1940s
James Horton Underwood '41
James Horton Underwood '41, a Presbyterian minister and member of a family long associated with missionary education in Korea, was born in Seoul on March 30, 1919. His parents were Horace H., president of Chosun Christian College (predecessor of today's Yonsei University), and Ethel Van Wagoner Underwood. He was a grandson of Horace G Underwood (1859-1916), who arrived in the "Hermit Kingdom" in 1885 as a pioneering Protestant missionary and later founded and served as first president of Chosun Christian College. James Underwood and his twin brother John attended Seoul Foreign School and followed their older brother, Horace G. '39, to Hamilton in 1937.
The twins joined Horace's fraternity, Delta Upsilon, played in the College Band, and participated in debate, winning the Kirkland Prize Oration. Both also became outstanding track stars, "plucky little two-milers," according to The Hamiltonian, who virtually tied each other for first in almost all the races they ran. In addition, James served as manager of the football team. Following their graduation in 1941, the Underwood brothers began studies at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Both were ordained as Presbyterian ministers in 1944, along with (belatedly) their father.
After receiving his Th.B. degree that year from Princeton, James Underwood entered the U.S. Navy as a chaplain, following for the first time a separate path from that of his twin. (John, the older brother by a few minutes, subsequently returned to Korea as a missionary educator.) On January 26, 1945, Lt. James H. Underwood was married to Ethel D. Foster, a nurse, in Brooklyn. Following his discharge from the Navy after World War II's end in 1946, he began his civilian ministry as pastor of the Presbyterian church in Hancock, NY, on the Pennsylvania border.
James Underwood, who also directed youth camps and chartered and served the Presbyterian church in Cadosia, NY, as well as a country chapel in Lordville, remained at Hancock until 1958, when he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Oakfield, NY, near Batavia. There he led a successful effort to plan, finance, and construct the church's community service building and earned the informal title of "community chaplain." He also held various Presbytery offices, including stated clerk, moderator, and commissioner to the General Assembly.
Apart from his regular pastoral duties, James Underwood composed hymns and wrote and directed numerous special services, pageants, and chancel dramas, all especially designed to bring young people into the mainstream of church life. After his retirement in 1984, he took up residence in a house by the sea in Cape Elizabeth, ME. In Maine he was instrumental in founding the Mid-Coast Presbyterian Church in Topsham, the first new Presbyterian church to be chartered in the state in more than 200 years, and also gave supportive guidance to the founding of a second, St. Andrews Presbyterian, in Kennebunk.
The Rev. James H. Underwood was still residing in Maine when he died on February 13, 2008. He will be remembered by family and friends for his ready wit, warmth, and caring, and for his sharing of love "with incredible generosity." Predeceased by his wife in 1999, he is survived by a son, John F. Underwood; two daughters, Gail Parker and Laurel Brundage; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; a sister, Grace Harkness, and a brother, Richard F. Underwood '51. Predeceasing him were his older brother, Horace G. (father of Horace H. '64 and William D. '75) in 2004, and his twin brother John, in 1994. The family's tradition of service to God is being continued by James' children John and Laurel, both ministers, and Gail, an educator and church musician.
Henry William Stoutenburg '42
Henry William Stoutenburg '42, a retired insurance and real estate broker, grew up in Binghamton, NY, where he was born on June 30, 1920. The son of Abram W. Stoutenburg, a homeopathic physician, and the former Mary Agnes Galvin, he entered Hamilton in 1938 from Binghamton Central High School. He joined Psi Upsilon, went out for football, ran track, and managed the basketball team in his senior year. A member of the Newman Club, he served on the staff of The Hamiltonian, and, highly sociable, became known as the "gladhander" of the Psi U house.
Following his graduation in 1942, Bill Stoutenburg enrolled in the College of Medicine at Syracuse University. While there he met his future wife, and they were soon engaged. By that time, he had been called up for active duty with the U.S. Army at the height of World War II, and while on leave on July 15, 1944, PFC Stoutenburg was married to Isabel McCarthy in her hometown of Syracuse. Following his Army training as a hospital technician, he received an officer's commission in the Medical Administration Corps. After postings in the States and on Okinawa, he was discharged as a first lieutenant in the fall of 1946.
