. Survivors include two sons, Christopher and Richard; a daughter, Delphine Anne; and three grandchildren.
Joan Petersen Kelley ’50
Joan Petersen Kelley ’50, July 13, 2011, in Portland. Joan earned a BA from Reed in international studies, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and later earned an MA and PhD in psychology from the University of Portland. Her practice in psychology, 1974–98, brought her national recognition as an authority in the use of biofeedback for pain patients. She cofounded the Oregon Academy of Professional Psychology and the School of Professional Psychology at Pacific University. In 1951 she married Craig H. Kelley ’51. They raised a daughter, Sarah, and three sons, Gil, Mark ’78, and Tim. Joan served as an alumni trustee on Reed’s board of trustees (1986–90) and as director of the alumni board. Joan travelled the world, visiting Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She enjoyed concerts by Chamber Music Northwest and shows at the Portland Art Museum, and maintained a passion for politics and murder mysteries. “Her family and many friends will miss Joan’s intelligence, wit, style, and humanity.” Survivors include her children; Craig died in 1972.
Margaret Joyce Bailey Pancoast ’41
Margaret Joyce Bailey Pancoast ’41, June 11, 2012, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Margaret grew up in Rainier and Salem, Oregon, and completed a BA from Reed in sociology. She served as president of the Reed Women’s Athletic Association and played extramural volleyball, basketball, and badminton. Upon graduation, she won a fellowship in sociology from Western Reserve in Cleveland, earning an MS in social work in 1943. She later wrote about the early years of her life in great detail, and her daughter, Louise Smith, who provided the details for this memorial, has donated Margaret’s memoirs to Reed. Margaret met Ross Pancoast in Ohio during World War II. They married in 1944 and moved to Washington, D.C., when he was assigned to the Pentagon. Margaret volunteered in schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, for the Girl Scouts, and for the National Women’s Party. She worked as a media assistant in Montgomery County school libraries, then substituted as a special education assistant in elementary school until her complete retirement at the age of 81. She enjoyed working with children and found special education particularly rewarding. She and Ross traveled extensively. She also enjoyed gardening, square dancing, line dancing, and handiwork. Says Louise, “Although my mother spent most of her life after college on the East Coast, she remained proud to be from Oregon and to be a Reed graduate. She always remembered her years at Reed and the friends she made there with great fondness and kept in touch with some of her Reed friends throughout their lives.” In addition to Louise, survivors include Margaret’s son, Jim, and granddaughter, Nicola.
Carpenter F. Paulson Jr. MA ’62
Casper F. Paulson Jr. MA ’62, April 29, 2012, in Independence, Oregon, from multiple myeloma and renal failure. Bud earned a BA in secondary education at Augustana College, an MA from Reed in psychology, and an EdD in educational psychology from the University of Oregon. At Reed he organized an intramural wrestling team. Bud wrote, “I was challenged intellectually at Reed, as never before, and learned to cope with the intellectual demands of rigorous scholarship and inquiry. It helped me expect, look for, and discover the depth and complexity in the nature of all things encountered in my life.” He taught for 10 years in the Portland public schools and then accepted an offer to join the teaching research division at Western Oregon University, a position he held for 23 years. In retirement, he volunteered in a reading program for second grade students. He and Marilyn-Jane Nelson were married for 58 years and raised two sons and a daughter. The couple had a longstanding connection to the Lutheran church and served as volunteers in their congregations and as delegates to church conventions. Bud also had a lifelong interest in radio, which he developed as a boy while spending months in bed rest recovering from rheumatic fever. Survivors include his wife and children, three grandchildren, and two brothers.
Gregory Wayne Pierce ’70
Gregory Wayne Pierce ’70, July 8, 2012, in Seattle, Washington, from cancer. The son of Samuel Pierce ’43 and Lucille Harris Pierce ’43, Greg grew up in Eastmoreland and graduated from Cleveland High School. He began his undergraduate work at Willamette University before transferring to Reed, where he learned to kayak, gained an appreciation for the work of Joseph Conrad, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics. After Reed he went to the British Isles and worked on a farm in Scotland. In the spirit of Conrad, he traveled to Africa, taking passage on a barge on the Congo River. Throughout his life, a sense of adventure led him to further travels, many with his family, in Africa, Europe, and South America. He kayaked, rafted, and hiked in some of the most beautiful wilderness in North America. He competed in marathons, including two Boston Marathon events, even while undergoing treatment for the 12 years of cancer that eventually ended his life. Greg began his career as an economic analyst with the Oregon legislature and then worked for the Oregon Department of Revenue. He went on to earn an MA in economics from Tufts and worked for the Washington state legislature as a staff member for the state committee on ways and means—three years as staff director of the committee. He then served as deputy director for tax policy and administration with the Department of Revenue. In 1996, Greg signed on as a contract lobbyist for the Washington Roundtable. His public obituary reported: “Despite years spent working in a political environment, he eschewed partisanship as detrimental to the best interests of the state. As a result, he earned respect from members of both parties for his honesty, integrity, and ability to help bring together those with disparate points of view.” Hundreds gathered at his memorial service in Washington in July, including former governor, now Ambassador Gary Locke. Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt said of Greg, “He was a true professional. He was very, very good at what he did. His word was as good as gold.” Greg and Ann Knowles, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, were married in 1974 and had two daughters, Alison VanDis and Kelsey. In 1995 he married Susan Nakagawa and had a son, Max. Other survivors include his mother, Lucille; a brother, Sam; and two sisters, Nancy Hogan and Julie Huisman. A particular joy was his one grandchild, two-year-old Olivia Lucille VanDis. The family requests that memorial gifts be made to Reed in Greg’s name.
John L. Phillips ’34
John L. Phillips ’34, November 18, 1993, in Boise, Idaho, where he had lived since 1992. Prior to attending Reed, he served in the U.S. Army in World War I. John entered Reed in 1919, but withdrew after a year to work. He married Edith Turner ’22 in 1922. After numerous jobs, he returned to Reed in 1931, graduating with a degree in physics in 1934. After graduating, he taught at Benson High School in Portland and then became vice principal at Lincoln High School. In 1941, John received an MA in counseling and guidance from Oregon State University. He went on to serve as principal at six different Portland grade schools, retiring in 1964. After his wife's death in 1954, John married Ivy Mierow, who died in 1989. Survivors include a brother; son John Phillips Jr. ’48; two stepchildren, including Gloria Brownell Misar ’45; 14 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.
Esther Elliott Putman ’36
Esther Elliot Putman ’36, August 31, 1995, in Clifton Park, New York. She received a BA from Reed in psychology, and then an MA in personnel management from Syracuse University in 1941. In 1949, she married Ivan Putman and shortly thereafter they moved to Gainsville, Florida, where he was adviser to international students at the University of Florida. They moved to New York State in 1962, when Ivan took a position with the State University of New York, and they later purchased a home near Albany. For most of her life, Esther was a homemaker, raising three children, one of whom had polio as a child, and participating in many community activities. She was active in the League of Women Voters and the Episcopal church, where both she and her husband sang in the choir. She helped establish a local library in her community and for eight years worked part time as a librarian. After Ivan’s retirement in 1985, the couple continued to be active in the church, and they spent time gardening and attending music and theatre events. Ivan died in 1994. Survivors include two sons, a daughter, and two grandsons.
Dora Peters Canfield ’38
Dora Peters Canfield ’38, August 17, 1996, in Falls Church, Virginia. She worked in the pathology department at a Portland teaching hospital after graduation from Reed. In 1939, she married Lee Canfield ’36, who was pursuing advanced study at Harvard. After World War II, the couple settled in Virginia and raised four children. Dora was a homemaker for most of her life and was active in the PTA and local government affairs. She served two terms as secretary of the Fairfax County Council of PTAs and for many years attended county school board sessions. Both Dora and Lee were also active volunteers for Common Cause. She was also known for her horticultural activities. Dora is survived by her Lee, two sons and two daughters, and one grandchild.
G. W. Pape ’39
Glenn W. Pape ’39, August 26, 1997, in Clackamas, Oregon. He married in 1933. He was a career officer in the U.S. Army, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He retired from the army after 20 years of service, and taught high school in Berkeley, California, for eight years. He is survived by his wife, Muriel, and a daughter, son, and two grandchildren.
Clara Pierce Shaffer ’40
Clara Pierce Shaffer ’40, March 19, 1997, in Mercer Island, Washington, where she had lived for many years. She worked as a librarian at the Portland Public Library for a year after graduating, and then worked for two years for the Row Lumber Company. She was then hired by Remington Rand Business Machines, who sent her to New York City for training on their machines and how to set up systems for businesses. She was assigned to the San Francisco office, where she set up business machine systems for companies and trained personnel to use them. She married Charles Shaffer in 1950, and in 1952 the couple moved to Mercer Island, where she became a homemaker and raised two children. She later worked as a bookkeeper. She was active in the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church and other community groups. After retirement, she and her husband enjoyed traveling and their four grandchildren. Survivors include her husband; a sister; a brother; a son; a daughter; and four grandchildren.
Germaine Dew Page ’22
Germaine Dew Page ’22, September 11, 1998, in Portland. A native of France, she attended Reed for two years while teaching French at St. Helen’s Hall. She transferred to the University of Oregon, where she earned a BA in 1922 and a master’s degree in 1924. She returned to Portland and taught high school French and Spanish. In 1926, she married Thomas Page, a naval physician. During World War II, she began working for the U.S. Army Map Service, serving in China, Panama, and Washington, D.C., and retired in 1958. She and her husband returned to live in the Portland area in 1969; he died in 1995. She is survived by a cousin.
Betsy Ruggles Pomeroy ’46
Betsy Ruggles Pomeroy ’46, of cancer, September 19, 2000, in Ketchum, Idaho. She attended Reed for two years and later attended Pembroke College, Rhode Island, and the University of Washington, where she earned a BA in 1946. She married John Pomeroy that same year and they moved to Williams, California, where they purchased a ranch. For most of her life she was a homemaker, raising their four children and volunteering in the community. In 1962, they moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where she was involved in her children’s schools, the Arboretum Foundation, and the Sunset Club. They moved again in 1986, to Ketchum, where she volunteered with environmental causes. She was a member of the Idaho Conservation League, the Snake River Alliance, and the Community Library Association. She enjoyed camping, hunting, hiking, gardening, and organizing family gatherings. Survivors include her husband; two sons; two daughters; and three grandchildren.
Harry Clark Paget ’52
Harry Clark Paget ’52, August 23, 2003, in his home in Anacortes, Washington. A U.S. Navy veteran, Harry enrolled at Reed following World War II and graduated with a degree in anthropology and theatre. He received Reed’s creative thesis award for his thesis and film, Return to the River, based on the Celilo Falls Indian fishery on the Columbia River. (His film Different Drummer, a project about Reed that he completed in the early ’60s, has been popular with alumni audiences over the years.) Following graduation, Harry was a film librarian at the Multnomah County Library for four years and began a 23-year career as a self-employed informational film producer, focusing on commercial and documentary subjects. His film Country Line received the Film Council of America award for outstanding documentary in 1956. He was hired as director of the Mid-Oregon Indian Historical Society at Warm Springs, Oregon, in 1975, setting up a cultural complex and museum. He later worked for the Quinalt Indian Nation on the Washington coast as a community development administrator. His love of boats determined his home in retirement, which he began in 1989, and he also had a passion for books and computers. Harry, a conservation advocate, served as president of the Portland chapter of the Izaak Walton League in 1972. He advanced the work of the Anacortes Sister Cities Association as well, traveling to Russia in 1992 and to Japan in 1995. He married Judith Eccles Scharf in 1958, and they had two sons. Survivors include his wife, Patricia, and his children and grandchildren.
Cloan N. Powell ’51
Cloan N. Powell ’51, September 12, 2003, in Ogden, Utah. Cloan enrolled at Reed following World War II, after which he transferred to Oregon State University, receiving a BA in physical science in 1950. He worked as a building contractor for a number of years before initiating his career as a physics teacher, first at Brookings-Harbor High School in Oregon. In 1958 he earned a master’s degree at Oregon State, then taught physics at Monterey Peninsula College in California, retiring as a professor emeritus after 30 years. During numerous summers, Cloan participated in National Science Foundation coursework. He advanced his studies through grants at the University of California, Berkeley, NMSU, South Dakota School of Mines, Iowa State, University of Oklahoma, Texas A& M, and the University of Wyoming. He expressed tremendous enjoyment for innovating laboratory experiences and equipment. Cloan spent a sabbatical year at New Mexico State University and on a second sabbatical traveled and visited scientific installations throughout Europe. Following retirement from Monterey Peninsula College, and in an effort to live near his children, he taught at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, Montana, and served as science division chairman at Central Wyoming Community College in Riverton, Wyoming. After a second retirement from teaching at Central Florida Community College, in Ocala, for seven years, he conducted physics-oriented workshops in Glacier National Park. In 1948 he married Laurel Shanafelt, and they had five children, four sons and a daughter. Laurel described Cloan as a lifelong learner, a man with "a wonderment and a curiosity," who delved into phenomenal theories, ideas, and formulas, and who never stopped teaching. She alluded to his admiration for physicist Richard Feynman, a parallel genius, who was satisfied with living into the questions and not having all the answers to life’s mysteries. Cloan is survived by his wife, his children, 17 grandchildren, and a sister. A sister, Elizabeth A. Powell ’50, also attended Reed.
Frances Braden Pickett ’39
Frances Leigh Braden Pickett ’39, August 4, 2002, in Corvallis, Oregon. Frances attended Reed for a year in 1935 before attending Oregon State College (now university). She married Cecil D. Maynard, moved to Mt. Vernon, New York, and left there as a widow with two small children to live near her family in El Segundo, California. In California she worked for United Airlines and met Thomas J. Pickett, whom she married in 1957. They moved to Corvallis, where she was a full-time homemaker during their nearly 40-year marriage. Survivors include her son and daughter, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Michelle Weber Pailthorp ’62
Michelle Weber Pailthorp ’62, July 31, 2002, of a brain aneurysm, in Seattle, Washington. Mickiereceived a BA in history at Reed, and a master’s degree in history at the University of Pittsburgh in 1967. She married Charles Pailthorp ’62; they had three children and later divorced. In 1983 she earned a JD from the University of Washington and began her career as an attorney and as a women’s rights and environmental activist; she successfully campaigned for the Washington State equal rights amendment in 1972. She was described as feisty and independent, and a courageous fighter for all constituents, women in particular. She was the first person in Washington to commit to the campaign for Senator Patty Murray and remained vigilant in her observation of and support for Murray’s work. On September 19 Senator Murray read a tribute to Pailthorp at the Senate, which included the remembrance of her as a "whirlwind of passion and energy. She was there fighting the good fight for women on the ERA and so many other issues before it was popular and before it seemed possible." Murray focused on Mickie's ability to focus on the issues and goals, rather than on letting herself become the focus, and on her legacy to people in all walks of life. Survivors include her spouse, Joel Connelly; her son; two daughters; a granddaughter; and a sister.
