1940s

Willis Clifford Barnes '43

Willis Clifford Barnes '43, a naval engineer who retired as a rear admiral after 33 years on active duty, grew up in Utica, NY, where he was born on July 8, 1921. The only child of Joshua Clifford Barnes, an accountant, and the former Leah Paige, he came up the Hill in 1939 from Utica Free Academy. A trombonist in a local orchestra (the Johnnie Bradley Swing Band), Bill Barnes also became a member of the College Band. Academically outstanding and with a particular flair for mathematics, he won the Benjamin Walworth Arnold Scholarship and the Oren Root Prize Scholarship in math. Affiliated with Tau Kappa Epsilon, he remained on the Hill through his sophomore year, leaving to take up an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, not long before the country entered World War II.

Bill Barnes began his long and distinguished career with the U.S. Navy following his graduation from Annapolis in 1944. Serving on destroyers in both the European and Pacific theaters through the end of the war, he participated in Atlantic convoy escort duty and in the invasion of southern France, and was at Pearl Harbor on VJ Day. Married on March 16, 1946, to Marjorie A. Loftus in Waterville, NY (his classmate, the late Milt Jannone, was his best man), Lt. (j.g.) Barnes was subsequently sent by the Navy to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postgraduate study. At MIT he focused on naval architecture and marine engineering, with emphasis on nuclear power.

Following three years at MIT (1949-52), Bill Barnes spent a memorable decade working in Admiral Hyman G. Rickover's ­pioneering naval nuclear propulsion program. It was a unique and exciting time when the U.S. was "leading the entire world in the technology of practical nuclear energy," as Adm. Barnes later recalled. During that decade he was first assigned to the construction of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga at the New York Naval Shipyard, followed by transfer to Washington, DC. There he worked closely with Adm. Rickover in the development of nuclear propulsion capability for the U.S.S. Nautilus, the world's first operational nuclear-powered ­submarine, and the guided ­missile cruiser U.S.S. Bainbridge, the smallest nuclear-powered surface warship commissioned by any navy.

Bill Barnes subsequently returned to "more routine" shipbuilding and repair assignments in shipyards as Atlantic fleet maintenance officer and as head of naval ship design. He was commanding officer of the Naval Ship Engineering Center when he retired in 1977. After some 30 moves during his naval career, he and his wife settled in Vienna, VA, but spent their summers at their second home in Waterville, which permitted frequent visits to Hamilton's campus. Employed for several years after his retirement from the Navy by ORI, Inc., an engineering and scientific services company in Silver Spring, MD, Adm. Barnes, a skilled wood craftsman, devoted his spare time to furniture making and restoring, as well as auto repair. His antique furniture reproductions and his clocks now add distinction to the homes of his family members. In addition, his love of music, ­particularly classical, was lifelong, and he continued to play the trombone.

Rear Admiral Willis C. Barnes, a devoted alumnus, died on July 26, 2008, in Roanoke, VA. In addition to his wife of 62 years, he is survived by a daughter, Barbara L. Barnes; two sons, Thomas R. and David L. Barnes; and six grandsons.
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John Kenneth McClennan '43

John Kenneth McClennan '43, who spent much of his working life in the employ of American oil companies overseas, was born on June 28, 1914, in Schenectady, NY. The elder son of Kenneth R., a die maker, and Mildred Arnold McClennan, a school teacher, John McClennan grew up in Ballston Spa, north of Albany, and was graduated in 1932 from Ballston Spa High School as president of the senior class. Thereafter he went to work as a gas station attendant for a local oil company to help support his widowed mother and brother. At the age of 25, when his brother was already in college, he decided to obtain a college education himself. Upon the recommendation of an alumnus, he applied to Hamilton and came to the Hill in 1939. Aided by a small scholarship and by helping out in the chemistry department for 25¢ an hour, he made his way through financially. He joined Psi Upsilon, "managed to tolerate his adolescent classmates for four long years," according to The Hamiltonian, and obtained his B.S. degree as "the big brother of the senior class" in 1943.

