Obituaries
Virgil Aldrich is dead at ninety-four
V irgil C. Aldrich H'72, a distinguished member of the Kenyon faculty from 1949 to 1965, died of pneumonia on May 28, 1998, at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was ninety-four.
Aldrich left Kenyon to accept a special professorial appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which promised more time for his writing. Aldrich later joined the faculty of the University of Utah, which has established the Virgil C. Aldrich Fellowships in the Humanities in his memory.
Born in India, where his parents were missionaries, Aldrich was brought up in the shadows of the Himalayas. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, he went on to study at Oxford University and at the Sorbonne, where he earned a diploma in philosophy. He then enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, which awarded him a Ph.D. in 1931.
Prior to joining the College's faculty, Aldrich taught at Mills and Wells colleges and Rice and Columbia universities. A prolific scholar, he was the author of Philosophy of Art, a much-respected book that has been translated into at least six languages, and The Body of a Person, as well as more than eighty essays addressing his interests in the philosophies of art, language, and religion.
Kenyon awarded Aldrich an honorary doctorate at Commencement in 1972. "No philosophic gamesman or technician," the citation noted, "you showed your colleagues that wit and humanity are necessary aids to insight. In your discourses with us, you revealed clarity without sterility, sought truth rather than facile conclusions, and practiced patient analysis without pedantic nit-picking."
No information was available on Aldrich's survivors.
Aaron C. Bennett '21 on December 1, 1998, after a brief illness. He was ninety-nine years old and a resident of Hampton, Virginia.
Aaron, a member of Sigma Pi, served in the Student Army Corps (a precursor of the Reserve Officer Training Corps) while at Kenyon and graduated with a bachelor's degree in the classical course of study. He then attended Bexley Hall before going on to graduate from General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1924. Ordained as a deacon in 1924 and as a priest in 1925, Aaron served in the Kane Mission Field, then became a curate at the Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was priest-in-charge of St. Agnes's Church in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania, from 1926 to 1937 and rector of St. Andrew's Church in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, from 1937 to 1944. In 1944, Aaron moved to Kentucky to serve as rector of St. Paul's Church in Hickman and vicar of missions in Columbus and Fulton until 1948. From 1948 until his retirement in 1967, he was rector of St. John's Church in Cape Vincent, New York.
At the time of his death, Aaron was the oldest living alumnus. He is survived by his son, Edgar C. Bennett '54; a daughter, Jane B. Frazer; five grandchildren, including Mary Bennett Smith '89; and three great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Kenyon Fund, Office of Development, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022-9623; General Theological Seminary, 175 Ninth Avenue, New York, New York 10011; or the American Heart Association.
Harold W. Burris 1932, on February 10, 1998. He was ninety-one and a resident of Port Charlotte, Florida.
Harold was a member of Delta Tau Delta at Kenyon. He went on to become president and owner of Halter's Pretzel Company in Canton, Ohio, until his retirement in 1958. Harold then became a self-employed personal investor.
Harold, who was preceded in death by a daughter, Libby Ann McMillan, is survived by his wife, Vivian R. Burris; two sons, Michael R. and Harold W. Burris Jr.; and one grandchild. Memorial contributions may be made to Burnt Store Presbyterian Church, 11330 Burnt Store Road, Punta Gorda, Florida 33955.
David Acheson '37 on December 18, 1998. He was eighty-three and a resident of Essex, Connecticut.
David was a member of Chi Psi at Kenyon. He went on to receive master's degrees from Columbia University in 1940 and Yale University in 1942. From 1942 to 1945, David served in the U.S. Naval Reserve in Atlantic and European waters during World War II, receiving a number of medals and ribbons. At his retirement, he was director of information in the Office of University Development at Yale. David was a member and president of the Essex Historical Society and a member and treasurer of the Essex Land Conservation Trust.
David is survived by his wife, Jane Acheson; two daughters, Pamela Acheson Myers and Sophie Acheson; two sons, Rees H. and David Acheson III; and two grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Connecticut Hospice, 61 Burham Drive, Branford, Connecticut 06405; the Essex Historical Society, 22 Prospect Street, Essex 06426; or Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.