Susanna Polsky Jacob ’53
Susanna Polsky Jacob ’53, October 13, 2005, in California. Sue attended Reed for a year, transferring to the University of Oregon, and leaving there in 1952 to join the Beat Movement in San Francisco. She married Bernard Jacob in 1956; his legal career took them to Washington, D.C., and then to Los Angeles. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Cal State Northridge and taught English composition at San Fernando Valley College. In 1967, she divorced, and moved with her son to Inverness Park. She earned a teaching credential and taught in a number of settings. She was also a member of the West Marin’s Environmental Action Committee for 15 years, and served as the committee’s executive director. Survivors include her son and grandson.
John Leonard Powell ’43
John Leonard Powell ’43, April 17, 2004, in Eugene, Oregon. John earned a BA in physics from Reed. During World War II, he attended and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, going on to receive a PhD in physics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1948. He left Wisconsin to take a position with the physics faculty at the University of Oregon in 1955. In 1982 he retired as professor emeritus. His marriage to June Lienkaemper in Boston in 1943 lasted 41 years, and they had two children. John's personal interests focused on gardening and carpentry. Survivors include his daughter and son.
Lucille E. Palm Smith ’48
Lucille E. Palm Smith ’48, May 28, 2004, in Portland. Lucille attended Reed for three years. She married Philip G. Phillips ’49; they had three sons and a daughter. She married Charles I. Smith in 1968, and worked as a metallurgical technician at Tektronix for nine years, retiring in 1982. Lucille was an active community volunteer. She donated her time to many pursuits, including the Oregon League of Women Voters, for which she was vice president, and the Multnomah County Election Office. She was a member of Reed’s Foster-Scholz Club steering committee, the First Congregational Church, the Architectural League of Oregon, the Portland Art Museum, and the Chamber Music Society. She enjoyed symphony concerts, and was an undisputed gourmet cook. Survivors include her husband and four children; one son predeceased her.
Dorothy Marie Pottsmith Weaver ’35
Dorothy Pottsmith Weaver ’35, October 11, 2004, in Portland. Dorothy received a BA from Reed in general literature. She was first married toDonald D. Oberle ’35, with whom she shared an enjoyment of piano performance; taught English and biology in Portland; and then attended Mills College, receiving an MA in education in 1942. During World War II, she took an editorial position with the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. In 1947, she entered the administrative internship program for the Civil Service Commission, and married Robert N. Weaver; the couple later divorced. She taught for 15 years in D.C. schools, and received a grant from the Ford Foundation that enabled her to travel to Europe. In 1963, she became a cultural affairs officer with the U.S. Information Agency. She had posts in Africa for nine years, and in Iran for two. Dorothy returned to Portland in retirement in 1976, enjoyed the piano, cooking, and reading.
Martha Elizabeth Powell Wilson ’25
Martha Elizabeth Powell Wilson ’25, November 19, 2009, in Annapolis, Maryland; she was 105. Martha was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, and started her schooling in Cove, in the Grande Ronde Valley of Oregon. Her commute to Reed as a day-dodger from her family's home in Vancouver, Washington, took an hour and half, with many miles traveled on foot. She attended the college during its golden age, she told Cricket Parmalee ’67 in an oral history interview in 2004. “I was always satisfied that I had gone to Reed instead of some other college, because I think it gave me a better background for life.” Martha majored in contemporary literature and minored in classical literature, completing her thesis, “George Bernard Shaw: A Classic at Heart,” the same year that Shaw received a Nobel Prize. In October 1925, she married her high school sweetheart, Ralph E. Wilson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a career navy officer; they raised a son and two daughters. In 1989, they settled into the Ginger Cover Retirement Community in Annapolis; Ralph died a year later. Survivors include their children, nine grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Martha's sister, Evangeline Powell ’27, also graduated from Reed.
David Petri Pearson ’49
David Petri Pearson ’49, November 14, 2010, in Portland.Dave grew up in Portland, and started taking classes at Reed while attending Franklin High School. He was drafted during World War II, and returned to the college after the war to complete a BA in chemistry. Dave and Patricia M. Cowan ’49, who met at church in their teens, were married a week before commencement 1949. Dave went on to earn an MS from Oregon State University and a PhD from the University of Southern California in physical chemistry and became a research chemist with the Phillips Petroleum Company. Dave and Pat—who taught high school mathematics and was a pension actuary—had five children and lived in California, Idaho, and Oklahoma, before returning to Portland in 1969. Dave taught at Portland State University and Southern Oregon College and was a research associate at the Oregon Graduate Center, and then joined the analytical lab at Portland General Electric as a senior chemist; he retired in 1987. Dave's passion for skiing and mountain climbing began when he was a teen, and he made climbs throughout the northwestern U.S. and Canada with fellow climber Fred Ayres [chemistry, 1940–70] and other members of the Reed community. Through the years, Pat and Dave also enjoyed backpacking, fishing, and cruising on their sailboat between Portland and Juneau, Alaska. After retirement, they traveled to Italy, New Zealand, Chile, the Virgin Islands, and Hawaii; volunteered at their church and in their community; and spent time with their seven grandchildren. A year after Pat's death in 2006, Dave established the Pearson Family Scholarship in her memory and in honor of their children, Kathy Pearson ’77, Jim Pearson, Becky Hanchett, Kristy Pearson-Denning ’83, and Judy Pearson ’84, who survive him.
Arno Gerhard Preller ’51
Arno Gerhard Preller ’51, December 24, 2009, in Vancouver, Washington. Arno came to the U.S. from Germany and earned a BA from Reed in political science. Reed was the place where he learned critical thinking skills, he said, but also was where he savored the experiences of long discussions in the coffee shop, sitting under a tree, “trying to make sense of things,” and trying to stay awake in the library. In 1967, he earned a PhD in German and linguistics from the University of Colorado–Denver. He was professor and chairman of the foreign languages department at Colorado State University, where he was recognized with a distinguished service award and the Durrell Award for Creativity in Teaching. In the early 1980s, he became a Christian Science practitioner, teacher, and lecturer. Arno was married to Paula Page; they had three sons and a daughter.
John C. Pock, Faculty
John C. Pock [sociology 1955–98], February 18, 2012, in Portland. A legendary professor who influenced generations of social scientists, John Pock died at the age of 86, having taught at Reed for 43 years. A native of Chicago, John served in the U.S. Army as a combat infantryman and sergeant in the Philippine Islands during World War II. He returned to Chicago after the war and studied at three universities in the area, earning degrees from each: University of Chicago, Roosevelt University, and the University of Illinois. He and his wife, Helen, arrived at Reed in 1955, intending to spend just a single year at the college. “One of the reasons I stayed was that I encountered undergraduates who behaved like students in graduate seminars,” John said. “They asked all the right kinds of challenging ‘stupid’ questions and were more interested in actively producing their own education than in collecting the bookkeeping notations of ‘schooling.’” John found the Reed conference method particularly conducive to his teaching style. “The conference is a conversation, so that the student does the work. I used to try to get ‘hold of someone who was adamant about something, and I would challenge them with some evidence they had ignored.” He was interested in students who were curious, ambitious, and intellectual risk takers. More than 70 of John’s students went on to earn doctoral degrees and to establish professional careers as sociologists. “There is no single undergraduate teacher that has had such an effect on the discipline,” said Neil Fligstein ’73. John’s students nominated him for the American Sociological Association’s Contributions to Teaching Award, which he won in 1982. At the 1995 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, a special session, “Contributions of to the Discipline of Sociology,” chaired by Mark Gould ’67 and David Grusky ’80, was presented in honor of John. The first sociology reunion in 1996, organized by Ruth Leeds Love ’58 to celebrate John, culminated in the presentation of a Festschrift, Social Differentiation and Social Inequality: Essays in Honor of John C. Pock, edited by Jim Baron ’76, David Grusky ’80, and Don Treiman ’62. Reed reported that the 45 alumni who attended the reunion agreed that John’s “gruff exterior” masked a great compassion. His analytic understanding of society and insistence on empirical work fascinated and challenged his students, and his ambitions for them raised their own professional expectations. Bill Tudor ’65, now emeritus professor of sociology, who studied under John, added that it was rare for an undergraduate teacher to receive a Festschrift. It was John’s ability to connect with students and channel their energy to learn the tools that would help them understand the social construct of the world that attracted many students to the field of sociology. Martina Morris ’80 remembered how John would challenge students and say “things that very few faculty members would have the temerity to say. You often learned things about yourself that, on the one hand, were very painful to learn, and on the other hand, allowed you to move past them.” Matthew Bergman ’86 remarked that John treated his students as graduate students. “There was no coddling involved. At the conclusion of my thesis-writing process, I foolishly asked John what he thought of it. He said it was ‘boring shit.’ John was right: it was. But that kind of unsparing honesty and intellectual integrity helped me—working through John—to develop additional academic work and get several articles published.” Richard Conviser ’65 noted: “It was in John Pock’s class that I first realized that as a scientist, I could select issues for study whose scientific answers would inform policy decisions.” John taught courses and conducted research in general social science, social demography, stratification and class, organizational analysis, and quantitative methods in history. He was a visiting professor or lecturer at the University of Illinois, the Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Irvine, and the Naval War College. His professional associations included the American Sociological Association, the Pacific Sociological Association, the Population Association of America, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and the Society for the History of Technology. He served as editor of Sociological Perspectives, the journal of the Pacific Sociological Association. He also worked on program evaluation and organizational studies at Oregon State Hospital; Oregon Health Sciences University; the Office of Economic Opportunity’s VISTA, Community Action, and Model Cities projects; and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He was a consultant in advertising, polling, and marketing research and on work organization and management issues for domestic and international companies engaged in heavy construction and metal fabrication. He delved into the methodological problems involved in the study of poverty and in measuring the consequences of welfare reform. John championed public education and even ran for the Portland school board in 1966. He wrote about the role of education in offsetting social problems. Making a financial commitment to improve education would always be money well spent, he argued. “The quality and range of a person’s educational opportunities directly determine his lifetime income and our nation’s economic growth. You get what you pay for in any field of our economy. Education is no exception, and it is the best investment we can make.” In “Some Comments on Academics,” John further addressed the challenges to education. “There can be no assurance that all or none of the students will utilize the opportunities available to them. No institutional structure or curriculum can guarantee anything more than the opportunity of choice. But one guarantee can be made: the pursuit of one path over the other will display the nature of individual conscience and personal integrity.” In 1998, at the time of his official retirement from the college, John planned to submit a graduate course on the foundations of social science, to examine why social science developed rather than consider the issues social science examines. “I don’t intend to retire, whatever that means. I still have a lot of loose ends to take care of.” To the end of his days, he maintained a warm and visible presence on the college campus. In 2007, John’s students established the John C. Pock named professorship, to be given to a faculty member with a specialty in innovative social science quantitative methodology and theoretically based empirical social research. Published in Reed magazine in memoriam as "Organization Man."
Donald Roger Pinkham AMP ’44
Donald Roger Pinkham AMP ’44, October 29, 2012, in Exeter, California. Don was enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps. He studied both at Reed and at Yale to be a communications officer and served in India. After World War II, he earned a BS in plant science from the University of California, Davis, and worked with his father in a fruit business, E.F. Pinkham and Son. In 1952, he married Helen Walter; they had a son and two daughters. Don was a member of the local school board, a volunteer with the Mineral King Preservation Society, and later a stockbroker with Dean Witter Reynolds. His travels with Helen to wine regions in Europe and his knowledge of viticulture led to opening a retail business, Wines of the World. Survivors include his wife and their children and grandchildren.
Michael Udy Parrish ’70
Michael Parrish ’70 on the Niger River in 2007
Michael Udy Parrish ’70, February 8, 2013, in Los Angeles, California. Before coming to Reed, Michael built wells in desert villages in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer. After earning a BA in general literature, he interned with I.F. Stone’s Weekly in Washington, D.C., and then worked for San Francisco Magazine and as editor of Francis Ford Coppola’s City magazine. He was founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine and reported for the Times on the environment, including the Exxon Valdez crisis and Kuwait oil fires. He did freelance work for regional and national publications, such as Smithsonian and Life, and was an adjunct lecturer at USC Annenberg School and a licensed private investigator. In 2001, he published For the People: Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office 1850–2000. Michael maintained a connection to Niger, returning to do a feature for Life magazine in 1985 and for a documentary with his fellow Peace Corps volunteers in 2008. Survivors include his wife, Judie Lewellen; his daughter; mother; and three sisters.
Charles Wheaton Pomeroy ’48
Charles Wheaton Pomeroy ’49, August 14, 2009, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from melanoma. Chuck joined the Army Air Force in 1943 and served in the Philippines and stateside. At Reed, he met Barbara Hilgren; they were married in the chapel in Eliot Hall. Chuck earned a BA from Reed in psychology and sociology. The summer after graduation, he ran a salmon fishing operation on Lummi Island, Washington. He was an instructor in public schools and at Seattle Community College (where he also was admission director and college counselor-coordinator for social sciences) but returned to commercial fishing each summer until 1985. Every winter he cut, sold, and delivered Christmas trees. Chuck pursued an astonishing range of interests: at various times he was a municipal judge; member of the city's planning commission; housing contractor; landlord; U.S. immigration inspector; and designer of fishing nets. He earned an MEd and was ABD in education at the University of Washington. Chuck retired in 1980, played golf at every opportunity, and traveled worldwide. He and Barbara lived in Lake Forest Park for nearly 50 years before moving to Santa Fe. “Reed did not teach me how to make a living; it taught me how to live a big, well rounded, exciting life—and a productive one, too.” Survivors include Barbara, two sons, one daughter, three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and his sister.
Jean Reed Prentiss ’33
Jean Reed Prentiss ’33, October 27, 2011, five days short of her 100th birthday, in Tualatin, Oregon. Jean was born at Neahkahnie, Nehalem, Oregon, “when it was just a big open space under the mountain.” Her father, Samuel Reed, cousin to Simeon Reed, came to Portland from Boston in 1902. Fortified with a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT, Samuel worked on the electrification of Portland before moving further west and purchasing 800 acres on the Oregon coast. His bride, Beulah Kendall Reed, though not an “open air person,” traveled on foot—the only route open from Cannon Beach—to the home built by Samuel in Neahkahnie in time to deliver twins Jean and Ruth Reed Morgan ’34. Jean, Ruth, and their sister, Marion Reed East ’26, were all Reedites. Jean, known as Jo at Reed, earned a BA from the college in general literature. She created three-minute plays for student programs in the chapel, helped decorate for dances in commons, drew cartoons for the Griffin, and served on student council. Summers during her college years were spent assisting her mother at the Kah-Ni-Tavern, a hotel built by her father, and after graduation she worked for Lipman Wolf & Company in downtown Portland. Her interest in making a career as a retail buyer ended when she met John Prentiss. They married in 1937 and later moved to Neahkahnie to assist her family and her ailing father. During World War II, Jean worked in a lumber mill in Longview, Washington, while John served in the navy. Back at Neahkahnie after the war, the two raised three daughters, Catherine, Alexandra, and Deborah. Jean also worked in the school district as a library cataloger and materials processor, volunteered for the Tillamook County library board and citizens advisory committee, put together family histories, collected stamps, camped, and enjoyed bird watching. “I did not use my Reed education toward a career,” she wrote, “but a good education is never wasted.” In telling us of Jean’s death, her daughter, Deborah, wrote, “Reed was a special place to her, and I grew up with stories of her years there.”