Bill Stoutenburg returned to Syracuse, where he found employment as an area sales representative for Bristol Laboratories. Promoted to manager of its Northeastern Sales Division in 1950, he remained with Bristol Labs until 1954, when he joined the commercial and industrial sales department of Eagan Real Estate, Inc., also in Syracuse. In 1968, he became a local representative for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., and was subsequently associated with Continental Life Assurance Co. as its Syracuse assistant branch manager. He concluded his working life in real estate sales, leasing, and management with Sutton Investing Corp. in Syracuse. Along the way he had become a chartered life insurance underwriter as well as a licensed real estate, stock, and insurance broker.
Active as a community volunteer, Bill Stoutenburg served on the boards of the Campfire Girls and Lighthouse for the Blind, and he was at one time a candidate on the Republican ticket for City Council. His many leisure-time interests included golf, tennis, bridge, and sports, and he had a cheerful disposition and optimistic outlook on life that was contagious. Greatly devoted to his family, his wife's death in 2007 ended an exceptionally happy 63-year marital union.
H. William Stoutenburg, a resident of the Syracuse suburb of Fayetteville and a loyal Hamiltonian, died on January 10, 2008. He is survived by five daughters, Karen Kniffin, Susan Mattison, Barbara Hogan, Anne Farrington, and Sally Thomas; 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; and a sister.
John Stanton Carpenter '43
John Stanton Carpenter '43, a retired chemicals manufacturer, was born on April 9, 1921, in Syracuse, NY. The youngest son of Roy W., a manufacturing chemist, and Theodora Stark Carpenter, he grew up in Syracuse, where he attended Nottingham High School. He prepared for college at Mt. Hermon School in Massachusetts. Having entered Hamilton in 1939, "Jack" Carpenter became a member of Psi Upsilon. He also joined the varsity fencing team, lettered in swimming, and served on the staff of campus radio station WHC. With his broad smile as well as broad shoulders, he was dubbed by The Hamiltonian "the happiest man in the senior class." Known around the Psi U house for his habit of imitating actor Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh, he left the Hill with his B.S. degree in 1943.
Thereafter, Jack Carpenter went on active duty with the U.S. Navy. Commissioned as an officer, he served for three years through the end of World War II aboard naval vessels in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Discharged as a lieutenant in 1946, he returned to Syracuse and entered the family business, W.D. Carpenter, Inc., manufacturers of sanitary and agricultural chemicals, a business begun by his grandfather in Chicago in 1872. He became director of sales and remained with the company, which had long before relocated to Syracuse, for 40 years. He was its president and chief executive officer when he sold the business in 1985 and retired.
In retirement, Jack Carpenter, a lifelong avid reader, embarked upon a second career, the one he had always wanted to pursue: writing. Equipped with a PC "and related trappings," he made the rounds of regional libraries and historical associations to do research. The result was Street Wise: A Colorful Look at the Avenues of Syracuse, published in 1991. A historical account of the naming of Syracuse-area streets and landmarks, it proved popular and has been reprinted several times since.
Jack Carpenter, who continued to do research and write on local history, was also long active in the Syracuse Rotary Club. His summers were spent at his cottage on the shores of Lake Ontario, where he maintained a small fleet of vessels, including a sailboat, motorboat, and canoe. In addition, he and his music-teacher wife, the former Mary-Louise Hills, who were wed in Syracuse on September 6, 1952, shared the hobby of collecting and building miniature doll houses, complete with furnishings.
John S. Carpenter died at his home in Syracuse on May 15, 2008. Besides his wife of 55 years, he is survived by a son and a daughter, John S. Carpenter, Jr., and Nancy L. Cook, as well as a grandson, David J. Carpenter.
Milton Henry Jannone '43
Milton Henry Jannone '43, whose athletic prowess while at Hamilton became legendary, and who went on to a long career in public-school and community-college teaching, was born on August 27, 1921, in Beverly, NJ. His parents, Michael V. and Marian McGovern Jannone, moved to the Utica, NY, area to work in the textile mills when Milt was a boy He grew up in Waterville, not far-distant from College Hill, and excelled in sports at Waterville Central School. There he captained the basketball, soccer, tennis, and track teams, but never played football because the school had no gridiron squad. He came to Hamilton following his graduation in 1939, and without knowing a halfback from a fullback, or even how to put on shoulder pads, he began to play the game.