With the encouragement and assistance of Professor Asa McKinney, John McClennan went on to graduate school in chemistry at Cornell University. There he was elected to the science honorary Sigma Xi and earned his M.S. degree in 1945 and Ph.D. in 1946, both in organic chemistry. Initially employed in that post-World War II era as a research chemist with Standard Oil Development Co. in New Jersey, he soon transferred to the sales engineering division of Esso Standard Oil in New York City. In 1953, he began his extended tour of "some of the garden spots of the world" as a sales engineer for Standard-Vacuum Oil Co. in India.

In 1957, John McClennan joined Mobile Oil Corp. in Nigeria. While in Lagos, he and Virginia H. Smith, a fellow Cornellian, were married on July 28, 1958. He remained in petroleum marketing with Mobil Oil in Africa for nearly a dozen years, including five in Nigeria, one in Monrovia, Liberia, and five in Khartoum, Sudan. He was general manager of the company's Sudan affiliate in 1969 when he took early retirement at age 55. He returned to the States and was never "gainfully employed," as he happily observed, thereafter.

Instead, John McClennan devoted his time to gardening, fishing, and "socializing," as well as travel, all of which kept him "well occupied." A widower since 1972, he resided for a time in Connecticut and in Scottsdale, AZ. By 1987 he had moved back to Ballston Spa. With his longtime companion, Betty Austin, he spent winters on Marco Island, FL. A loyal and generous supporter of the College and class agent on its behalf, he also visited the Hill frequently to attend football games and alumni functions, including his 60th Reunion in 2003.

John K. McClennan was residing in a retirement community in Yarmouth Port, MA, when he died on July 9, 2008, at the Cape Cod Hospital, at the age of 94. He is ­survived by his brother, William A. McClennan, and two nieces.
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Roy Seeley Moore, Jr. '43

Roy Seeley Moore, Jr. '43, a urologist who practiced in Syracuse, NY, for 35 years, was born in that city on January 12, 1921. The only son of Roy S., also a physician, and Eva Bauer Moore, a nurse, he grew up in Syracuse and prepared for college at Pebble Hill School in nearby DeWitt. He enrolled at Hamilton in 1939 with a future career in medicine already in mind. While pursuing his premedical studies, he found time to letter in hockey and golf, and to serve as senior editor of The Hamiltonian. A member of Theta Delta Chi and known for his cheerful disposition, he left the Hill after three years to enter the Syracuse University College of Medicine under the U.S. Army's wartime Specialized Training ­Program. Quite belatedly, upon application to the College and on the basis of credits earned, he was awarded his B.S. degree in 1963.

On September 23, 1944, while in medical school, Roy Moore was married to Muriel J. Cobb in Syracuse. After obtaining his M.D. degree in 1945 and a year's internship, he went on active duty as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. Discharged after two years in 1948, he entered the three-year residency program in urology at the ­University of Tennessee's medical center in Memphis. Following his completion of the program, he returned to his hometown and established his private practice. Board-certified in urologic surgery and an attending physician at three Syracuse hospitals, he also became an assistant ­clinical professor at the Upstate Medical Center.

Dr. Moore, known to his host of friends as an innately modest man who had no desire to be the center of attention, considered it an honor to serve his community as a physician. He continued in that service until his retirement in 1985. While spending winters in Fort Pierce, FL, Roy Moore, a ­widower since 1969, pursued his avid interest in golf as well as bridge.