Mark Patrick Petteys ’85
Mark Patrick Petteys ’85, October 22, 2011, in Hood River, Oregon. Mark was born in Pendleton but grew up all over Oregon, as his father worked for the U.S. Forest Service. After graduating from Hood River Valley High School, Mark attended Columbia University for a year and then transferred to Reed, where he earned a BA in physics and met Phyllis Manos ’86; they married in 1983; their son, Guthrie, was born in 1991. The family shared Mark’s love of the outdoors. Mark took Guthrie rock hounding and whitewater rafting. They fished, played chess, and enjoyed music together. Mark’s fascination with science led to further studies, including in chemistry, geology, hydrogeology, and mathematics. After working as a research assistant at Oregon Graduate Institute, he earned an MS from Boise State University in geophysics, writing his thesis on the use of field-flow fractionation to characterize colloids. He later worked as a research scientist and developed charged particle optics and other scientific systems.
Mark’s musical talents first emerged at the age of 8, when he got his first banjo and taught himself to play. He gained such fluency. that he performed throughout the U.S. with musicians such as Tex Williams, Grandpa Jones, Tiny Moor, Mark O’Connor, and the Country Gazette. He was a studio musician for Capitol Records in Nashville in 1977 and was declared Northwest Regional Banjo Champion in 1984. He taught banjo at the Northwest Folklife Festival, the National Old-Time Fiddle Festival, and the San Francisco Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival. In 2005, he formed a bluegrass and western swing band, Ida Viper, which produced several recordings, including Some of These Days. “Mark was a funny storyteller and loved to laugh,” Phyllis says. “He called musicians in the middle of the night to discuss chord changes or tunes. He enjoyed camping trips with friends and had a zest for life.” Mark was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, which caused pain and numbness in his feet and hands, but maintained a positive attitude until he died. He was buried in Petteys Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery in Ione, Oregon. Longtime friend Greg Eibel[1974–2013], instrument machinist in the Reed physics department, transported Mark’s body in his 1962 Chevrolet Suburban, Pete. Survivors include Phyllis, Guthrie, and Mark’s mother, grandmother, and two brothers.
Maye Palmer Mudge ’19
Maye Palmer Mudge ’19, November 20, 1995, in Portland. She was a retired teacher and social worker. After graduating from Reed with a degree in general studies, she taught in high schools in California, and she earned a master’s degree in education from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1927. She married Frank Mudge and the couple had one son. After returning to Portland she taught at Jefferson High School. During World War II, she was a child welfare worker for Multnomah County. At the time of her retirement she was teaching retarded children in a private school in Portland. She was a member of Pi Lambda Theta, a national education honorary society. Survivors include her son and three grandchildren.
Everett C. Payton ’31
Everett C. Payton ’31, January 23, 1996, in Pacific City, Oregon, where he had lived since 1978. He was a repairman for Sears for 19 years and worked in the Portland shipyards during World War II. Survivors include a son, three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Anthony Polsky ’60
Anthony Polsky ’60, January 13, 1996, in Hong Kong, China. He was a foreign correspondent and international business consultant. After attending Reed for three years, he entered the New School for Social Research in New York City, earning a BA in 1963. He later did graduate work through a Ford Foundation fellowship at the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, a Fulbright Scholarship to Sophia University in Tokyo, and a Woodrow Wilson graduate fellowship. His early writing assignments included reporting for the New Yorker magazine’s "Talk of the Town" and the Bergen County Record in New Jersey. In the mid-’60s, he went to Hong Kong as a New York Herald Tribune correspondent. After the Tribune folded, he became deputy director of Hong Kong’s Far Eastern Economic Review. In 1970, he went to Singapore and wrote a series of articles for the New York Times on the jailing of political enemies, earning him commendation from fellow reporters and a deportation notice from prime minister Lee Quan Yew. From 1972 to 1981, he reported for Reuters News Service, worked in his family’s oil company in Portland, and wrote articles for the Oregonian. In 1981, he opened Cathay Counsellors Group, an international business consultancy, and in 1987 he returned to Hong Kong to oversee the company’s business there. He continued to write for publications both in Hong Kong and in the United States. Survivors include a son and a sister.
Alexander Polcuch ’48
Andrew Polcuch ’48, August 30, 1997, in Seattle, Washington. He entered Reed after serving for 12 years in the U.S. Navy. After graduation, he went to work for Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle. He was a research engineer in electrical and electronic engineering and also served in management and administrative capacities. He retired in 1994, but was called back in 1985 to assist as contract engineer on a computer image generator program, and retired for a second time in 1987. He was an avid gardener and enjoyed investigating and discussing social problems and cultural change. Survivors include his wife, a son, and a daughter.
Charles Papke ’59
Charles Papke ’59, June 30, 1995, in California. He was president of Resource Management Associates.
Mary Frances Murray Parrott ’31
Mary Murray Parrott ’31, February 15, 1999, in Forest Grove, Oregon. She worked in Winks Hardware store after graduating from Reed. In 1934, she met and married Ray Parrott, and in 1936 they purchased a bankrupt electrical store in downtown Portland called Morrison Electric. They operated the store for 11 years until illness forced them to change their lifestyle. They sold the business and spent the next 45 years traveling throughout the world, with Portland as their home base. Her husband died in 1991. She is survived by two sisters. Another sister, Kathleen Murray Walker ’32, is deceased.
Inez Birney Palmer ’27
Inez Birney Palmer ’27, December 15, 1999, in Lincoln City, Oregon. She attended Reed for two years and later attended Western Oregon University and the University of Oregon, earning a BS in history in 1933. She also studied music at the Portland Music Conservatory. She taught school for over 40 years, primarily fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at the Kennedy School in Portland. The school is now a unique bed and breakfast and conference center that has named one of its rooms in her honor. She married Harry Palmer in 1927 and they had one son. After retiring in 1969, they moved to Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. She was a volunteer at the town’s domestic violence shelter and served on its board of directors, and in 1987 was awarded the Volunteer of the Year award by the Chamber of Commerce for her work there. She also volunteered at the North Lincoln Hospital and the Lincoln City Senior Center, was a past officer in North Lincoln Republican Women, was a regent of the Yaquina Chapter of the DAR, and served on the Council on Aging. In the 1980s she was asked by the Lincoln County Commission to accept a position on the county planning commission, where she represented senior issues for seven years. Her other interests included rose gardening, fishing, music, and travel. She is survived by her son, two grandchildren, and one great grandchild.
Robert S. Parker ’48
Robert Parker ’48, February 5, 2001, in Portland. He earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of Washington in 1950. In 1950–59, he worked for the Bonneville Power Administration, Kaiser Aluminum, and Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle. He returned to Reed in 1959 to serve as director of alumni relations, and in 1963 was appointed director of campus facilities, supervising an extensive building program that was underway. In 1966, he became assistant coordinator of the urban planning assistance program at the University of Oregon, and in 1971, he joined the Center of Oregon for Research on Behavior of Educationally Handicapped, where he supervised programs that worked with children and adults with learning disabilities. He joined the Reed staff again in 1975, when he was appointed director of administrative services. He retired in the early ’80s but continued to be involved in Reed activities through the alumni association. Survivors include his wife and a daughter.
Joyce Stevenson Pyle ’44
Joyce Stevenson Pyle ’44, January 8, 2000, in Bellingham, Washington. She earned a master’s degree in library science at Columbia University in 1945 and worked at the library of Wellesley College for three years. in 1948, she accepted a position with the library of the University of California, Berkeley as assistant head of the loan department, and in 1970 she became head of technical services at the new Hayward College Library. She retired in 1980, and she and her husband, Robert, later moved to her hometown of Bellingham, Washington. Her husband died in 1992, and there are no known survivors.
Frances M. Powell MAT ’62
Frances Powell MAT ’62, January 18, 2002, in Portland. She earned her undergraduate degree in education at Idaho State University in 1957. She taught school in the Portland Public School District until her retirement in 1975. After retiring from teaching, she worked at Sears and Roebuck for five years. Survivors include a brother and several nieces and nephews.
Robert E. Priest ’50
Robert Priest ’50, March 4, 2001, from injuries sustained from a fall following a stroke. He studied medicine at the University of Chicago on the GI Bill, earning an MD in 1954. Following an internship at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, he returned to the University of Chicago as a resident in pathology in 1954–57. In 1957, he accepted a position as instructor in pathology at the University of Washington, where he conducted laboratory research in atherosclerosis and on renal and intestinal disorders. He married Jean Hirsch in 1958 and they had three children. In 1962, he accepted a position at the University of Colorado, where he soon became full professor. In 1971, he moved to Emory University, where he remained until his retirement in 1985. While at Emory, he established the PhD program in experimental pathology and directed the pathology course, and he served on the Faculty Committee for Medical Research and the Emory University Senate. He was a visiting scientist in biochemistry at St. Andrews, Scotland, and was the Fogarty Senior International Fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. After retirement, he was a visiting scientist at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, and he helped to establish a genetics laboratory at the medical school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and many other professional associations, and he published a number of scholarly articles on his research. Survivors include his wife; a son; two daughters; four grandchildren, and a sister.
C. Russell Parker ’42
Charles Russell Parker ’42, January 28, 2003, from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, in his home in Seattle, Washington. Parker completed a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry at Reed and earned an MD from Cornell University in 1945. He served in the army for two years after World War II, after which he practiced psychiatry in Portland for 10 years. In the ’60s, he married a second time and lived in Southern California. For 20 years he was curator of a fossil collection, and assisted research students, at California State University–Long Beach. He retired to Seattle. Throughout his life, Charles performed as a drummer and timpanist in a variety of musical settings that included the Dixieland Docs in Portland, and the Renton City (Washington) Concert Band. In addition to enjoying a full spectrum of music, he enjoyed preparing dishes from Asia and South America, and with local wild mushrooms. He is survived by his wife, Lidia Rosario Morales Parker, his daughter, two grandchildren, and a sister. His son predeceased him.
Joy Popkes Rust ’51
Joy Louis Popkes Rust ’51, December 31, 2002, of respiratory failure, at her home in Berkeley, California. Joy received her bachelor’s degree in general literature from Reed. She married Robert L. Rust in 1954; they had two children, and later divorced. Rust spent 31 years as a public school secondary teacher in English, social studies, and crafts, in Oregon and California. She was active in the Bay Area alumni chapter. Survivors include her daughter, son, two granddaughters, and her sister.
Harold Perkel ’50
Harold Perkel ’50, February 15, 2003, in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Harold received his bachelor’s degree from Reed in physics and a BS from MIT. He worked as a mechanical engineer for RCA and later as an aerospace engineer. In 1946, he married Janet Laster, who predeceased him, and they had four children. Survivors include his wife, Shirley, his daughters and son, two stepsons and a stepdaughter, and 13 grandchildren.
Elizabeth Ann Powell ’50
Elizabeth Ann Powell ’50, June 17, 2003, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, following a long illness. After serving with the U.S. Navy in World War II, Bettyattended Reed, the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and the American Art School, Columbia University, and Alfred University in New York. She earned a BFA in ceramic design and production, then did graduate work at Ohio State University and the University of Southern California. Her workas a ceramist connected her with Design Technics and Stangl Pottery, and with George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where she served as an instructor from 1961 to 1986 and as counselor and head of the fine arts department. In addition to ceramics, she enjoyed quilting, photography, painting, drawing, and illustration. Her work is found in the permanent collections of the Georgia Museum of Art, the Georgia Norfolk Museum, and George School, and in private collections. Bettyalso wrote and illustrated several publications for the Bucks County Historical Society in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Additionally she volunteered with disadvantaged children and their families at Mercer Street Friends in Trenton, New Jersey. A Quaker and member of the Makefield Meeting House, Bettywas a valued counselor and philosopher, who provided hope to the discouraged and made a positive mark on the lives of all she met. She is survived by her sister and extended family. Her brother, Cloan N. Powell ’51, also attended Reed.
John Alan Piper ’59
John Alan Piper ’59, December 5, 2004, in Woodbridge, Virginia. John graduated from Reed with a degree in physics. He went to work immediately for Sylvania Electric Products Company as an electronics engineer, and lived in New Hampshire and California, before settling in Virginia. There he was an engineer with E-Systems, Inc., and later made hydrogen detection systems for submarines. John was a Mensan, a licensed Coast Guard captain, and, in his words, a "certifiable curmudgeon!" He also developed his interest as a graphic artist and in desktop publishing, creating his own business, Jomer Graphics; a somewhat daring move away from engineering that he credited to his Reed experience. He is survived by his wife, Merilyn, to whom he was married for 36 years, and three children.
Howard F. Potter ’52
Howard F. Potter ’52, March 11, 1998. Howard attended Reed but did not graduate from the college. He lived in Los Angeles County.
Betty Jean Perry Fox ’45
Betty Jean Perry Fox ’45, February 10, 2007, in Tacoma, Washington. B.J. received a BA from Reed in economics. She married Seymour Fox in 1946; they had five children. In 1969, she earned a teaching certificate from the University of Puget Sound, and taught mathematics, computer programming, and journalism in public and private schools. She volunteered for her church and community, including as a chaplain’s assistant in the Washington State Correctional Center for Women in Purdy. In retirement, she spent winters in Desert Hot Springs, California, worked on computers, tutored in mathematics, and was a member of various choral groups. Survivors include her husband, two daughters, three sons, 12 grandchildren, one great-grandson, and a brother.
Madeline Linda Prideaux Biggs ’49
Madeline Linda Prideaux Biggs ’49, February 23, 2005, in Lake Oswego. Madeline attended Reed for two years. She married Harry E. Biggs Jr. ’47 in 1946; they had a son and daughter. Harry died in 1992.
Mary Curtis Pipes Cosgriff ’41
Mary Curtis Pipes Cosgriff ’41, February 1, 2005, in Portland. Mary attended Reed for nearly two years. During World War II, she worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce. She married, and raised three daughters. Survivors include her daughters and five grandchildren.
Charles Lloyd Paetel ’51
Charles Lloyd Paetel ’51, January 31, 2006, in Rancho Mirage, California. Charles attended Reed and served in the U.S. Navy. He was a member of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 290 for 50 years, a member of the Pacific City Ramblers RV group, and a life member of Sherwood Elks. Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Wagenblast Paetel, whom he married in 1965; four-step children; and two sisters.