Jacob "Jake" Ford II '38 on December 28, 1998, following a brief illness. He was eighty-two and a resident of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Jake, a member of Beta Theta Pi at Kenyon, graduated cum laude with a major in economics. He went to work with Farmers and Traders Bank in 1938, then joined First National Bank in 1945. Jake retired as board chair and chief executive officer from First Midwest Bankcorp, Inc., and First National Bank. Later, he began a second career as a consultant with Commerce Bank in St. Joseph, retiring in April 1994. At the time of his death, Jake was a director and secretary for Ross-Frazer Supply Company and trustee for Mount Mora Cemetery Association. Active in his community, he was honored in 1998 with the construction of the Jake Ford Marsh and Rookery on the outskirts of Miltona, Minnesota.
Jake is survived by his wife, Hannah Bartlett Ford; three sons, Bartlett, John J., and Robert M. Ford; four grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 301 North Seventh Street, St. Joseph 64501, or The Jake Ford Marsh Fund, c/o Pioneer Heritage Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 337, Evansville, Minnesota 56326.
John "Jack" Clements Jr. '40 on October 11, 1998. He was seventy-nine and a resident of Naples, Florida.
Jack graduated from Kenyon cum laude with a major in English. He went on to earn a master's degree from Harvard University in 1942 before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, spending much of his time enhancing the effectiveness of PT boats. Jack succeeded his father as president of Wayne Works, bus-body manufacturers, and later became president of Kemper Brothers, a kitchen cabinetry firm, retiring in 1965. He then became board chair of the Second National Bank, retiring in 1974.
Jack is survived by his wife, Frances McGuire Clements; two daughters, Carole Clements Garland and Mary Clements Michelfelder; a son, John Clements; and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Naples, 1095 Whippoorwill Lane, Naples 34105, or First Presbyterian Church of Naples, 250 Sixth Street South, Naples 34102.
John M. Hager 1940 on September 25, 1998. He was eighty-two and a resident of South Bend, Indiana.
John was a member of Psi Upsilon at Kenyon. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, earning the Presidential Unit Citation and five battle stars. After the war, John went to work for A.M. General Corporation as a quality assurance engineer, the job from which he retired. John's daughter wrote, "He was very proud of Kenyon, and he had fond memories of his time spent there."
John, who was preceded in death by his wife, Jean, is survived by three daughters, Ann B. Thomas, Elizabeth Kelly, and Judy Spurgeon; a son, John W. Hager; and nine grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Joseph County, 111 Sunnybrook Court, South Bend 46637.
George W. DeGraff '42 on February 2, 1999. He was seventy-nine and a resident of Glen Arbor, Michigan.
George was a history major and a member of Sigma Pi at Kenyon. During his sophomore year, he took over the job of playing the chimes in the Church of the Holy Spirit for fifteen minutes before church services as well as on special occasions in the life of the College and the community, a task he loved and performed until the end of his senior year. George went on to attend Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1945. From 1945 to 1950, he served as rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Cheboygan, Michigan, then as curate at Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, until 1955. From there, George went on to Galesburg, Illinois, where he served as rector of Grace Episcopal Church until 1972; he was named rector emeritus in 1980. In 1985, George moved to Glen Arbor, where he was a member and interim pastor at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Beulah, Michigan. He was "nonparochial" from 1972 until his retirement in 1980. His wife, Avel, wrote, "George died with dignity, with a picture of Kenyon on the wall."
George is survived by his wife; a daughter, Deborah S. DeGraff; and a son, William G. DeGraff. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Beulah Highway, Beulah 49617.
Walter N. Elder '42 on October 27, 1998 of lung cancer. He was seventy-seven and a resident of Falls Church, Virginia.
At Kenyon, Walt was the editor of the Collegian, a contributor to Hika, and a member of the baseball team and Phi Kappa Sigma. After graduating cum laude with a major in philosophy, he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and commissioned as a second lieutenant in October 1944. Walt served in Europe for one year as a bombardier on an A-26 aircraft before being discharged in the fall of 1945. He then returned to the College as an assistant in the English department. In the summer of 1946, Walt served as a special assistant to President Gordon Keith Chalmers in setting up the Conference on the Heritage of the English-Speaking Peoples and Their Responsibility. He then enrolled at Harvard University for graduate study and subsequently joined Kenyon's philosophy faculty in 1947. In 1948, Walt was named a Rhodes Scholar and left for Oxford University, where he received his doctorate in 1950. He returned to the States in 1950, spending a year on the faculty of Washington and Lee University before entering the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1951. Walt functioned in many roles during his thirty-three-year CIA career, starting as an intelligence analyst and then becoming executive assistant and speech writer for the head of the agency. From 1966 to 1968, he was posted to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was the chief of the station. When he returned to the States, Walt became chief of the agency's history staff. From 1976 to 1984, he served as executive secretary of the National Foreign Intelligence Board, comprising the heads of all intelligence operations in the country. When he retired in 1984, Walt was awarded a National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.