Roy S. Moore, Jr., an ever-faithful alumnus and generous supporter of the College, died in Syracuse on July 25, 2008. He is survived by his second wife, Carol Moore, whom he had wed 21 years ago. Also surviving are a son and daughter from his first marriage, Roy S. Moore III and Melissa Brown, and five grandchildren.
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Howard John Potter, Jr. '43

Howard John Potter, Jr. '43, a pediatrician who practiced in the Boston, MA, area for 36 years, was born in that city on September 20, 1921. The only child of Howard J. '14, a dairy products broker, and Marion Lawson Potter, he grew up in the Boston suburb of Newton and was graduated in 1939 from Newton High School. "Jack" Potter came to Hamilton that year and joined his father's fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon. Already with thoughts of a future career in medicine in mind, he pursued premedical studies while also playing varsity hockey and especially football. He earned ­letters in that sport, although scoring only one touchdown at a time when classmate Milt Jannone dominated the Continental gridiron. Elected to Quadrangle and D.T., he left the College in 1942 to enroll in the Boston University School of Medicine.

"Rushed" through medical school in three years, thanks to the exigencies of World War II, Jack Potter was awarded his M.D. degree in 1945. Earlier committed to service in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, he interned at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, CA, in 1945-46. On November 16, 1946, he was married to Sally Whitcomb, a nurse, in Peterborough, NH.

Released from the Navy in 1948, the year he belatedly received his B.S. degree from Hamilton, Jack Potter undertook his training in pediatrics in Boston hospitals. In 1950, he established his practice in Lexington, MA, which he maintained until his retirement in 1986. A diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he served on the staff of Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge throughout his years of practice. He was also chief of pediatrics at Symmes Hospital in Arlington from 1974 to 1979 and its chief of staff in 1979. A longtime clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, he was, in addition, the Lexington public schools' physician from 1955 to 1986.

In retirement, Jack Potter took up residence in West Falmouth on Cape Cod and continued active part-time as physician for the Falmouth public schools from 1988 to 1996. Earlier, he had participated in community affairs as a member of the Lexington Rotary Club, of which he was a Paul Harris Fellow. For many years he maintained a family summer home in Pocasset, on Cape Cod, where he enjoyed sailing as well as tennis, golf, and bridge.

Howard J. Potter, whose contributions as a physician were locally recognized on several occasions with awards, died on June 11, 2008, at a retirement community in North Andover, MA. Predeceased by his wife in 2006, and by a daughter, Susan, in 1985, he is survived by two sons, Mark H. and David W. Potter, as well as four grandchildren.
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Howard Spencer Brasted, Jr. '44

Howard Spencer Brasted, Jr. '44, a safety engineer who helped in the establishment of the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, was born on February 7, 1922, in Hornell, NY. A son of Howard S. '10, a physician, and Gladys Ronald Brasted, he grew up in Hornell and, as an Eagle Scout, spent a summer at the Boy Scout Service Camp at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He came to the ­College in 1940 from Hornell High School, where he had been a flutist in its national championship band. He joined Tau Kappa Epsilon and, "tooter of a zoot flute," according to The Hamiltonian, lent his musical ­talent to the College Band as well.

Howard Brasted left the Hill in 1942 to enter the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served as a staff ­sergeant in teletype maintenance in the European theater. Discharged after World War II's end, he returned to College Hill in 1946 to resume his studies. As president of TKE in his senior year, he helped activate its new house in 1948, after the wartime closure of its old house five years earlier. He also "fiddled with flashbulbs" as a member of the Camera Club while pursuing a premedical course of study.

But rather than entering the medical field, Howard Brasted began his career as a high school science teacher in Bath and Attica, NY. While at Attica in 1950, he earned an M.Ed. degree from Alfred University. A year later, however, he went to work in private industry, moving to Delaware to join the DuPont chemical company at its experimental station in Wilmington. Initially employed in the laboratory, he soon moved into a new field, having been assigned the task of protecting lab workers from the noxious effects of the chemicals to which they were exposed.

Married to Elaine J. Jackson in New Kensington, PA, on June 14, 1952, Howard Brasted remained with DuPont as a safety engineer until 1959. In 1961, after briefly serving as supervisor of safety training at Rohm & Haas Co., the specialty chemicals manufacturer in Philadelphia, PA, he moved with his family to Rahway, NJ, where he joined the pharmaceutical research laboratories of Merck, Sharp & Dohme Co. as safety engineer and coordinator. While trying to keep its virologists and biologists safe and healthy, he pursued an M.B.A. at Rutgers University, which was awarded in 1971.