Charlotte Anna Chambers Prentice ’39
Charlotte Anna Chambers Prentice ’39, February 18, 2006, in Washington, D.C. Charlotte earned a BA from Reed in history. She married Edward S. Prentice ’40 in the Eliot Hall chapel in 1941. After graduating from Reed, she taught in Eastern Oregon, and following her marriage, she traveled with her husband to Boston for his PhD program at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts and Harvard. He entered the Army Air Corps, and she worked in the planning department of the U.S. State Department. The couple lived throughout the world and in numerous places in the U.S., following the path of Edward's diplomatic career. Charlotte was a gracious and loving individual, who enjoyed international relations, world politics, and the adventure of travel. Survivors include Edward, two daughters and two sons, 18 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and a sister and brother.
Philip George Phillips ’49
Philip George Phillips (né Filipu) ’49, February 6, 2006. In 1941, Phil went to work as a welder in a shipyard, then enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942; serving with the Army Air Corps 100th Reconnaissance Squadron in Australia, New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and in the Ryuku Islands. After the war, he attended Reed, earning a BA in political science. He worked in the steel industry as a scrap broker and consultant. He spent 20 years as a salesman with Russell, Burdsall, and Ward, retiring in 1983. Phil enjoyed camping and fishing. Survivors include his wife Nancy, two sons and a daughter, and a brother, James G. Phillips ’48.
Frank C. Pennington ’48
Frank C. Pennington ’48, September 18, 2001, in California. Frank attended Reed in the army premeteorology program. He returned to Reed in 1946, and graduated with a BA in chemistry in 1948. He earned a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1951. From 1951 to 1955, he was a research chemist for Charles Pfizer and Company in New York, leaving to take a position with the chemistry department at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1969, he became dean of the School of Natural Sciences at California State University-Chico (1969–77) and professor of chemistry, retiring as professor emeritus. Frank's research interests took him to universities in England, Yugoslavia, and Norway. In 1947, he married Marcia K. Grein ’49; they had a son and a daughter, Adriane Pennington Borgias ’79.
Dorothy Belle Wood Petersen Mayer ’35
Dorothy Belle Wood Petersen Mayer ’35, January 12, 2008, in Portland. Dorothy attended Reed for two years, before leaving for family economic issues. For a year, in Boise, Idaho, she provided her father with secretarial assistance, and then entered Mt. Sinai School of Nursing in New York City. Dorothy determined that nursing was not her calling, and sold books at Macy's. She married LaPhene Petersen in 1935, in Idaho; they built a home, scraped through the war years, and began a family (daughter and son). In 1945, they moved to Illinois for a business opportunity. Mayer became a member of the League of Women Voters, was elected to the local school board, and when her husband was too ill to work, she took positions at Roycemore School for Girls in Evanston, the Avon cosmetics factory, and a gift shop at Marshall Field. In 1960, she returned to Portland, and from 1968 to 1975, she worked in registration and records at Portland State College (University). LaPhene died in 1969. In 1975, she married widower Phillip Mayer ’33. The couple built a house in Cannon Beach, which they enjoyed immensely. Phillip died in 1999.
Wilbur Lee Parker ’36
Wilbur Lee Parker '36, December 6, 2007, in Portland, after a short illness. Bill received a BA from Reed in history, and returned to the college that fall as a graduate assistant. He then earned a high school teaching credential and was a substitute teacher at Grant High School. Along with other Reedies, he did field analyst work for the State of Oregon in Salem, and was later a statistician with the Oregon Unemployment Compensation Commission. In Salem, he met Pauline E. Putnam. The couple married in 1940, and in 1942 moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Bill was a state labor market analyst. Following Pearl Harbor, he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve and sent to Naval Communication School at Harvard University. He assisted in fitting out the U.S.S. Yorktown, was assigned to the ship's communications department, and served there until May 1945, participating in 10 designated campaigns of the war in the Pacific. He remained active in the reserves, retiring as captain in 1964. The couple raised three daughters in Sacramento, California, where Bill was chief of the division of research and statistics for the California Department of Social Welfare. The family moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 1970, where Bill served as assistant commissioner in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He retired from federal employment in 1977, and the couple moved to Neahkanie, Oregon. His community involvement there included work on the Tillamook Education Service District, from 1983 to 1991, as well as work for the Beaver Pond Preservation organization. In 2000, they moved to Calaroga Terrace Retirement Community in Portland. Throughout his life, Bill strove for social justice—for fair and equal treatment of men and women of all races and walks of life. He valued family and friendships and remained engaged in social and intellectual activity until his death. Survivors include three daughters, including Ann Parker Littlewood }68, who provided the details for this memorial; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Pauline Parker died in 2004.
Edgar A. Possehl ’51
Edgar A. Possehl ’51, December 31, 2007, in Milwaukie, Oregon. Ed received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Reed and a master's degree from University of California, Los Angeles. As a biological engineer, he served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. While engaged in studies for his doctorate degree, Possehl worked in the forestry and horticulture department at Oregon State College (University). Following that, he was employed with the 7 Dees Nurseries in Lake Oswego. Survivors include his wife of four years, Shirley Haugen, and his mother, Charlotte. The Possehl Family Scholarship, a gift to Reed from Ed, his wife, and his mother, will be created to support students of need in chemistry or mathematics and the natural sciences.
Robert Kent Putnam AMP ’44
Robert Kent Putnam AMP ’44, December 11, 2008, in Seattle, Washington. Bob enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941, trained in meteorology at Reed and Yale, and served in the South Pacific as a first lieutenant cryptologist until the war's end. “Reed professors went far beyond the 'call of duty' to try to get as many of us through the program as possible,” he wrote for his 50th-class reunion. “My 12 months at Reed had a very positive influence on my life. F.L. Griffin [mathematics 1911–56] was the best instructor I ever had.” Many connections made at Reed were lifelong, including that with Donald L. Shaw AMP ’44—his greatest friend. Bob received a BS in zoology and a BEd from Washington State University, and married Billie Mellis in 1953. He taught physics and biology at Highline High School in Seattle, retiring “gladly” in 1982, and turning his attention to family, gardening, computer, and the parish of St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church. Survivors include his wife, two sons and a daughter, seven grandchildren, two sisters, and a brother. One son predeceased him.
Elsa F. Gill Perrow ’15
Elsa F. Gill Perrow ’15, August 9, 1995, in Portland, at the age of 103. She was the last surviving member of the class of 1915. After graduating from Reed, she worked for several years at the college, as an assistant in the English department and in the administrative office. In 1920, she went to New York and worked for a year as a secretary, returning to Portland in 1921. She spent the years between 1921 and 1932 working in Portland and New York City, and traveling to the Pacific Rim, England, and across the U.S. In 1932, she returned to England, where she met and married Arthur Perrow, a musician and dancer. The couple settled in London. During World War II, Elsa was active in the Women's Voluntary Service, a branch of civil defense that dealt with many civilian problems. After the war, the couple decided to leave England and settle in Portland, arriving in 1949. She became active in the Reed aumni association, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and the English-Speaking Union. She was also involved in her husband's many musical activities, including opera productions and playing the recorder in his early music ensembles. The couple also traveled frequently. The Perrows were devoted and generous supporters of the college and donated to a wide range of college programs, including the Collegium Musicum and the rowing program. After her husband's death in 1979, Elsa continued to visit the campus as her health permitted. She is survived by a niece.
Edwin A. Phillips ’28
Edwin A. Phillips ’28, July 5, 1995, in Portland. After traveling for a year in Europe following graduation from Reed, he returned to Portland to seek employment at the advice of former Reed president William Trufant Foster [1910–19]. He took a position as an actuarial clerk with Oregon Mutual Life, a small life insurance firm that later became Standard Insurance. His career with Standard lasted 41 years. In 1946, he was promoted to vice president and sales director of the entire sales operation, a position he held until 1960, when he became vice president and corporate secretary of the company, handling company administration and corporate affairs. He retired from Standard Insurance in 1970. During his career, he served on the boards of several professional associations, including the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association of Hartford, Connecticut and the Life Office Management Association of New York. He was also a past president of the Oregon Life Managers Association. He was active in community affairs and served as president of the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Oregon and as a board member of the Portland Better Business Bureau. In the ’60s, he became involved in health planning and served on the Governor's Committee for Comprehensive Health Planning. After retirement, he served as president and a member of the board of trustees of Holladay Park Hospital. In 1930, he married Frances Wright, who died in 1991. Survivors include two daughters, five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Florence Lafollette Putney ’30
Florence Lafollette Putney ’30, April 7, 1995, in Seaside, Oregon, where she had lived for the past several years. She worked as a receptionist for a financial institution in Portland until 1935, when she took a vacation to Asia, where she met her future husband. The couple spent several years traveling in Asia on business, choosing the Philippines as their headquarters. They then returned to the U.S., where they built a home at Agate Pass, Washington. There they acquired and operated Agate Pass Nursery, specializing in rhododendrons, azaleas, and unusual broadleaf evergreens. After her husband's death in 1945, Florence continued to run the nursery for over 20 years. She spent much of her later years traveling throughout the world. During her travels she especially enjoyed attending the opera in many different countries and visiting gardens. She lived in Seattle for many years and was a supporter of the Seattle Opera. She also lived in Honolulu before taking up residence in Seaside. Survivors include a sister, a brother, and seven nieces and nephews.
Hazel Franke Pennington ’39
Hazel Franke Pennington ’39, July 31, 1995, in Ashland. After graduating from Reed, Hazel received training in medical technology at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland and worked in Spokane, Washington, for three years before returning to Portland in 1942 to marry Lloyd Pennington ’39. They moved to Ashland in 1946, when he joined the faculty of Southern Oregon State College. She was employed for 23 years as a medical technologist for Providence Hospital in Medford. She and her husband raised four children. She was active in community, church, and social organizations and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Ashland and the American Association of University Women. She was also an active supporter of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Rogue Valley Symphony, and Ashland public schools. Survivors include Lloyd, two sons, 2 daughters, and 11 grandchildren.
Janet Piper Mersereau ’43, MAT ’63
Janet Piper Mersereau ’43, MAT ’63, May 13, 1996, in Gearhart, Oregon. She worked in Germany for the Red Cross during World War II, serving U.S. troops there. She later returned to Portland and taught high school at Madison High, and she returned to Reed to complete the MAT program in 1963. In 1965, she married Charles Mersereau ’40. After retirement, the couple moved to Gearhart. Survivors include her husband, three stepsons, and six step-grandchildren.
Willa Crowder Parker ’40
Willa Crowder Parker ’40, July 14, 1996, in London, England, where she had lived since the early ’70s. She married Paul Parker ’40 in 1941. After World War II, his careers with the U.S. treasury department and international banking led them to live overseas, primarily in Cairo, Beirut, Athens, and Rome, as well as in the United States in Washington, D.C., and New York. During this time, she was involved in raising their four children. Willa and Paul moved to London in 1970, and in 1979 the couple separated. Willa remained in London until her death. She was a longtime supporter of the college and occasionally hosted alumni events in London. Survivors include sons Douglas ’67, Anthony ’81, and Gary; and daughterCatherine Parker ’77.
Merle Pennington ’41
Merle Pennington ’41, April 30, 1996, while working at his home in Tualatin, Oregon. He was a family physician and medical educator who had been practicing in Oregon since graduating from the University of Oregon Medical School (Oregon Health & Science University) in 1944. In 1948, he opened a family medicine practice in the Sherwood-Tualatin area, and he helped found Tuality Hospital in 1954. He left a full-time medical practice in 1972 to pursue his love of medical education. He worked for a time in Arizona, where he created and directed a residency for family doctors on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. In 1977, he returned to Oregon to become an associate professor in the family medicine department at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, now Oregon Health Sciences University. He retired in 1985 but continued as a volunteer teacher for the next 10 years. During his career, he was instrumental in developing the first program in the United States of required continuing education for physicians, and he helped develop medical education programs for small Oregon towns. He was named the Oregon Doctor-Citizen of the Year in 1965 by the Oregon Medical Association and the Family Doctor of the Year in 1991 by the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians. He served on the Tuality Healthcare Board of Directors from 1985 until his death and on the Tualatin Valley Mental Health Care Center board of directors from 1983 to 1990. An active member of the Oregon Medical Association, he served on numerous committees and on the board of trustees. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, two daughters, a son, and six grandchildren.
E. Crellin Pauling ’59
Crellin Pauling ’59, of cancer, July 27, 1997, at his home in Portola Valley, California. A son of the late Linus Pauling, Crellin was the former chair of the biology department at San Francisco State University and a strong advocate of biology education. After graduating from Reed, he studied at the University of Washington and earned his doctorate in genetics in 1964. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Riverside, and in 1982 became professor of biology at San Francisco State, where he served as biology chairman for 13 years. He conducted extensive research in microbiology, but was especially known for his efforts to improve the teaching of biology in high schools and community colleges. His work in this area recently earned him the Andreoli California State University Biotechnology Service Award. He is survived by his wife; 7 children; 14 grandchildren; a sister, Linda Pauling Kamb ’54;and two brothers.
Charlotte Lukes Pearson Chandler ’34
Charlotte Pearson Lukes-Chandler ’34, May 3, 2000, in Downey, California, following surgery. After graduation from Reed, she worked for the YWCA in a variety of capacities in Portland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and California. A scholarship from the YWCA helped her to earn a master’s degree in religion from the University of Southern California School of Religion in 1958. She and her husband, Joe Lukes ’34, then settled in Downey and adopted a daughter, and she devoted her time to being a mother and Girl Scout leader. She became a well known social and community activist in Downey, where she helped to establish Advocates for Multicultural Harmony, a group designed to improve communication among various cultures. She also helped establish a Spanish language service at Downey United Methodist Church and was active in Church Women United, the American Friends Service Committee, and Women in Community Service. Joe died in 1987, and in 1998 she married David Chandler. Survivors include her second husband and her daughter.
Kathryn Pierce Loustalot ’39
Kathryn Pierce Loustalot ’39, March 5, 1999, in Santa Barbara, California. After attending Reed for three years, she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon. She was married and had four children, and she was active in a variety of community affairs, including the Junior League. She later worked in real estate sales.
Marcia Pry MALS ’72
Marcia Pry MALS ’72, of congestive heart failure, June 3, 2001, at her vacation home in Seaside, Oregon. She and her husband, Tom, were well known in Portland as publishers of several neighborhood newspapers. Before attending Reed she taught high school journalism in Stockton, California, and in Portland. She married Tom Pry in 1966, and in 1974 the couple purchased the Sellwood-Moreland Bee, a longtime neighborhood weekly in southeast Portland. Over the next 12 years, their company grew to 7 newspapers with annual sales of $2 million, a 24-hour central printing plant, and 55 employees. She was active in the Oregon Newspapers Publishers Association and was elected its president in 1991. Among her accomplishments while with the organization was obtaining group health insurance for the employees of small newspapers around Oregon. She was also active in civic affairs, serving on the board of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, as president of Friends of Trees, and chair of the annual book sale for the Friends of the Library. In 1994 the Prys sold their business, and she became a private business consultant and taught at the Small Business Development Center at Portland Community College. She is survived by her husband.