Walt is survived by his wife, Betty Elder; a daughter, Jacqueline Elder; and a sister, Nancy Poncik. Memorial contributions may be made to the Children's Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 91896, Washington, D.C. 20090.
Alexander B. Sharpe '42 on September 18, 1998. He was seventy-eight and a resident of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Alex, a physics major, was a member of Senior Council and Sigma Pi at Kenyon. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, serving in the Pacific. In 1946, Alex went to work for the Ohio Foundry and Manufacturing Company, first as an assistant foreman, then as assistant plant manager. In 1956, he went into sales, working for the S.K. Wellman Company until 1966. Alex remained in sales, working for the Sharmont Corporation and Doerfer Engineering until 1972. At that time, he became a self-employed consultant on sales and manufacturing. From 1979 until his retirement, Alex worked as a travel agent in Canada and the United States.
Alex is survived by his wife, Marjorie; three sons, Stephen and Alexander B. Sharpe III and Gordon Cheesbrough; several grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Memorial contributions may be made to the Toronto Community Foundation, 1 Dundas Street West, P.O. Box 78, Suite 502, Toronto, M5G 1Z3, Canada.
Burdette S. Wright Jr. 1943 on October 2, 1998, of a heart attack. He was seventy-eight and a resident of Leesburg, Virginia.
Burdette was a member of Alpha Delta Phi at Kenyon. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. As a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force, Burdette was shot down over Europe and taken prisoner by the Germans. After seventeen months as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft No. 1 in Barth, he was liberated shortly before VE day by the advancing Russian forces. His services during the war earned him the Bronze Medal and the Purple Heart. Burdette went on to graduate from Georgetown University, after which he became a reporter and assistant editor for the American Aviation Publishing Company and the Globe Press Syndicate. He joined the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1950s and served in Argentina and Vietnam before retiring in 1973. From 1974 to 1984, Burdette represented Los Angeles (California) County as its congressional liaison in Washington, D.C., after which he retired and moved to his grandparents' farm in Leesburg.
Burdette is survived by his wife, Suzanne Walker Wright; a daughter, Mary E. Wright '75; five sons, Duncan K., Campbell R., Thomas W., Alexander C., and Andrew W. Wright; a stepson, Joseph W. Henderson III; and seven grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Department, 215 Loudoun Street S.W., Leesburg 20175.
John E. Ake 1944 on June 29, 1998. He was seventy-six and a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
A member of Beta Theta Pi at Kenyon, John transferred in 1942 to Pennsylvania Military College, where he earned his bachelor's degree. After serving as a U.S. Army lieutenant in Germany during World War II, he went to work in the mechanical-research department of Quaker Oats in Chicago, Illinois, for ten years. John returned to Ohio to work at Akron Metallic Gasket, where he eventually became president. In 1970, John moved to Fort Lauderdale to take over the Luke Brown yacht brokerage, and he began taking evening classes at the South Florida Art Institute. What started as a diversion evolved into a passion for bronze sculpting, and in the early 1980s John sold the brokerage and became a full-time artist. His work was featured at the Williamson Gallery in Fort Lauderdale and the Artcetera Gallery in Delray Beach, Florida, and in permanent displays at the Sculpture Showcase in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and the Gallery DuBois in Aspen, Colorado.
John is survived by his wife, Jo Bliss Ake; two daughters, Carolyn McDaniel and Katherine Grier; two sons, Philip Ake and Steven Kistner; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Memorial contributions may be made to the South Florida Art Institute, 35 S.W. First Avenue, Dania, Florida 33004.
Herman "Bunny" Vogel '47 on January 18, 1999. He was seventy-five and a resident of Paris, Tennessee.
An English major at Kenyon, Bunny was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He withdrew in 1943 to join the U.S. Navy Seabees and served for eighteen months in the Pacific. After his discharge in 1946, Bunny returned to the College to complete his degree, serve as president of his fraternity, and begin a lifelong friendship with Jonathan Winters '50, who called him a "prince among men." Bunny moved to Paris in 1948, where he was an officer with the H.C. Spinks Clay Company until his retirement in 1997.