Soon thereafter, Howard Brasted moved to Washington, DC, and took employment with the newly established independent agency of the federal government, the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Created in 1972, the agency had the authority to regulate the manufacture and sale of consumer products. As one of the first health scientists and project managers with the agency, Howard Brasted focused his efforts on keeping consumers "safe from the harmful effects of all the chemicals, sharp points, dangerous toys, burning fabrics, etc., that we meet up with in our daily lives." He retired from the Commission in 1988.

In addition to working around his home in Rockville, MD, when not extensively traveling across the country and abroad with his wife, Howard Brasted took up golf in his retirement years. He also played the flute in a concert band and the fife in a fife, drum, and trumpet group. As a volunteer tutor for the Montgomery County Literacy Council, he found great satisfaction as well as challenge in helping illiterate adults learn to read. He was a deacon and elder of the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Rockville, and especially enjoyed singing in its choir.

Long ill, Howard S. Brasted, Jr. died in Rockville on April 8, 2008. In addition to his wife of 55 years, he is survived by a son, Scott H. Brasted; two daughters, Adair Swanson and Karen (Maggie) Irish; and four grandchildren and two sisters.
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Richard Strong Claassen '44

Richard Strong Claassen '44, a physicist and nationally recognized authority on materials research, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career with Sandia National Laboratories, was born on May 10, 1922, in Ithaca, NY. The only son of Peter W. Claassen, a professor of biology at Cornell University who died when "Dick" Claassen was 14 years old, and the former (Mary) Evelyn Strong, a librarian at Cornell, he grew up in Ithaca and was graduated from Ithaca High School. He came to College Hill in 1940, joined the Emerson Literary Society, and was elected to D.T. However after two years, his desire to pursue a concentration in physics prompted him to transfer to Cornell.

After earning his B.S. degree in physics from Cornell in late 1943 and buttressed by a bit of graduate study, Dick Claassen worked for two years as a research assistant in the Special Alloy Metals (SAM) Laboratory at Columbia University. It was connected with the U.S. Army's Manhattan Engineering District, engaged in research in connection with development of the atomic bomb. As part of what became known as the Manhattan Project, he performed fluid dynamic experiments in support of efforts at Oak Ridge Laboratories to enrich uranium by gaseous infusion. With the closing of the SAM Laboratory after World War II's end in 1946, he enrolled in the graduate program in physics at Columbia. After obtaining his M.S. in 1947, he transferred to the University of Minnesota to study nuclear physics. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1950 and moved a year later to Albuquerque, NM, to join Sandia National Laboratories. Accompanying him was his wife, the former Ruth Leonard, whom he had met as a fellow student at Cornell and married on August 4, 1945, in Cleveland, OH.

At Sandia, Dr. Claassen directed a major development feasibility study of the nuclear weapons program (1955-56), ­followed by his founding of a physical sciences research department to pursue basic research. He was promoted to director of physical research in 1960, the first to hold that post. He later served as director of electronic components and materials and process sciences. Appointed vice president and head of Sandia's branch lab in ­Livermore, CA, in 1982, he left Albuquerque after 31 years and moved to the West Coast. He remained director of the Livermore lab until his mandatory retirement at age 65 in 1987.

Because of his scientific expertise and administrative skills, Dick Claassen was much in demand as a consultant. For many years before and after his retirement he consulted with government science agencies and committees, and professional organizations and universities developing material sciences programs. A fellow of the American Physical Society, he chaired the solid state sciences panel of the National Academy of Sciences and was a member of the National Materials Advisory Board as well as the Energy Task Force. In 1967, he was presented with the Outstanding Scientist Award by the New Mexico Academy of Sciences.