Beatrice E. Price Bickford ’35
Beatrice E. Price Bickford ’35, July 2, 2002, of age-related causes, in Palos Verdes Estates, California. A talented pianist and accompanist who taught piano while in high school in Oregon City, Bickford attended Reed for two years, then transferred to a number of schools including a music conservatory, eventually earning a teacher’s certificate. She later said that Reed stood out as the only school that made her think. In her seven-year career teaching music and staging musicals in Oregon public schools, she worked in Oregon City, Portland, and Dallas. During World War II she married Paul Radcliffe. The couple moved to Eugene in 1952 and raised a son. Following Radcliffe’s death, she married Gardner Bickford, who died in 1998. She was known for her support of numerous community organizations and established the Beatrice Price Radcliffe Bickford Scholarship at Reed in 1999. The scholarship is awarded with preference to students who intend to pursue careers as teachers in grades K-12. She is survived by her son, a stepdaughter and stepson, seven grandchildren, and a sister.
Marie Parenti O'Day ’38
Marie Estelle Parenti O’Day ’38, June 23, 1994, in Sun City, Arizona. She received her bachelor’s degree in history and married Marcus D. O’Day, a Reed physics professor in 1926–45, who died in 1961. The couple had two daughters.
Paul F. Parks ’53
Paul F. Parks Sr. ’53, October 26, 2000, in North Plains, Oregon. He served with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and entered Reed in the army premeteorology program. After receiving a BA in physics, he earned an MS in engineering. His initial career was at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, and Paul later returned to Portland to work for Tektronix as an engineer in semiconductor fabrication. He managed the chemistry laboratory, the model shop, and the library, while also working in recruiting, planning new facilities, and organizing research as the department head of that division. He was active in his community, chair of the local school board and assistant supervisor of the Washington County soil and water conservation district. He was instrumental in establishing an electronics curriculum at Portland Community College. In 1972 he consulted at Electro Scientific Industries, an association that helped him launch his own company, P/M Industries in 1973. His operations extended to TechCeram, P/M Laser Products, and Pacific Hybrid Microelectronics. Survivors include his wife, Mel; two sons; two grandchildren; and a sister.
Howard F. Palmer ’24
Howard Francis Palmer ’24, August 18, 2002, in Carmel, California. Howard graduated from Reed with a BA in general literature. He married Beatrice Rice in 1940, earned an MSW from the University of Washington, and focused his career on social work service.
Sylvia Campbell Powell ’43
Sylvia Campbell Powell ’43, July 12, 2004, in Daly City, California, from a cardiac illness. Sylvia received her bachelor’s degree from Reed in political science. Following World War II, she went to China with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. She met and married John W. Powell, who opened a news bureau for the U.S. Office of War Information in Shanghai. Articles researched and printed by the Powells and an associate in the ’50s in their magazine, China Monthly Review, brought about charges of treason and sedition against them by the U.S. Government. They moved to San Francisco in 1953, and because of the accusations faced overwhelming personal and financial difficulties, and were unable to secure employment. They began a renovation business, Homes of Charm, and developed a steady income from this, and later from their antique business. In their leisure time, they enjoyed hiking in the High Sierra and shared a ranch north of San Francisco. In 1959, charges of treason were dismissed following a mistrial, and in 1961, Attorney General Robert Kennedy cleared the sedition charges levied against the couple. Sylvia is survived by her husband, and the couple’s three sons and three grandchildren.
Abe Puziss ’35
Abe Puziss ’35, June 22, 2004, in Portland. Obbieearned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Reed. In 1939, he graduated from the University of Oregon Medical School (Oregon Health & Science University), and entered the U.S. Army Medical Corps a year later. During World War II, Obbieattended to wounded soldiers aboard the Queen Mary. In 1945 he opened a medical practice in Portland, working as a physician and surgeon for 50 years. He was a member of the Oregon Medical Association, the Masons Lodge, and was a 65-year member of the YMCA. He married Claire Zacks in 1943 and they had three children. Obbie wasa man of outstanding character and quick wit, who was dedicated to family and to learning. He was a noted photographer, whose medical photographs were published more than those of any other U.S. physician. He also enjoyed playing the banjo and ukulele. Survivors include his wife, daughter and sons, eight grandchildren, and two sisters.
James Cloos Patrick MALS ’68
James Cloos Patrick MALS ’68, May 17, 2005, in Portland. Prior to studying at Reed, James earned a BS in social science from Black Hills State Teacher’s College in South Dakota in 1959. His teaching career spanned 36 years; 27 at Lake Oswego High School in English, speech, drama, and psychology. He retired in 1999. Survivors include his wife, Brigitte E. Rohne, whom he married in 1966; and a sister and brother.
Martha Marie Pfaff Becker ’31
Martha Marie Pfaff Becker ’31, June 15, 2006, from a heart attack, in Portland. Martha received a BA in mathematics, and remained at Reed for the next academic year, assisting in the mathematics and German departments, and taking additional language coursework. During World War II, she also assisted Reed’s mathematics program under Jessie M. Short [1920–39] and F.L. Griffin [1911–56]. In 1933, she married Melvin Becker. His work as a C.P.A. took them briefly to Astoria, though they lived most of their married life in Portland. Martha spent some years at home raising her children, and then became a certified teacher’s aide at Couch Elementary School in northwest Portland, primarily working with disadvantaged children in remedial reading (1955–64). This June, she was the only member of the class of 1931 to attend the 75th class reunion at Reed. Survivors include her daughter, son, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1991, and a daughter in childhood.
Elizabeth Pullen Ellett ’32
Elizabeth Pullen Ellett ’32, June 5, 2006, in Denver, Colorado. Elizabeth attended Reed for two years, before transferring to the University of Washington, where she completed a bachelor’s degree. Survivors include her son and daughter, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Her husband, Emerson S. Ellett, and one daughter predeceased her.
Patricia Margaret Cowan Pearson ’49
Patricia Margaret Cowan Pearson ’49, June 24, 2006, in Portland, from pancreatic cancer. Pat received a BA from Reed in mathematics. She and David P. Pearson ’49 were married one week before commencement. Following his career in chemical research and teaching, they lived in Corvallis, Oregon; Los Angeles; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Bartlesville, Oklahoma; before returning to Portland. Pat earned an MA in mathematics from Oregon State in 1951, worked as a pension actuary for Standard Insurance, and she also taught mathematics on the high school and community college levels. She was a Fellow of Society of Actuaries. Recreational activities included mountain climbing, skiing, backpacking, fishing, sailing, and travel. She was also involved in church and volunteer activities. Survivors include her husband, four daughters, including Kathryn A. Pearson ’77, Kristine Pearson-Denning ’83, and Judith G. Peason ’84, her son, and seven grandchildren.
Edward Sumner Prentice ’40
Edward Sumner Prentice ’40, April 7, 2006, in Washington, D.C. Edward received a BA from Reed in political science, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He married Charlotte Anna Chambers ’39 in 1941. They moved to Boston, where he earned an MA from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts and Harvard, in international economics. He enlisted in the army air corps during World War II, serving as a fighter pilot and instructor. His career in international diplomacy and economic advising began with the transport economics department of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget in Washington, D.C., and in the State Department. He was chief trade negotiator for the Marshall Aid Program in London and ran the U.S. Overseas Mission (now U.S. AID) in the Philippines. He was director of International Economics for Stanford Research Institute, and also worked at the World Bank and in numerous international economic consulting positions in many countries. Edward's work took him to such destinations as Bangladesh, Nigeria, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Tunisia; and stateside to California and New York, before settling in Washington, D.C., where he worked in real estate. He enjoyed travel, experiencing new places and cultures, gardening, fishing, and the arts, as well as spending time at the family vacation home on Cayuga Lake in Ithaca. Survivors include two daughters and two sons, 18 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. Charlotte died in February.
Marilyn M. Palmer Hoehne ’48
Marilyn M. Palmer Hoehne ’48, May 30, 2007, in Seattle, Washington. Marilyn received a BA from Reed in history. She met Mark E. Hoehne ’48 in 1946, when he returned to Reed following World War II; they married in December of that year. The couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Mark attended Yale University, then moved west, taking up residence in Longview, Washington. Intent on creating a safe place for adolescent boys to receive education and job training, Marilyn conceived of the Toutle River Ranch in 1959, and assisted its establishment in 1960. The original facility, destroyed by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, was rebuilt in Castle Rock, Washington, and now operates through the Youth & Family Link Program. Marilyn served on the board of directors for the program. She was also a lifelong learner, who read extensively. She served on the board of the Longview Public Library for nine years, and on the Library Foundation board for six. She was a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, and was clerk of the vestry for nearly 20 years. Survivors include three daughters and a son, two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a sister. Mark died in 1997.
Samuel Hatch Pierce ’43
Samuel Hatch Pierce ’43, April 20, 2009, in Portland, from multiple strokes, a condition diagnosed in 2007. Sam attended Reed as a day-dodger for three years, intent on majoring in pre-law, before he was drafted into the army in 1942. In his oral history interview with Barbara Carter Radin ’75 in 2005, Sam mentioned that he had a ham radio hobby and built his own equipment, which attracted the attention of the draft board. “They were looking for guys like me. Because of my hobby of ham radio, I was put in the signal corps and sent to Missouri. From there, I was channeled into radar training in Kansas City, and then Florida. Didn't have to be professors or anything. Had to be able to learn.” In 1946, he returned to Reed for an additional year of study; his work in radar had inspired an academic focus in physics. He took night classes at Multnomah College (now, University of Portland) and also at Portland State, where he completed a BS in physics in 1960. Sam's sister, Clara Pierce Shaffer ’40, introduced Lucille Harris ’43 to her brother; Lucille and Sam were married in April 1943. The couple raised their family in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, where they lived for 32 years. Sam built a business selling and repairing television and radio, public address equipment, and sales-Sam Pierce Radio and TV—in Westmoreland on Southeast Milwaukie Avenue. He was active in the neighborhood communities, supporting scouting and PTA activities and coaching youth baseball (he played baseball for two years at Reed), and was a member of the Southeast Portland Rotary and All Saints Episcopal Church. Following retirement in 1985, the couple moved to a home they built at Klipsan Beach, Washington. There, he volunteered for the Water Music Festival, the Ocean Park Timberland Library, St. Peter Episcopal Church, and he was a charter member of the Peninsula Rotary Club. His love of golf was a constant throughout his life. Sam is remembered as a man of wit, charm, and great personal warmth. Survivors include Lucille, sonsGregory W. Pierce ’70and Sam (III), and daughters Nancy and Julie. Sam's sister Barbara Pierce Wilkinson ’37 and cousin Walter Durham Jr. ’32 also attended Reed.
Philip Henry Pharazyn ’49
Philip Henry Pharazyn ’49, March 3, 2009, in Arlington, Washington. Philip received a BA from Reed in psychology. He earned an MA from the University of Oregon in psychology and an MA from UC Berkeley in hospital administration. He was a hospital administrator in California and Hawaii and was appointed fellow and elected a regent in the American College of Hospital Administrators. He and his wife, Abigail Spencer, had three children.
Ruth Mitsuko Nishino Penfold ’43
Ruth Mitsuko Nishino Penfold ’43, July 23, 2009, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, from complications related to Parkinson's disease. Ruth was a junior at Reed in December 1941, when she and her family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, were banished to internment camps. Before she left, she entrusted her mother's precious ikebana tools to the Reed library. (Ruth, Gus Tanaka ’45, and Hattie Katawara Colton ’43, were featured in the article “On the Home Front” in Reed, November 1999.) After the war, Ruth married a fellow internee from the Minidoka camp in Idaho, and moved to Canada, where she worked as a legal secretary. She took pleasure in opera, theatre, bonsai, gardening, cooking, and baking. Ruth was a member of the Hamilton Ikenobo Ikebana Society for many years, and was a board member of the Women's Institute of Ontario and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. She also enjoyed family camping and travel with husband Frank Penfold. In 1985, she earned a BA in sociology and fine arts from Brock University and was honored at the ceremony as the year's oldest graduate. Survivors include a daughter, a son, and two grandchildren. Our thanks to Gus for his assistance with this memorial.
Helen Clifford Peters Sloss ’36
Helen Clifford Peters Sloss ’36, February 27, 2012, in Yorba Linda, California. Helen hailed from Galveston, Texas, and earned a BA from Reed in sociology. She was an executive with Pacific Telephone for 37 years, pioneering positions for women that traditionally had been held by men. She also served in key leadership positions in the Presbyterian Church, including as interim executive of the Los Angeles Presbytery. In 2006, at the age of 94, Helen sent in news for class notes in Reed: “I really don’t need to be reminded that it has been 70 years since I was on campus,” she quipped. She was still driving her Volvo station wagon and reflected on the contribution that her classmates had made to the world. She is survived by a son and daughter, seven grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. Her brother,Warren Peters, also attended Reed.
Carla Wolff Perez ’54
Carla Wolff Perez ’54, February 17, 2012, in San Francisco, California. Carla grew up in San Francisco, the daughter of prominent physicians. Don Green ’54 knew her first in childhood as a family friend and then as a classmate at Lowell High School. “She went to Reed . . . with fellow Lowellites Harry Jacob ’54, Forrest Bailey ’54, and Charles Hedtke ’54, and was joined later by longtime San Francisco friend Galen Howard Hilgard ’56.” Carla attended Reed for three years, majoring in biology with a focus on premedicine, and completed a degree through a combined program with Western Reserve Medical School. “I still have memories of the fine launching given to me by Reed,” she wrote decades later. After earning an MD in 1960 from Western Reserve, she moved to Italy and served as a consultant in a mental health clinic at the University of Rome. Back in San Francisco, she did a residency in psychiatry at Mt. Zion Hospital. Following that, she managed part-time private and clinical practices in psychiatry and did teaching and consulting until her retirement in 2008. Carla dedicated 14 years of Saturday evenings to work as a radio talk show host. “Psychiatrists were not accessible to the average person,” she said in an interview. “They were the stuffy group. I thought I could do preventive work and not do it in psychobabble jargon.” Said Don, “She gave cautious counsel to persons who called for advice.” Drawing on her wealth of knowledge, she published two books: Getting off the Merry-Go-Round of Compulsive Behavior and Without Clothes We’re All Naked: Reflections on Life in the Real Lane. She also published a children’s book, Your Turn, Doctor, and wrote poetry. Carla and Virgil Perez, a mathematician and artist, were married for 40 years until his death in 2010. They raised four children—three daughters and a son, who were a great joy. Survivors include her children and three grandchildren. A celebration in her honor was held in her favorite San Francisco neighborhood Italian restaurant. Attendees included Don, Galen, and Ayame Ogimi Flint ’54.