Herman was preceded in death by his wife, Caroline Carothers Vogel. He is survived by two sons, Howard H. and Patrick H. Vogel; a sister; and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Grace Episcopal Church, 103 South Poplar Street, Paris 38242.
Charles R. Derrickson '48 on September 14, 1998. He was seventy-one and a resident of Salisbury, Maryland.
A member of Alpha Delta Phi at Kenyon, Charles entered Jefferson Medical College while still an undergraduate and received his medical degree in 1950. After completing an internship at St. Joseph Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953, during the Korean War. Charles then became a general practitioner in Falls Church, Virginia, for eleven years before completing a radiology residency at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. He was a board certified radiologist at Arlington Hospital and Commonwealth Hospital of Fairfax, both in Virginia, before moving to Salisbury. Charles practiced radiology privately there and at Peninsula Regional Medical Center, where he served a term as chief of radiology before retiring in 1991.
Charles was preceded in death by his daughter, Amy, who died in 1958. He is survived by his wife, Theresa Kuhn Derrickson; four sons, Charles, Paul, James, and William Derrickson; a brother, Lloyd J. Derrickson II '47; and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Parkinson's Disease Association, 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Suite 4B, Staten Island, New York 10305.
Robert A. Collinge '50 on December 18, 1998, of heart failure. He was seventy-three and a resident of Bellingham, Washington.
Before entering Kenyon, Rob served in the U.S. Army in the South Atlantic during World War II. A political science major at the College, he was editor of the Collegian, associate editor of Reveille, president of Delta Phi and the Philomathesian Society, and a member of the football and lacrosse teams. From 1950 to 1962, Rob held positions with the William S. Merrill Company and Eastern Airlines. He also worked as a printing and publications specialist in the U.S. Department of State, a magazine editor with coal-industry publications, and a lobbyist for construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. From 1962 to 1982, Rob served as an officer in the U.S. Information Agency in Ankara, Turkey; Saigon, Vietnam; Calcutta and New Delhi, India; Johannesburg, South Africa; Bridgetown, Barbados; and Washington, D.C. A lifelong trumpeter, he performed and recorded with jazz bands while still in his teens. In Bellingham, he taped a series of one-hour jazz retrospectives, "Davenport Blues," most recently used as the sound-track for a Western Washington University exhibit entitled "Seeing Jazz."
Rob is survived by his wife, Jo Ann Hardee Collinge; two daughters, Deborah and Lee Collinge; a son, John G. Collinge; and three grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Kenyon Fund, Office of Development, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022-9623.
Frederick L. Phillips '50 on July 20, 1998. He was seventy-one and a resident of Wakefield, Rhode Island.
An English major at Kenyon, Frederick was a member of Delta Phi. He went on to receive a master's degree in divinity in 1953 from Bexley Hall, where he won the Dean Bryer Prize for excellence in preaching. Frederick was ordained to the diaconate in May 1953 and to the priesthood in 1954 in the Church of the Holy Nativity in the Bronx, New York, where he served as curate. He went on to serve in several Rhode Island churches, recently retiring after twenty-five years with the Church of the Ascension in Wakefield. Frederick was president of Rhode Island Clericus, dean of the Narragansett Deanery, a member of the Diocesan Council Hunger Task Force, secretariat of the Rhode Island Episcopal Cursillo, and spiritual director of several Rhode Island Cursillos.
Frederick is survived by his wife, Gloria Sternhagen Phillips; and three brothers, John P., Duncan M., and Richard O. Phillips '57. Memorial donations may be made to St. Peter's-by-the-Sea, P.O. Box 296, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, or the Church of the Ascension, Box 5248, Wakefield 02880.
William H. Ellis 1951 on December 8, 1998, of a heart attack. He was sixty-nine and a resident of New Brighton, New York.
Bill attended Kenyon for one year, after which he served one year in the U.S. Navy. He completed a bachelor's degree in directing at the Goodman Theater Conservatory at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953. After several years of theatrical work, Bill returned to school at Columbia University for a master's degree in social psychology and then went on to earn a Ph.D. from New York University in 1975. He retained his interest in and love for the theater while maintaining a private practice in psychotherapy and combined the two through the Artists Therapy Service, devoted to solving the problems common to many creative individuals: trouble balancing artistic urges and economic realities, blocks to artistic goals, and barriers created by a sometimes unimaginative society.