Physically active throughout his life, Dick Claassen was a passionate skier who continued to take to the slopes until his mid-70s. He was also an ardent golfer who was last seen on the greens just six weeks prior to his death. Adept with his hands in woodworking and mechanical repair, he also delighted in music and enjoyed singing as a member of a barbershop chorus. After he and Ruth moved to a retirement community in Santa Rosa CA, in 2002, he continued active, playing (and teaching) bridge and lending his administrative talent to committees and boards, all the while expanding his intellectual horizons by attending classes and lectures.

Richard S. Claassen, a loyally supportive alumnus, died at his home in Santa Rosa on June 16, 2008. In addition to his wife of 63 years, he is survived by a son, Peter W. Claassen; two daughters, Ann and Sarah D. Claassen; and two granddaughters.
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Robert Donald Hunt '44

Robert Donald Hunt '44, an anesthesiologist who practiced in Wilmington, DE, for more than 30 years, grew up in Endicott, NY, where he was born on August 17, 1922. The only child of Earle C., a junior high school principal, and Beatrice van Gorder Hunt, he came to Hamilton from Union-Endicott High School in 1940, already aspiring to a future in medicine. Bob Hunt joined Lambda Chi Alpha and focused on his premedical studies until the summer of 1943, when, in his senior year, he left the Hill to enter the Syracuse University ­College of Medicine under the U.S. Navy's World War II V-12 ­program. On December 27, 1945, while still a medical student, he was married to Helen F. Alpress in New Britain, CT. Four children were to issue from the marriage, Brian, Elizabeth, Gary, and Melissa.

Bob Hunt was awarded his M.D. degree in 1946, and a year later, following his internship at Highland Hospital in Rochester, was ordered to active duty with the Navy Medical Corps. After earning his wings as a flight surgeon in Pensacola, FL, he was attached to the U.S. Marine Corps' First Marine Air Wing in El Toro, CA. Released from active duty as a lieutenant (j.g.) in 1949, he began his residency in anesthesiology on a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1952, after his residency at Mercy Hospital and a brief time on Pittsburgh's medical ­faculty, Dr. Hunt established his practice in Wilmington, where he would head the department of anesthesiology at Memorial Hospital (later a part of the Medical Center of Delaware) for over three decades. In 1984, after all those years in the operating room, he left anesthesiology to obtain certification in a newly emerging specialty, addiction medicine. When the College last heard from him in 1994, he was still practicing full-time in Wilmington. He also reported that his had been a full and satisfying career, made richer by the foundation that had been laid for him at Hamilton.

Robert D. Hunt, long a resident of Wilmington, where he and his wife reared their family, was residing in North Fort Myers, FL, when he died on February 16, 2007, according to Social Security records. The College has no information regarding survivors.
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Daniel Butterfield Carveth '45

Daniel Butterfield Carveth '45, a former innkeeper and restaurateur who took to farming as a "gentleman squire," was born on April 16, 1924, to Hector R., a chemical company executive, and Josephine McCollum Carveth, in Niagara Falls, NY. He came to Hamilton in 1941 from DeVeaux School in Niagara Falls, joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, and lettered in freshman soccer. After two years, however, "Danny" Carveth left the Hill and soon joined the U.S. Navy. He became a radioman and served through the end of World War II, sustaining injuries in a naval accident that left him blind. Nonetheless, he returned to Hamilton and resumed his studies in 1946. Known for his broad grin and guide dog Queenie, he was graduated in 1949.

The College has little information on Dan Carveth's subsequent activities, except that he was proprietor of the Rockholm Lodge, an inn in Annisquam, near Gloucester, MA, during the 1950s. Married to Jean Hildonen in 1953, he later returned to western New York and settled in Lewiston, north of Buffalo, where he reportedly ran a restaurant for many years. He last described his occupation, in the questionnaire for the 50th Reunion Yearbook of his class, as "farmer."