Jane Rae Clausen Parker ’68
Bill Parker ’68 and Jane Clausen Parker ’68
Jane Rae Clausen Parker ’68, February 21, 2013, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. A native of Everett, Washington, Jane began her studies at Washington State University before transferring to Reed, where she earned a BA in general literature. At Reed, she also met her life partner and great love, William H. Parker ’68; they married before their senior year. After leaving Reed, Jane and Bill moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to do graduate work at the University of British Columbia. Jane received a teaching certificate from the university in 1971 and began her career as an English instructor. In 1975, Bill completed his doctoral work in forestry and joined the faculty at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Jane also taught English and technical writing and directed the Writing across the Curriculum program for students in natural resources management. Jane possessed a positive attitude, a quick wit, a gift for conversation, and a passion for teaching. In notifying the college of her death, Bill said that Jane also loved spending time at Sea House, her mother’s summer cottage on Whidbey Island, “almost as much as she loved explaining ‘the central allegory’ to someone who would listen.” One of Bill’s former professors wrote a poem about Jane and the Sea House, “Because Jane Is There,” which expresses the joy and goodwill that Jane brought to the spaces she inhabited and her lingering presence: “Gales of laughter echo through the Sea House constructing new truths. It’s an old fabric, but it must be rewoven for truth to escape.” Jane fought breast cancer for 15 years. Survivors include Bill, a daughter, son, and granddaughter.
Paul Theodore Pojman ’87
Paul Theodore Pojman ’87, September 20, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland, from lung cancer. Son of the prominent philosopher Louis Pojman, Paul lived in Denmark, England, and Texas before coming to Reed. After freshman year, he and Chris Lydgate ’90 went to the Holgate Yard and hopped a freight train intending to go to Seattle. Unfortunately, the train was headed the other way and they wound up in Cottage Grove, Oregon, before hitchhiking their way to San Francisco. Paul earned a BA and a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Mississippi and a PhD from Indiana University. He lived in India for two years and was a Hindu monk for seven years. He also was a musician, farmer, and strong chess player. He taught philosophy at Towson University in Baltimore and was active in the university’s environmental studies and science programs. Paul edited his father’s popular anthology textbook, Environmental Ethics, and selected a number of his essays for Food Ethics, which he published in 2011. In the introduction, Paul states that the moral standard his father attempted to live by was “the single greatest influence” on his own life and his thinking on environmental matters. As a community activist, Paul volunteered with Red Emma’s collective, the Towson Towerlight newspaper, the Baltimore Green Currency Association, the Baltimore Free School, and the Baltimore Free Farm. In a remembrance of Paul, we read: “Paul defined himself through the commitments he made to his communities. He sought the company of people interested in enormous undertakings—whether investigating the nature of reality or building a better world—and took pride in contributing to projects of lasting scale and scope.” Survivors include his son, mother, and sister.
Emilio Pucci MA ’37
Emilio Pucci, MA ’37, a world-famous designer whose creations were worn by Jacqueline Kennedy and Grace Kelly, died November 29, 1992, of an apparent heart attack in a hospital in Florence, Italy.
Pucci’s bold colors and sweeping lines shattered previous notions of design, making him an icon of the psychedelic movement. In addition to his impact on the world of fashion, he also played a role in a striking episode of spycraft in WWII—helping to smuggle the secret diaries of Galeazzo Ciano, Italy's foreign minister, to the Allies. He was later involved in politics and was elected to the Italian paliament in 1963.
Eileen Ruth Pease Kuhns ’45
Eileen Ruth Pease Kuhns ’45, March 15, 2013, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Eileen was orphaned at the age of 2, and lived with several of her relatives before she “struck out on her own” and returned to her hometown of Portland at 15. She went to Reed on a full scholarship, earning a BA in sociology. The Reed experience, and the humanities program in particular, were the “springboard” for her life, she wrote. In May 1945, she married college sweetheart Edward Douglas Kuhns ’45, whom she found to be a kindred soul. Both Eileen and Douglas completed doctoral degrees at Syracuse University—Eileen’s was in sociology and anthropology. Eileen was a gifted researcher, who wrote numerous textbooks and papers and coauthored the book Managing Academic Change: Interactive Forces and Leadership in Higher Education (1975). She served as a director and trustee for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. She taught at Syracuse, Lake Forest College, and Montgomery College—where she advanced to the position of executive dean—and was dean of the faculty at Mount Vernon College. She was cofounder and president of Washington International College in Washington, D.C., and she taught sociology, anthropology, and statistical methodology at American University, George Washington University, and later Catholic University, where she retired. The university’s president and her graduate students begged her not to retire, but she made the decision to do so at the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In a very busy life, Eileen found time to garden and to help rescue stray animals. Survivors include Douglas; children John, D.C., Paul, and Anne; and 8 grandchildren. “She taught them all that the world is an open and beckoning place, waiting to give you what you seek to find. She taught them the importance of giving back; always striving to leave the world a better place than you found it.”
Narciso Schutz Padilla ’52
Narciso Schutz Padilla ’52, October 20, 2011, in the Philippines. A family friend in the Philippines recommended Reed as the place for Narciso’s education. Narciso earned a BA in physics from the college and went on to earn an MS in civil engineering at MIT and an MS from Universidad de la Habana in Cuba. In Cuba, he married Maria Martinez and worked as a civil engineer, designing bridges, high-rise buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, and housing projects in North and South America. He also completed studies at the University of Puerto Rico, where he worked as a structural engineer. He then specialized in the Prescon System, a prestressed concrete construction, and returned to the Philippines to establish Prescon Philippines in 1967. He was director of the Philippine Contractors Association and worked in a number of capacities in the concrete business and for his community. Narciso and Maria had a son and daughter and lived in Manila.
Deborah Jean Parr Emery ’75
Deborah Jean Parr Emery ’75, April 20, 2013, in San Luis Obispo, California, from staph pneumonia. Deborah’s parents worked for the U.S. State Department and she spent most of her early years in Turkey. After graduating from Reed with a BA in art, she flew to Kabul, Afghanistan, where her parents had been stationed, and worked as a lifeguard. Following a severe back injury, she was flown to Silver Springs, Maryland, where her parents were living at the time, and underwent surgery. Deborah then enrolled at University of Maryland and earned a second BA in business. Her four-year college roommate Ellen Mankoff ’75, who provided details for this memorial, was in graduate school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore at the time and saw Deborah often. Deborah had a distinguished career in business, beginning with her work with the Opera Company of Boston, where she advanced to the position of comptroller in 1977. After that time, she moved to Seattle with her partner, a set designer with the Seattle Opera Company. In the early ’90s, she was business director for Kitsap Mental Health Services in Bremerton and a finance and operations manager for Bailey-Boushay House in Seattle. In 2005, she earned an MSN from Seattle University College of Nursing, passed the national boards, and became an advanced-practice psychiatric mental health nurse with a focus on addiction. She also was employed with the California Men’s Colony in Atascadero, California, and specialized in working with prisoners recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Reporting Deborah’s death, her sisters said that Deborah had not been in good health for many years, due to complications of knee replacements, and had suffered repeated bouts of pneumonia.
Gail Ann Abrahams Petersen ’61
Gail Ann Abrahams Petersen ’61,January 28, 2014, in Reno, Nevada.Gail earned a BA from Reed in English literature, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. That same year, she and Fredric F. Petersen ’61 were married. Gail earned a postgraduate certificate in education from the University of London in England and an MA in reading instruction from the University of Nevada at Reno. Her vocation was elementary school teaching, and she taught in schools in Reno for many years before retiring in 2010. She had a number of interests, chief among which were folk dancing and listening to and playing early music. Survivors include Fred, children Soren Petersen ’87 and Sophie Petersen ’93, two grandchildren, and her brother, Karl. “She will be sorely missed.”
Margaret Clark Potheau ’70
Margaret Clark Potheau ’70,October 31, 2013, in Sherborn, Massachusetts, from metastatic melanoma.Margo was at Reed for two years and completed her undergraduate education at Boston University. A talented horsewoman, she won many dressage and jumping competitions in her youth in El Paso, Texas, and later, before her children were born, she drove a BMW in stock car races and was a member of the BMW Car Club of America. Margo ran a mail-order business and was certified as an EMT and a medic. She worked as a home health aide and as a volunteer for the Sherborn Fire Department. She enjoyed athletic competitions and celebrated the successes of the Patriots and the Red Sox. A woman of strength and a gentle spirit, Margo is survived by her daughter and son and her sister.
Timothy Alan Patterson ’68
Timothy Alan Patterson ’68,May 18, 2014, in Berkeley, California, from brain cancer.
“I started thinking of myself as a writer in the 9th grade,” Tim wrote, “when my buddy Bill Sprague and I talked Mr. Russel, our English teacher, into letting us drop out of class, sit in the back, and work on a novel. No trace of that early work remains . . .”
David A. Podryski ’64
David A. Podryski ’64, in September 2012. David attended Reed for one year, 1960–61. His brother, Paul J. Podryski ’65, wrote in August 2013: “Sadly my brother David died last September (2012), after too many years of struggle with an unforgiving illness.I will always remember him as a young manof extraordinary intelligence, humor, and talents too diverse to list.”
Laura Kathleen Padilla ’96
Laura Kathleen Padilla ’96,March 16, 2014, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from complications related to cancer.Laura came to Reed with her twin sister, Sara Padilla ’96, and earned a BA from Reed in English literature, writing the thesis “The Dissolution of the Conspiracy: Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts” with Prof. Tom Gillcrist [English 1962–2001]. She went on to receive an MA from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD from the University of Texas, Austin, in English literature. Her dissertation was Land of Enchantment, Land of Mi Chante: Four Arguments in 20th Century New Mexican Literature. She wrote about the literature of her native New Mexico with “penetrating insight, unsparing honesty, and trenchant wit.” Her students at Colorado College, where she began her teaching career in 2006, remember her exacting scholarship and caring presence. She taught a variety of courses, including literary theory, Mexican American literature, and Native American literature. Laura noted, “My work examines the ways in which 20th-century New Mexico Hispanos engaged with the images produced of them by modernist writers in Taos and Sante Fe.”
Despite the physical strain resulting from cancer treatment, Laura persevered in her goals and was dedicated to her students and colleagues. She contributed to the Race and Ethnic Studies Program, the Southwest Studies Program, served on the student writing and minority concerns committee, and was at work on a book manuscript based on her dissertation. “Padilla offered clarity and insight into critical, and sometimes difficult, diversity issues, teaching in a gentle, light-hearted way,” said Colorado College chaplain Bruce Corriell. “Laura’s light and soulful presence will be deeply missed.” Prof. Gail Berkeley Sherman [English 1981–] wrote: “Last fall, she reminisced about how proud she had felt when she succeeded in her classes at Reed. We can be proud of the impact she had on many students at Colorado College and in the larger academic community. Laura had been struggling with cancer for the last 11 years. Her death is a tragic loss of a young scholar-teacher.”
Richard Lyle Potter ’50
Richard Lyle Potter ’50,November 12, 2014, in Northridge, California.Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Dick attended Regina College, the University of Saskatchewan, and Reed, where he received a BA in biology. He went on to earn an MS in zoology from Washington State College (University) and a PhD in biology from the University of Rochester, and was a research associate at Cal Tech in 1958–61. He joined the faculty in biology at San Fernando Valley State College (California State University, Northridge; CSUN) in 1961 and taught courses in physiology at CSUN until retirement in 1992. He also helped create a highly effective preprofessional advising office at the university, dedicated to supporting student applicants to medical, dental, and other health-related programs. In retirement, Dick served as president of the Association of Retired Faculty at CSUN and volunteered with the Methodist church as a teacher and choir member. Dick and Glenda Eberley were married for 50 years and had one daughter, Jayna. They traveled abroad, including to Europe and China. In retirement, Dick delved into family genealogy and enjoyed watercolor painting. Colleagues at CSUN remember him as a remarkable individual, possessed of a fine intellect and good humor. Survivors include his wife and daughter, two grandsons, and one great-grandson.
Derrol Elwood Pennington ’38
Derrol Elwood Pennington ’38,January 8, 2015, in Milwaukie, Oregon.Born on a prune farm on Kiger Island in the Willamette River, Derrol and his family, including brother [’39], later moved to Portland, where Derrol attended Reed as a day-dodger, commuting from the West Hills, along with Dorothy H. Taunton ’36. While at Reed, Derrol and Dorothy joined the Outing Club and the Mazamas. They camped, hiked, and climbed most of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Derrol worked in the chemistry lab for his tuition and wrote a thesis on the carbon-hydrogen ratio with Prof. Walter Carmody [1926–41]. Derrol and Dorothy married in 1938, and he went on to Oregon State College and to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a PhD in biochemistry and microbiology. He began teaching at the University of Oregon, but in 1943 was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for submarine service. Following the war, he taught at the University of Washington, worked for a chemical company, and then joined Tektronix, where he met his lifelong friend . Derrol was a member of the board of Tektronix, the Beaverton School Board, the Foreign Policy Association, Great Decisions, and the Cedar Mill Library Board. He and Dorothy enjoyed square dancing, bridge, and classical music. Their gift to Reed of an 18th-century cello continues to reside with the college’s music department. Survivors include Dorothy, three children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. A daughter predeceased him.
Ralph Eugene Pratt ’50
Ralph grew up in northeast Portland and served with the navy in the Pacific during World War II. He wrote a thesis on the welfare economics and consumer cooperation with Prof. Arthur H. Leigh [economics 1945–88] and earned a BA in economics. In 1953, Ralph and Evelyn F. Norell, or Evie, were married. They had two daughters, Melanie and Clare, and a son, Bruce. Ralph was the director of finance at the Double T Holding Company and worked for Halton Tractor, and Evie taught science. They traveled, enjoyed folk dancing, rafted, and were active in the West Hills Unitarian Fellowship. Ralph taught folk dancing at Reed for many years and led folk dancing events for Reunions for a decade. Following the death of their son in 1985, Ralph and Evie volunteered for many years with the Dougy Center. “A lover of coffee, beer, liberal politics, Mount Hood, the Gorge and the coast, Ralph was a true Oregonian.” Survivors include Evie, their daughters, and three grandchildren. Ralph’s cousin, Charles H. Hawkins ’52, also graduated from Reed.
Prof. Robert Joseph Palladino
Father Robert Palladino, a vital force in Reed’s calligraphy tradition and mentor to many scholars of the letter—including a penniless dropout named Steve Jobs—died quietly at home in Sandy, Oregon. He was 83 years old.
A former Trappist monk, Father Palladino taught calligraphy from 1969 to 1984, guiding students on an intellectual voyage through the art and history of the letters of the alphabet with brush, pen, quill, and ink.
Helen Perkins ’55
Helen died peacefully at home surrounded by her family and her favorite dog, Molly. Born in Chico, California, she attended Reed in 1953–55. She began her teaching career by traveling to Europe, stopping in Germany, where she taught for two years. Returning from Germany, she detoured to Alaska and met Jim Messick, literally over a smoking gun barrel in his bedroom following an ice-skating party. They became engaged after dating for two weeks, and were married for 38 years.