Bill is survived by his wife, Miriam Roelofs Ellis (sister of the late McIlvaine Professor of English Gerrit H. Roelofs); a daughter, Miriam Ellis Swann; three sons, William H., David M., and Jonathan Ellis; and four grandchildren.
Dick W. Furbee 1951 on August 26, 1997. He was sixty-seven and a resident of Naples, Florida.
A member of Middle Kenyon Association, Dick served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he went on to a distinguished career in the food industry, retiring in 1986 as vice president of the Dole Company.
Dick is survived by his wife, Sue Ann; two daughters, Linda Coyle and RuthAnn Merritt; two sons, Craig and Scott Furbee; a brother, Fritz Furbee; and five grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church, 1225 Piper Boulevard, Naples 34110.
H. Lee Hirsche 1951 on November 27, 1998, of a stroke. He was seventy-one and a resident of Baltimore, Maryland. Lee was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945, serving in the Signal Corps as a cryptographic technician. After being discharged in 1947, he spent three years at Kenyon before transferring to the Yale School of Fine Arts, where he received his bachelor's degree with high honors in 1954. Lee then moved to Austin, Texas, where he taught in the Department of Architecture at the University of Texas until 1956, when he moved to Massachusetts to join the studio-art faculty at Williams College. In 1978, he founded the Sculpture Foundations Studio in the Windsor Mill in North Adams, Massachusetts, where he designed, built, and installed "fluid sculptures." His works stand in scores of public and private spaces throughout the country, including the Bernhard Music Center at Williams. Lee retired from Williams in 1984 to concentrate solely on his art.
Lee is survived by his wife, Nancy Hubbard Hirsche; two sons, Adam and Evan Hirsche; and two grandchildren.
Samuel R. Bradley 1957 on July 20, 1998. He was sixty-two and a resident of Sarasota, Florida.
Sam, who attended Kenyon for two years, was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma. A U.S. Navy pilot with the rank of lieutenant commander, he served in the Vietnam War and in Libya. Sam then pursued a career as an airline pilot, retiring as a captain after thirty years with American Airlines.
Sam is survived by his wife, Carolyn M. Bradley; two daughters, Heather A. and Claire A. Bradley 1992; a son, Christopher T. Bradley; and a brother, Howard A. Bradley '48. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 5899 Whitfield Avenue, Suite 200, Sarasota, Florida 34243.
John D. Cronin '57 on October 20, 1998, of pulmonary hypertension. He suffered from scleroderma, a connective-tissue disorder. He was sixty-three and a resident of Lynchburg, Virginia.
A German major at Kenyon, John was an announcer on WKCO, a property manager for the Kenyon College Dramatic Club, and a member of the Archon Society, the Kenyon Choir, and the Kenyon Singers. He went on to earn a master's degree in Russian studies from Georgetown University and a doctorate in Germanic studies from the University of Bonn. After serving on the faculties of American University and the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), John joined Randolph-Macon Woman's College, where he had taught for the past eight years. An accomplished pianist, he regularly performed at faculty recitals while at UDC.
John is survived by his wife, Beate Maria Cronin, and three sons, Michael J., Christopher F. and Daniel A. Cronin.
Peter K. Kyle '59 on November 26, 1998, of cancer. He was sixty-one and a resident of Boston, Massachusetts.
An economics major at Kenyon, Peter was a member of the football team and Sigma Pi. Shortly after graduating, he joined IBM, where he had a distinguished career in marketing and sales. In the early 1990s, Peter left IBM and became a missionary, working with his wife, Cheryl Taliaferro Kyle. They were sent by Christ Church Episcopal of Greenwich, Connecticut, to serve the bishop and the Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro, teaching business skills and providing leadership support to the young diocese in Arusha, Tanzania. Most recently, Peter and Cheryl were co-executive directors of El Hogar Projects, a home for homeless boys in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Peter is survived by his wife; three daughters, Janet Ward, Katherine Tuttle, and Susan F. Kyle '96; a son, Peter K. Kyle Jr. '90; three stepchildren, Camille Beehler, Katharine Messerschmidt, and John Creber; a brother, Charles Kyle; a sister, Ellen Bastian; and ten grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Christ Church Greenwich, 254 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, Connecticut, for use in continuing the projects the Kyles began in Tanzania. Donations may also be sent to El Hogar Projects, P.O. Box 2175, Coconut Grove, Florida 33233.