Belatedly, the College has learned that Daniel B. Carveth died on February 11, 2006. He was still residing in Lewiston at the time. The College has no information regarding survivors, although it is believed that Dan Carveth had four sons.
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Robert Dwight Anwyl '47

Robert Dwight Anwyl '47, a retired design engineer and product specialist with Eastman Kodak Co., was born on August 4, 1925, to James G., a professional musician and later insurance agency manager, and Frances Mills Anwyl, in New York City. Bob Anwyl grew up in Buffalo, NY, where he attended Lafayette High School, and enrolled at Hamilton in the summer of 1943. He was among the handful of freshmen who entered the College that year, in the midst of World War II. He remained on the Hill for only the summer term, and by that fall he was clad in a U.S. Navy uniform. He served as a signalman through the end of the war and was discharged in early 1946.

Thereafter, Bob Anwyl pursued studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and, majoring in physics, obtained his B.S. degree in 1950. On September 3 of that year, he and Claire A. Herkimer were married. Two daughters were to be born of the marriage, Gwenyth and Cathryn. In 1951, after further study at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics, Bob Anwyl joined the staff of Eastman Kodak in Rochester. As a photographic engineer during his years with the company, he acquired patents relating to automatic exposure controls for cameras. He retired after more than 30 years with Eastman Kodak and moved to Albuquerque, NM.

Robert D. Anwyl was still residing in Albuquerque when he died on April 18, 2008, as verified by Social Security records. His 44-year marriage to his wife Claire had ended with her death, and his subsequent marriage, to Joyce Olson, had ended in divorce. The College has no information regarding survivors.
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Robert Graham Johnson '48

Robert Graham Johnson '48, who fashioned a career primarily out of writing, was born on December 11, 1926, in Johnson City, near Binghamton, NY. The son of Harold F., a shoe factory manager, and Mabel Peet Johnson, he grew up in Endicott, also in the Binghamton area, and was graduated in 1944 from Endicott-Union High School. Bob Johnson came to College Hill that summer and took classes for a year until Selective Service sent him the expected greeting. After a brief stint as a private in the U.S. Army during the final months of World War II, he returned to the Hill to resume his studies in the spring of 1946. A member of the Squires Club, he sang in the Choir, played clarinet in the Band, and broadcast for campus radio station WHC "from a burrow under Root Hall." Described in The Hamiltonian as "a notorious wielder of sardonic wit and several languages," he was also senior editor for that publi­cation and earlier contributed a column on music to the wartime Hamiltonews. Further proof of his writing skills was his economics thesis, which won for him the Soper Prize.

Following his graduation with honors in economics in 1948, Bob Johnson embarked upon a search for a career by trial and error. Briefly employed by General ­Electric Co. in Schenectady, NY, he became in 1949 a field executive for the Boy Scouts of America in New Jersey. He later served as a scriptwriter for audiovisual materials as assistant to its director of visual education. Married to Barbara A. Wheeler, a school teacher, in Cobleskill, NY, on October 7, 1951, he remained with the Boy Scouts, writing for instructional and motivational presentations, until 1966. He then found new employment as a project director and writer of instructional materials for Argyle Publishing Corp. in New York City. After two years with Argyle, he joined Learning Technology, Inc., as a vice president from 1968 to 1970.

Thereafter, Bob Johnson, the author of many programmed instruction publications, struck out on his own as a self-employed writer and training consultant in the area of human performance. He retired from his consulting practice in 1983 and subsequently served as administrator of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Albany, NY. In recent years a resident of Clifton Park, north of Albany, he retired from his church post in 1991. Looking back on "a great life with a wonderful ­family," he also retained a warm affection for Hamilton and was a faithful and generous supporter of the College.

Robert G. Johnson, known as a wise counselor and a man of firm religious faith, faced up to his final illness, as he faced up to life in general, with grace and dignity. He died in Clifton Park on June 1, 2008. In addition to his wife of 57 years, he is survived by a daughter, Ruth James; a son, Stephen W. Johnson; and five grandchildren.
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