Although Milt Jannone's first love was basketball (he captained the Continentals' team in his senior year), he soon made an indelible impression on the football field. Amazingly speedy and shifty (with typically dry and self-deprecating humor, he once observed that his speed was largely motivated by his fear of being hit), the halfback began to shatter college records, earning the nickname "Mercury Milt." In 1941, a new head football coach, fresh from Michigan, where he had been the Wolverines' captain and blocking back for Heisman Trophy-winner Tom Harmon, arrived on College Hill. Forest Evashevski promptly slapped Harmon's number, 98, on Milt's back and gave him the run of the field. During the 1941 season Milt scored 16 rushing touchdowns in seven games, a season's record at Hamilton that still holds, as does his longest run from scrimmage, 97 yards. His record for most rushing touchdowns in a single game (four) has been matched by few other Continental players since and never surpassed.
Forest Evashevski, who went on to a distinguished career of coaching at the University of Iowa, observed years later that Milt Jannone had more natural talent than any other back that he had ever coached. That talent gained some national recognition in 1942 when The Saturday Evening Post published an article about Milt. Entitled "The Secret All-American," it was written by Hamilton's public relations director, David H. Beetle '30. Incidentally, Milt, who became co-captain of the football squad, along with his classmate William M. "Mac" Bristol, also acquitted himself quite well in baseball and track in addition to basketball.
Elected to Quadrangle and D.T., and tapped for Pentagon, Milt Jannone, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, entered the U.S. Navy soon after his graduation in 1943. Commissioned as an ensign, he was assigned to convoy escort duty in the Atlantic during World War II. On May 22, 1944, while on active duty, he was wed to Mary Bachmann in Chicago, IL.
After his discharge as a lieutenant (j.g.) at the end of 1946, Milt Jannone returned to Waterville, where he began his career in education, teaching mathematics and social studies on the junior-high level at its Central School. The school had a football team by then, which he coached. In 1952, he obtained an M.A. degree in education from Syracuse University, and after a decade of teaching in Waterville, he was appointed to the faculty of Mohawk Valley Community College. There he became a professor of sociology and coordinator of social sciences, and continued to teach until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1985.
Milt Janonne, who continued to reside in the Utica area, most recently in Clinton, devoted his retirement years to flower gardening, woodworking, photography, and doing research on local history, especially on the Oneida Community and the Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians. Earlier active in community affairs, he was a past president of the Waterville Board of Education and Republican Party committee chairman for the Town of Sangerfield. He was also a former vestryman of Grace Episcopal Church in Waterville and commander of the local American Legion Post. In 1999, he was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame.
Long in failing health, Milton H. Jannone died on March 19, 2008, at a nursing home in his hometown of Waterville, In addition to his wife of almost 64 years, he is survived by three sons, Michael H., David B., and Dennis W. Jannone; three daughters, Martha Eaton, Mary Denoma, and Christine Spooner; 11 grandchildren, including Lisa Eaton Burton '93 and Lori Ann Eaton '96; and seven great-grandchildren and a sister.
Reuben Robert Linowes '44
Reuben Robert Linowes '44, LL.D. (Hon.) '84, who enormously influenced the economic and cultural development of the Washington, DC, area, was born into a Russian-Jewish immigrant family on February 15, 1922, in Trenton, NJ. The youngest of four sons of Joseph Linowitz, a wholesale produce dealer, and the former Rose Oglinskye, his oldest brother was Sol M. Linowitz '35, the distinguished lawyer, business executive, and diplomat, who, unlike his younger siblings, retained the family name. Bob Linowes grew up in Trenton and followed his brother to Hamilton from Trenton Central High School in 1940. He participated in debate and acquired distinction among his classmates for his uncanny accuracy in mimicking the more-colorful members of the faculty. With his heart set on a future career as a lawyer, he continued his studies on the Hill for three semesters until compelled for financial reasons to withdraw. However, he returned in the summer of 1942, only to withdraw again at the beginning of 1943, when he was about to be drafted into the U.S. Army in the midst of World War II.
During the war, Bob Linowes served as an interpreter with a military police unit in England, helping to debrief and process German prisoners of war. After the conflict's end, he entered Columbia University Law School, where he acquired his LL.B. degree in 1949. His first job was as a lawyer for the Federal Power Commission in Washington. During the early 1950s, while at the Department of Agriculture, one of his first achievements as a young government attorney was the copywriting and licensing of that loveable character, "Smokey the Bear." He was appointed assistant attorney for then semi-rural Montgomery County, MD, in 1954. Two years later, anticipating that county's rapid growth as a Washington suburb, he established his own law practice there, specializing in real estate development. In 1963, he joined with Joseph Blocher to establish Linowes & Blocher, which became a highly successful firm in providing legal expertise on zoning and land use.