Helen used her passion for literacy to teach reading and writing, and her students loved her creative approaches. In 1972, she became the full-time mother of two children, Mike and Jennifer, a part-time Avon lady, and—in the 1980s—the statewide distributor for Bosch Kitchen Machines, maintaining more than 100 authorized dealers and demonstrators. Celebrated as the “Bread Lady,” she baked loaves of bread by the hundreds to raise funds for school trips and taught bread making at community schools and the state fair. She also bestowed the gift of reading on many illiterate children and adults on her own and through the Anchorage Literacy Project.
After retiring, she and Jim operated a bed and breakfast on Lake Lucille for 13 years. She enjoyed being a member of the Rose and Garden Club and her church, Wasilla Lake Church of the Nazarene. She is survived by her son, Mike Messick (Heather); and grandsons Ethan, Erek, Aedan, and Adam Messick; her daughter, Jennifer Messick Gilmour (Walt); and grandson, Luke Gilmour; and her sister, Jean Nilson (Gary).
Sid W. Parker MAT ’64
The only child of William and Gladys Parker, Sid grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he became an accomplished baseball and basketball player and met his future wife and lifelong partner, Bobbie Kirk. He continued to play baseball at the University of Washington, where he was a member of Theta Chi fraternity, and obtained a teaching degree. After getting a master’s degree from Reed, he later obtained an administrator’s certificate from Western Washington University.
In 1957, he and Bobbie moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, where he began his career in education as a math teacher at Oak Harbor High School. He was also a highly successful baseball coach and built lifelong friendships with many of his former players. Sid eventually became the assistant principal and then principal of the high school. During his 17 years as principal, he opened a new high school building in the community, leaving a legacy of educational excellence and changed lives. After retiring, he studied to become a financial planner and established a small financial services business. He and Bobbie moved to Enumclaw in 2013 to be near their children and grandchildren.
Barbara Creighton Pink ’46
Born in The Dalles in 1927, Barbara attended Reed for one year. She married David Pink and the couple leased a farm in Rufus, Oregon, where they farmed wheat. The couple then purchased a cherry orchard located in The Dalles, and her many duties included serving as the bookkeeper. When her husband died, she continued to partner with her son in the Pink Orchard. The property on Orchard Road is still in the family.
A dedicated wife and mother, Barbara also worked as a bookkeeper for the Mauser Lumber Company. She was an avid reader and a dedicated genealogist, tracking the roots of her and her husband’s families back to colonial America and prerevolution Ireland. These interests led Barbara to become a founding member of the Celilo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also an avid painter, working in watercolor, oil, and acrylic. Her son, Casey Pink, and daughters, Joan Chaichi and Dorothy Doyle, survive her.
Eunice Patterson Hyllested ’44
Born in Seattle, Wisconsin, to Eunice and Raymond Patterson, Eunice graduated from West Seattle High School and majored in political science at Reed.
She met her husband, Bob, on a World War II troop ship, the St. Michael, en route to Alaska where he served in the army in the Aleutians, and she was in civil service at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. They were married on March 13, 1945, while Eunice was serving in the Women’s Army Corps, just before Bob was sent to Okinawa. After the war, they settled in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, where Bob operated a delivery business and later did maintenance for the school system. Eunice had a bookkeeping and tax preparation business. For more than 60 years, she was an active member of the United Presbyterian Church, serving on the board of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. She also was elected to the Rice Lake Board of Education, and served 12 years. Eunice led the League of Women Voters in a census to create a balanced city council, served with Lakeview Medical Auxiliary and the Golden K Club, and for more than 50 years was a member of the Fortnightly Club. She drew joy from her church and family, and loved reading and playing bridge.
She is survived by her son, Robert.
Colleen Powers Mahon ’48
Born in Salem, Oregon, to Sidney and Anita Powers, Colleen was Queen of the Molalla Buckeroo and graduated as valedictorian from Molalla High School. After starting at Reed, she went on to Oregon State University, where she graduated with a degree in early childhood education. She later earned a master’s degree in teaching from OSU, and was a lifelong member of the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women.
Colleen married Harold Mahon and had three children, Anne, Keith, and Marlise. The family traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe, and lived in Seattle, Washington, Boulder, Colorado, Zurich, Switzerland, and Newton, Massachusetts. In later years, Colleen returned to Salem before moving to Missoula in 2013.
She was an active community member, particularly with the Girl Scouts and the PTA. Colleen loved raising Swiss mountain dogs, and was an avid genealogist, spending more than 20 years collecting stories and researching the lives of her family. Her daughter, Anne, preceded her in death, and her son, Keith, and daughter, Marlise Flynn, survive her.
Elizabeth Maia Powelson ’66
As a result of conversations sparked during the 50th reunion of the class of 1966, it was learned that Liz Powelson, who had for many years been listed as missing, had in fact been tragically murdered in New York in the spring of 1970.
Liz came to Reed from Walnut Creek, California. She was the daughter of Dr. David Harvey Powelson and Marion Wylie Powelson, and had four brothers, David, Roger, Bruce, and Angus, all of whom are still alive. During her freshman year, Liz lived in the Ladd dorm, part of a tight-knit group of freshmen women known collectively as Third Floor Ladd. Liz left Reed at the end of her sophomore year and moved to New York City. Soon after moving to New York, she married Steve Haberfeld ’63, although they had divorced by the time of her death.
Kurt Peterson Shanfield ’86
Kurt Peterson Shanfield ’86: fierce intelligence, resounding laughter.
Kurt cut a wide swath through Reed with her fierce intelligence and resounding laugh. Following the trajectory of her mother’s academic career, she grew up all over the world, from Dallas and Puerto Rico to Chicago and Australia, ultimately landing in Portland in 1982 as a freshman wise beyond her years. That made her instantly a “mom” figure for many of her friends: smart and centered, ready to clear the table, tackle your problem, and send you back out stronger than before.
Not that she was all seriousness. That laugh—more like an explosive cackle—was her calling card, punctuating everything that had her stamp of approval. It echoed around the Quad from the passenger seat of a “borrowed” golf cart careening around Renn Fayre, or while she made divots in the turf as she taught “Australian rules rugby” to the Reed team for PE credit. It resounded off the stained glass ceiling of Huber’s, adding backbone to a(nother) sweet Spanish coffee, and syncopated a Michael Jackson song driving one of the many Whirlpool parties over which she reigned. Brightening a heart-to-heart talk drawn into the early morning, you had her full attention, the full scope of her considerable mind, and there was no place or time that could ever matter more.
John L. Phillips Jr. ’48
John grew up in Milwaukie, Oregon, where he was active in sports and music. Through high school, he performed on his cornet/trumpet and sang with dance bands in the Portland area. He entered Reed in the fall of 1941, continuing his musical and sporting activities as he studied in earnest. In the spring of 1943, his Enlisted Reserve Corps unit was called to active duty in World War II. After extensive training as a bombardier-navigator—but no combat—he returned to civilian life. He married Elaine Conrad and they built a small house in Portland, where they raised their twin sons, Greg and Jeff.
John finished his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Reed, and continued his semi-pro musical career as a trumpet player and vocalist with the Bill Becker dance band. He also taught seventh grade for three years. He accepted a research fellowship at the University of Utah, and in 1953 was awarded a PhD degree. In 1955, John was appointed director of testing and counseling at the department of psychology of what was then Boise Junior College (now Boise State University). He was later appointed dean of students and chaired the division of social sciences. When that institution was reorganized for its imminent transformation into a university, John was chosen as the chairman of its psychology department, a position he would occupy until his retirement from Boise State University 20 years later. While at Boise State, John published nine books. His wife, Elaine, died in 1998, and John is survived
John Pokorny ’71
Born in Schuyler, Nebraska, Jack earned a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Nebraska, and later earned a teaching certificate at Humboldt State College in Arcata, California. He got a master of science in liberal studies at Reed, and taught in Merced and Coverdale, California, Corvallis, Oregon, and at the Nebraska Penitentiary in Lincoln. He was also a writer for station NETV in Lincoln, and later worked for the family business, Pokorny Oil in Schuler.
In midlife, Jack started making willow baskets and became a fulltime artist. He loved the Pawnee Indian heritage around the Schuyler area and collected the materials for his baskets— river willow, wild plum, dogwood, and various grasses—from the Platte River valley. For more than 30 years he sold his baskets all over the country and enjoyed meeting and forming relationships with people who purchased them.
Fred E. Palmer ’52
Born in Portland to Lowell (Elt) and Eugenia Palmer, Fred grew up in Sandy, Oregon, where his father taught at the two-room Cottrell School. In 1936, the family, including Fred’s two younger sisters, Patricia and Janis, moved to Baker City, where Elt taught in the high school and coached wrestling. It was the Great Depression, times were tough, and Fred long remembered enduring cold winters without adequate clothing. He graduated from Baker High School and joined the navy for two years with an eye on attending college on the G.I. Bill.
At Reed, he majored in sociology and wrote his thesis, “Family Solidarity as an Index of Social Disorganization,” with Prof. Howard Jolly [sociology 1949–70] advising.
Marcia Grein Pennington ’49
Marcia was born in San Pedro, California, and spent her early years in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Portland, Oregon. She met Frank Pennington ’48 of Seattle, Washington, while attending Reed, and they remained together until Frank’s death in 2001. Marcia graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in psychology. As a university wife, she followed Frank to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he taught chemistry at Coe College, and later to Chico, California, where he was a professor at California State University. While in Chico, Marcia obtained her graduate degree in English from CSU and taught English there until her retirement. Marcia’s strong belief in the importance of education impelled her to start the Frank Pennington Memorial Scholarship in the CSU College of Natural Sciences. Marcia and Frank were avid photographers; after retirement they traveled and photographed scenery around the world. She is survived by her son, David Pennington; her daughter, Adriane Pennington Borgias ’79; and her son-in-law Brandan Borgias ’79. Her granddaughter, Gaia Borgias Brown ’08, became the third generation in the family to attend Reed.
Enid Phillips Ledbetter ’46
Enid Lamar Phillips was born in Lexington, North Carolina, the fourth of five children of Ora and Wade Phillips. She graduated from Lexington High School and attended for two years before getting a bachelor’s of science degree in zoology from the University of North Carolina. She married Charles Bennett Ledbetter III, and the couple began their marriage in Polkton, North Carolina, before relocating to Burlington in 1950, where they raised their three children, Charles IV, Wade, and Cynthia.
Enid worked as a medical technologist for Alamance County Hospital and later for Burlington Memorial Hospital. She was an avid reader and enjoyed tennis, Carolina basketball, and robust conversations regarding politics and current events. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles, and her daughter, Cynthia.
Michael Preston ’83
Michael’s lifelong passions included teaching, music, meditation, and mindfulness, and he lived his life according to his Buddhist beliefs. He visited Breitenbush Hot Springs for the first time as a child and returned as an adult to attend retreats. In April 2017, he took his sons there for the first time to experience the healing powers and magical community. In December, he suddenly passed away at the retreat.
A native of Oregon, he grew up in Corvallis, and attended Milton Academy in Massachusetts. At Reed he majored in psychology and religion and wrote his thesis, “An Investigation of Psychokinetic Theory and Practice,” with Professors Les Squier [psychology 1953–88] and John Kenney [religion 1980–95]. Michael studied hermeneutics and extraterrestrial mathematical ontology at Purdue, where he was a research assistant. Then he went to the University of Cincinnati as a doctoral candidate in the philosophy of education. At UC, he met and married Kristin Seeberger. The couple made their home in Baltimore, Maryland, for 19 years, where his sons were born. Michael taught and played music, and was the director of religious education at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore.
Debra Porter ’75
Born in Pasadena, California, as a child Debra possessed unusual capacities: a photographic memory, stunningly rapid reading skill, extraordinary musical ability, and the facility to perceive patterns and perspectives. At 13, she volunteered to help children from troubled homes, foreshadowing a lifelong interest in helping the disadvantaged to lead better lives. Bored with high school, she took the SAT a year early, got a perfect score, and, chose Reed.
It was a good match. Reed nurtured and gave scope to her innovative mind. Her different-drummer creativity flourished. In her thesis, advised by Prof. Allen Neuringer [psychology 1970–2008], she demonstrated that pigeons could tell the difference between the music of Bach and the music of Stravinsky. It was published by a high-tier journal and continues to be cited to this day. She was even interviewed by Canadian Broadcasting on the topic, which she found quite amusing.
Linda Louise Blackwelder Pall ’67
April 29, 2018, in Moscow, Idaho, in her sleep.
Attorney, activist, teacher, mother, mentor, and friend, Linda imparted fierce devotion to justice, inclusion, and community, and gave others strength they didn’t know they had.
As a child, Linda moved with her family from Virginia to The Dalles, Oregon, where she graduated valedictorian of her high school class. From a young age she was interested in music and the arts and became an avid flutist and pianist. As her talent progressed, she began taking the bus to Portland for lessons and eventually earned a chance to play with the Portland Symphony. Linda’s passion for jazz, baroque, and woodwind quintets was matched by her passion for learning. She began at Reed as a philosophy major and wrote her thesis, “Reflections on the Problem of Obligation,” with Prof. Robert Paul [philosophy 1966–96] advising. This was followed by a master’s degree in philosophy of science from the University of London. While in England, Linda lectured in liberal studies at Kingston Polytechnic.
One of her favorite Reed professors was Robert Reynolds [physics 1963–2008], who remembered, “When she was still a Reed student, Linda Blackwelder impressed my wife, Ellen, and me as a force of nature. Her academic, musical, and calligraphic skills were manifest, as was her prodigious energy. Later, we enjoyed visits to her student digs in London, to her mother Dorothy’s home in The Dalles, and to her Portland residence as Linda Pall, wife of biologist Martin Pall. Her subsequent multi-faceted academic careers, political offices, and campaigns were stunning, as was her decade-long refusal to succumb to her illness. Late one night in my Reed office, I tuned to the local NPR station only to hear Linda initiating a conversation with Vladimir Putin. She invited him to visit Moscow (Idaho). He demurred, citing the large number of U.S. cities with Russian names. Her chutzpah, however, was totally unsurprising.”
Linda met her husband, Martin, while teaching at Portland State University. The couple moved to Moscow, Idaho, in 1972, and two years later welcomed their son Zachary.
“Many years ago, Linda adopted Judaism as her religion, and brought up Zach as a Jew, religiously,” Prof. William Peck [philosophy 1961–2002] said. “I asked her if there were any Jews in her family; she replied, ‘Blackwelder?! That’s half an anglicization of the German word for people from the Black Forest (Schwarzwälder). I’ve been there—they’re all Catholics.’ I forget what led her to start going to Jewish services, but she was impressed.”