John W. Pape '60 on October 16, 1998, after a long illness. He was sixty-one and a resident of Wilmington, Ohio.
An English major at Kenyon, John was a member of Psi Upsilon. He went on to earn a master's degree in business administration from Columbia University. In the mid 1960s, John moved to Alberta, Canada, where he formed a partnership with Henry H. Harrison '59, a childhood friend and fellow alumnus of the College. They purchased a small ranch and established a cattle-feeding operation. Following his marriage in 1965 to Canadian Linda Hammond, John and his wife bought a ranch in Skookumchuk, British Columbia, where they bred thoroughbred race horses and quarter horses. In the mid 1980s, the Papes purchased Stone Wall Farm in Wilmington, Ohio, where they concentrated their breeding efforts on quarter horses.
In addition to his wife, John is survived by a son, John W. Pape.
Jeffrey B. Ellis '67 on November 9, 1998, of a heart attack. He was fifty-three and a resident of Dayton, Nevada.
Jeff attended Kenyon from 1963 to 1965, served two years in the U.S. Army as an operations specialist, and then returned to Kenyon in 1970 to graduate in 1972. An economics major, he was a member of the football and lacrosse teams and Alpha Delta Phi. Jeff was also a volunteer assistant lacrosse coach during his last two years, after his eligibility to play had expired. After graduation, he joined American Airlines as a flight engineer. At the time of his death, Jeff was a pilot with the rank of captain.
"Jeff was an excellent player and a tremendous help as a coach," recalls Bill Heiser, who is still coaching Kenyon lacrosse. "In those days, there was no official assistant on the staff, but with Jeff's help we had some of our best teams ever during that period." "Jeff was a talented athlete throughout his life," recalls friend and classmate Lee VanVoris. "But more important, he was a sincere and loyal friend to many of us in the original Class of 1967, and he maintained his affiliation with that class always."
"Jeff's father had a career of more than thirty years as a pilot with American, so the outpouring of sympathy from the airline community was tremendous," says Nancy Peek Ellis '72, Jeff's former wife. "Everyone commented on Jeff's willingness to share his knowledge with the younger pilots and the encouragement he provided them, both on the ground and when he flew with new pilots on their first trips."
In addition to his former wife, Jeff is survived by their daughter, Marjorie L. Ellis; two brothers, James and Roys Ellis III; a sister, Susan Ellis Lawson; a niece, E. Ashley Van Etten '84; a nephew, Derek Van Etten; and his fiancee, Mary G. Fisher. Memorial contributions may be made to Kenyon College, Office of Development, Gambier, Ohio 43022-9623, or to Carson-Tahoe Hospital of Cardiac Rehabilitation, P.O. Box 2168, Carson City, Nevada 89702-2168.
Lynn Goodwin Borgman '76 on February 3, 1999, of an apparent heart attack. She was forty-four and a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio.
A religion major at Kenyon, Lynn was active in the Gambier Experimental College. She went on to do graduate work at the University of Chicago Divinity School before marrying James M. Borgman '76 and moving to Cincinnati. In a tribute published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Lynn was described as "a talented editor and entrepreneur whose fate it was to be lovingly caricatured in husband Jim Borgman's Enquirer editorial cartoons and in `Zits,' the comic strip on which he collaborates with Jerry Scott. While Jim was known as the creative force in the Borgman partnership, Lynn was known for her strong business sense as she designed and published compilations of his Enquirer cartoons. She was a long-time board member of the New School, a Montessori program in North Avondale, Ohio, attended by the Borgman children. Another of her passions was Women Writing for (a) Change in Madisonville, Ohio, where she was helping to organize a radio show based at the writing center. She was admired as a beautiful and thoughtful writer. An avid quilter, Lynn characterized herself as a `fabric artist.' She shared that talent with students at the New School." Lynn was also an active Kenyon alumna, having served as a career counselor.
In addition to her husband, Lynn is survived by her mother, Elizabeth Goodwin; a daughter, Chelsea; a son, Dylan; and two brothers, James and Jeffrey Goodwin. Memorial contributions may be made to The New School Scholarship Fund, 3 Burton Woods Lane, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229. In addition, the College has established a Memorial Garden at the Kenyon Center for Environmental Study, to which gifts may be sent in Lynn's memory. Donations may be sent in care of the Office of Development, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022-9623.
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