Linda stayed home during Zach’s early years, and when he became a preschooler, she saw the need in the community for a preschool/kindergarten. As she did with so many projects, Linda dug in and helped to found the Moscow Day School. This was the beginning of a long and dedicated commitment to improve the Moscow community. As Zach grew older, Linda became active in city politics. She served as a city council member from 1977 to 1983, working tirelessly for community and progressive causes, including land use policies, local arts programs, downtown revitalization, a farmer’s market, library development, and historic preservation of buildings like Moscow’s Old Post Office, the 1912 Building, and the Carnegie Library.
To nurture her love of education and passion for politics and government, Linda earned both a master’s degree and a PhD in political science at Washington State University. While working on her PhD, she also enrolled in the University of Idaho, graduating from law school in 1985. After passing the bar, she set about building a practice in family law, employment law, and civil rights, in addition to a general civil practice.
Linda loved being involved in local government, and 10 years after her first stint on Moscow’s City Council, she ran again, serving from 1993 to 2001. After a narrow defeat in 2001, she was returned to a four-year seat on the council in 2003.
She worked in Lewiston, Idaho, until 1996, when she opened a solo practice in her beloved Moscow, where she practiced until her death. She taught Idaho State Bar courses and section events, served as a three-time vice president of the Second Bar District, and helped found several sections of the state bar, including the Family Law Section and the Diversity Section. Linda was also a prime mover in a series of civil rights seminars and celebrations to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Bill of Rights, including major symposia in 2011 and 2016, with nationally distinguished speakers and programs to facilitate young people’s appreciation for the rule of law and the traditions of the Bill of Rights in everyday America.
Prof. Peck was on the panel of speakers and remembered, “She wanted at least one nonlawyer on her panel and thought of me. I couldn’t say no, though I had to do some pretty fast studying to try to get up to speed for the discussions. I told them and our audience, mostly law students, that most of us don’t want a lot to do with lawyers, that litigation is only one way to solve social problems, and that legal solutions and procedures only work well when what some people call ‘civil society’ is in good shape—i.e., the network of nonlegal and nongovernmental agencies and institutions, e.g., churches, that connect people and support cooperation. It was a very exhilarating experience, as was the many hours I turned out spending with Linda during that event, notably an all-night drive from Moscow to Boise along with an ACLU lawyer who had flown in from D.C. for the symposium. I prompted her to talk to keep awake, and she practically recited her life story. That was Linda all the way. I’m very sorry indeed that I won’t see her again. I know I won’t see her like again.”
In 2013, after 26 years of teaching at Washington State University and a year of serious illness, Linda retired from teaching and as coordinator of business law for the College of Business at WSU. For nearly a decade she had been living with primary pulmonary hypertension—a terminal condition—and had been recently diagnosed with uterine cancer and acute kidney failure. She was in and out of hospitals and care facilities, at death’s door, and as she put it, “doing hand-to-hand combat with the grim reaper on a daily basis.” Linda emerged a fierce advocate for improved diagnostic services for patients with rare, orphan diseases like PAH. She founded the Inland Northwest Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Support Group, Inc., which, in addition to lobbying Congress for research funds for NSF and other research organizations, formed a steering committee to establish a center at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University, Spokane, to give medical students education and opportunities to hone their skills in the diagnostics of this complicated and difficult disease.
During the first week of dialysis, Linda lost 50 pounds of water weight, and as the weeks went by, more weight came off. Following physical and occupational therapy, she gained strength, became more confident, and was able to return home. She began gardening with a vengeance. “I thought I better do something since I was given time,” she said. “I may be a short-timer, but I feel better than I have for years.”
Linda volunteered for the Moscow Board of Adjustment, advocated for sensible town planning with a local citizens group, and was active in Democratic Party politics. She was a chair of the county Democratic Party in the ’70s and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Jimmy Carter in 1980. In 2000, she secured the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District and went on to face Lt. Gov. Butch Otter that fall. Otter went to Congress and Linda returned to her law practice and the town that she loved. A longtime member of the county’s human rights task force, she was the prime mover in the creation of the City of Moscow’s Human Rights Commission. Her devotion and commitment were acknowledged with numerous civic and human rights awards, including Idaho Politician of the Year, the Access to Justice Award from the Idaho State Bar Association, and the Eva Lassman Take Action Against Hate Award from Gonzaga University. Moscow honored her in 2008 with Linda Pall Day.
In addition to her volunteer work, Linda found time to take photographs and had public exhibitions in Moscow, Idaho, and Kansas City, Missouri. She was a calligrapher since taking courses with Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [English & art 1929–69] at Reed.
“We were somewhat consoled to learn that her last evening was spent in relaxed dining and conversation with her beloved son Zachary,” said Prof. Bob Reynolds.
David Ambrose Potts ’62
September 2, 2018, in Seattle, of lung cancer.
David grew up in the foothills of Mount Rainier, the eldest of nine children born to Ambrose and Mary Potts. He was a brilliant student, graduating from Seattle’s Eatonville High School at the age of 16. David attended Reed on a National Merit Scholarship. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, writing his thesis with Prof. Arthur Leigh [economics 1946–88].
David married fellow alum Edith Skip Wolff ’62 and moved to Seattle to begin working on a master’s degree at the University of Washington, where he fell in love with photography. He was hired by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as a photographer in 1966, and in his 12 years with the newspaper he photographed the Beatles, Richard Nixon, Bobby Kennedy, the maiden flight of the Boeing 747, and much more.
Shirley Petersen Goldberg ’45
In 2018, in Nanaimo, BC, Canada.
Passionately dedicated to teaching and film, Shirley eventually combined the two. At the age of 89, she was awarded the Film Paragon Award at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, acknowledging a lifetime not only of teaching, exhibiting, and reviewing film, but of inspiring others to produce, exhibit, and love film.
Jacqueline Boklan Paulson ’48
November 1, 2018, in New York City.
A pioneer in the development of curriculum for prevention of child abuse and neglect in teacher education, Jacqueline came to Reed from New York City. She was here a year and met her spouse, Harry Murphy ’40, whom she later divorced. Jacqueline earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA and then a master’s in psychology from the College of Staten Island.
Mary Piper Leber ’50
January 4, 2019, in Mercer Island, Washington.
Born to John and Marian Piper, Mary was raised on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill and graduated from Queen Anne High School. She chose Reed because one of her best friends was going here.
Jean Pecore Wever ’47
August 7, 2019, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Jean was born in Washington, D.C., attended schools in Portland, and started at Reed when she was 16. Majoring in biology, she wrote her thesis, “A Preliminary Report on the Distribution of Alkaline Phosphatase in Triturus torosus,” advised by Prof. Frank P. Hungate [biology 1946–52]. At Reed, she met and married Robert Charles Wever ’50. Their daughter Sara was born while they were living in Texas, and Mary was born while they were living in Hawaii. In 1960, the family moved to Salt Lake City, where Jean taught special-needs students. When the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, she earned a second bachelor’s degree in art from Arizona State University.
Anna Bozarth Payne ’53
June 6, 2019, in Happy Valley, Oregon.
Anna spent her childhood in Virginia and California before following in the wake of the migration of some of her aunts and uncles to Redmond, Oregon, during World War II. She was one of five finalists in the Miss Oregon Pageant.
Josephine Pesman Chanaud ’49
October 2019 in Prescott, Arizona.
While in high school in Denver, Colorado, Jo met with two “Reed Travelers,” current students who answered her questions about the college. They clinched the deal when they reported there were no sororities, no interschool athletics, no verboten subjects, and an emphasis on small classes with a 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio. She started at Reed when she was 16 years old and found it quite unlike her high school campus. Classical music played in the background as she studied in her room at Winch. If the sun shone for days in a row, hundreds of students would haul their typewriters out on the lawn to write their papers. Instead of trying to blend in, people stood out and were characters: Mark Schindler ’45 was a yogi who studied upside down, and Alexander MacDonald ’46 dressed up in 18th-century clothing.
Felix Prael ’66
September 18, 2019, in San Diego, California.
Felix took a semester off from his studies at Reed to be a deckhand on a Standard Oil tanker. He came back, wrote his thesis, “Eggs in a Blind Gut,” with Prof. William Baker [English 1964–69], graduated, and then went back to sea for eight months. He rode motorcycles and worked for Sonoma State Hospital, where he met his first wife, Frances.
Patricia Prindiville Bostwick ’45
September 14, 2004, in Lincoln City, Oregon
Patricia was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Kaimuki, spending many of her summers at Kamalo and Molokai. After graduating from Punahou High School, she attended Reed for two years and then the University of Hawaii. In 1952, she married Corky Bostwick; they had two children. She was a part-time real estate agent and an avid golfer and mah-jongg player. A resident of Honolulu, Patricia was a volunteer with the Friends of Iolani Palace and collected antiques and koa wood furniture. She is survived by her children, Prindi Flug and Charles Bostwick.
Millard (Pete) Petersky ’63
February 1, 2020, in Seattle, Washington.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Pete graduated from Garfield High School and then studied at the University of Washington, where he received bachelor’s degrees in both art and education.
After earning his first degree, he married and then served in the military police at Camp Drum in Watertown, New York. On discharge, he and Ruth, his wife, traveled briefly to Europe before returning to Seattle, where Pete began a 33-year career in teaching and counseling at both Mercer Island and Bellevue High Schools.
Prof. William Peck [philosophy ’61–’02]
January 29, 2021, in Portland, following a long illness.
Bill and his identical twin brother, Robert, were born in New York City and raised in Hinsdale, Illinois. The two were very close as siblings, sharing a love of literature, languages, music, and baseball, and were a great balance and support to each other from childhood through elderhood. They attended prep school together at the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut, and then went on to college at Yale, after which they traveled Europe and worked in the Sierras.
Victoria Palmer ’70
April 13, 2020, in Salem, Oregon, from lung cancer.
Vicki, the daughter of a successful San Francisco attorney, had a childhood in Marin County filled with ballet lessons, riding, and music. Every summer, she spent a month with her mother and brother at the family vacation home in Lake Tahoe while her father continued to work in the city. What might have been an idyllic childhood was tragically marred by both parents’ active alcoholism. Their sometimes violent arguments left emotional scars that Vicki carried through her entire life. She finished her bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Oregon.
One day, Vicki realized that she had become an alcoholic. At the age of 53, she attended her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, beginning a journey of recovery that resulted in finding the loving family she had always wanted, a safe place to learn and grow, and an amazing opportunity to help others.
Jonathan Pharazyn ’76
April 11, 2021, in Mountain View, California, in a bicycle accident.
The only child of Lucille and Philip Pharazyn ’49, Jonathan was born in San Francisco and spent his early years in the San Carlos Hills and Honolulu, where he became an avid surfer. His family returned to the Bay Area, where he graduated from high school. After attending Reed for two years, he finished his bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish at the University of Illinois and went on to get master’s degrees in elementary education and education administration. Jonathan became active in politics and social justice movements addressing racism and poverty while living in Chicago during the ’70s.
Judith Forsythe Powell ’60
October, 26, 2021, in Hinsdale, Illinois.
At Reed, Judith wrote her thesis, “Variables Which Differentiate Release Patterns of Unmarried Mothers,” advised by Prof. Carol Creedon [psychology 1957–91]. She earned a master’s degree in social work from Smith College, became a clinical social caseworker, and then established a psychotherapy private practice in Chicago and Oak Brook, Illinois. Judith loved to travel with her husband, William Powell, and they made it around the world three times. He survives her, as do her two sons, Steven and Christopher Powell
Dan Persyko ’60
February 6, 2015, on Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Dan was born in Warsaw, Poland, at a time when anti-Semitism was on the rise. His family fled the country when Germany began bombing Warsaw on the eve of Dan’s second birthday. Dan’s father, Dr. Isaac Persyko, earned money practicing medicine as they traveled east on foot through the former Soviet Union. He was put to work as a prisoner of war doing labor in the Russian timber industry and then forced to work as a physician performing battlefield medicine on the front lines of the Russian army. Dan’s mother, Henia, found work caring for animals on a Russian circus train. Dan stayed with her and collected coal along the tracks to keep them warm as they traveled. Dan remembered his time on the circus train fondly, recounting how Lenia the elephant trusted him and came when he called her.
Andrea L. Prentice ’77
June 18, 2021 in Yakima, Washington.
Born in Yakima, Washington, Andrea graduated from Davis High School before heading to Reed. She later transferred to the University of Washington, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music and ethnomusicology, with an emphasis on piano. She lived in Seattle for several years and then in 1987 became co-owner and manager of Prentice Packing and Storage Company. The decision to return to Yakima and enter the family business proved significant in her life, reconnecting Andi to the Yakima Valley. She appreciated and valued the many people she worked with during her years at Prentice Packing.
Maryanna Pearson Henkart ’58
July 2022, In Alexandria, Virginia.
When she was growing up in East Portland, Maryanna wanted to be an actress. But the Rev. O. W. Pearson, her father, convinced her she should be a scientist. She started at Reed as a biology major, living at home until her senior year, when she moved into Anna Mann. Maryanna performed in musicals at Reed and played the wife in the stage production of Death of a Salesman. She wrote her thesis, “Some Preliminary Studies on the Purification of a Tartrate Dehydrating Enzyme in Pea Seeds,” advised by Prof. Helen Stafford [biology 1954–87]. While at Reed, she met and married Arthur Warmoth ’59. They later divorced.
Maryanna earned a PhD in biology from Harvard University and had a two-year fellowship at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She took a job as a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health and then joined the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, where she became the director of the division of molecular and cellular biosciences. She married Pierre Henkart in 1967; they were divorced in 1988.
Sarah Pliner ’94
John Valls
October 4, 2022, in Portland, in a bicycle collision.
Sarah moved from New York City to attend Reed, but dropped out and began working in restaurants.She landed a job in the kitchen of the Heathman Hotel—her first big opportunity in the world of fine dining—and then moved on to Giorgio’s. Returning to New York, she began making a name for herself at Michelin-starred restaurants like Aquavit and Aldea. One person Sarah had worked with was Jasper Shen. They reconnected after a period of time and discovered that they were both ready to leave New York. Forming a triumvirate with Shen’s wife, pastry chef Kat Whitehead, they moved to Portland and opened Aviary in 2011. Sarah described the new restaurant’s cuisine as modern French technique with global flavors. The restaurant was housed in a building that burned down five months after Aviary opened, having been set afire by stray Fourth of July fireworks. It reopened 10 months later on Northeast Alberta Street and was named Restaurant of the Year by Willamette Week, putting Sarah on the map. People swooned over such dishes as foie gras bao, crispy pig ears, and cardamom pudding. A review in Conde Nast Traveler deemed Aviary’s food “inventive,” and said, “You’ll enjoy cocktails on the patio and a meal that’ll quietly knock your socks off.”
Charles Pollack ’61
February 4, 2023, in Palo Alto, California.
Born to Samuel and Esther Pollack, Charlie lived in the Bronx until his 10th birthday, when the family, which now included his younger brother David, moved to Van Nuys, California, so Sam could open his own pharmacy. At Van Nuys High School, Charlie lettered as a member of the varsity tennis team.