Bob Linowes, as a leading authority on real estate planning and development and author of several books on the subject, including The Politics of Land Use (1973), played a significant role in the spectacular growth of Montgomery County. At the same time he persuasively and constructively advocated balancing that growth with quality-of-life considerations. By the early 1970s, he had begun to turn his attention to the wider Washington area and particularly the District of Columbia itself. He perceived a business boom on the horizon and, as president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade in the late '70s, played a key role in promoting it in a responsible way.
From his table in the dining room of the Hays-Adams Hotel, where he habitually had lunch, Bob Linowes joined with fellow movers and shakers in discussing the challenges the capital city faced and the ways to move it forward economically and culturally. Despite his self-deprecating manner, he was a shrewd lawyer with a razor-sharp mind and laser-beam focus, and soon gained a reputation as a power-broker, as someone who knew how to get things done. With his broad regional approach to problem solving, and his gift for getting people to work together, he operated effectively behind the scenes to form coalitions and mobilize organizational support.
More visibly, Bob Linowes served as board chairman of the Community Foundation of Greater Washington, which he helped establish, and which distributes grants to educational, cultural, and other community-serving institutions. With assets of $18 million when he assumed its leadership, it today has assets of $300 million. In addition, he helped set up and presided over the Greater Washington Research Center and served as president of the Economic Club of Washington as well as the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Perhaps his most heralded achievement, however, was, as board chairman of the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, rescuing that venerable cultural jewel from its near-demise, reorganizing it, and assuring the theatre's continued existence by placing it on a firm financial footing.
Beyond regional organizations, Bob Linowes also held positions of leadership with the National Urban Coalition and the United Negro College Fund. In 1987, then Governor William D. Schaefer appointed him to chair the Maryland Commission on State Taxes and Tax Structure. The blue-ribbon panel undertook a three-year review of the state's finances and called for major changes in the tax structure as well as millions of dollars in new taxes, primarily for educational and public transportation purposes. Bob Linowes courageously defended the commission's proposals in the face of much controversy and opposition, and this year, quite belatedly, many of its recommendations are now again being seriously considered in Maryland.
In generously devoting his time and remarkable energies to a host of worthy causes (he was president, chairman, director, or trustee of no fewer than 41 civic, charitable, and educational organizations, by one count), Bob Linowes received many accolades and numerous awards. Washingtonian magazine named him Washingtonian Man of the Year in 1980, and the Baltimore Sun hailed him as Marylander of the Year in 1990. In addition, he received the National Brotherhood Citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. And in 1984, his alma mater conferred on him a doctorate of laws in recognition of his "good citizenship par excellence."
R. Robert Linowes, a generous supporter of the College who was instrumental in establishing the Sol M. Linowitz Professorship at Hamilton in honor of his brother, died on December 26, 2007, at his home in Chevy Chase, MD, following a stroke. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, the former Ada Hamburger. Also surviving are three daughters, Robin Thomas, Julie Firth, and Lisa Yates: a son, Michael Linowes; and 10 grandchildren. His brother Sol predeceased him in 2005.
Perry Lee Pindar, Jr. '44
Perry Lee Pindar, Jr. '44, a longtime shipping line supervisor, was born on October 16, 1922, in Hoboken, NJ. The elder son of Perry L., a school teacher, and Madeline Jewell Pindar, he grew up in Teaneck, his parents having moved there when he was three years old. Young Perry came to Hamilton in 1940 from Teaneck High School, where he had been editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. While on the Hill, he played soccer and, aspiring to a future career in journalism, worked in press relations for Dave Beetle '30, the College's public relations director. After two years, however, Perry Pindar left the College and a year later entered the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served in the European theater during World War II, having landed in France not long after D-Day, and was with the occupation forces in Germany. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
Discharged from military service as a corporal following the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Perry Pindar enrolled at Seton Hall College (now University), where he earned his B.S. degree in 1948. Ten years later, after some graduate study in English at the University of Pennsylvania and "a few stabs at teaching," he began his long career in the shipping business as an employee of what became the Y.S. Line (U.S.A.) Corp., which provided freight service from U.S. East Coast ports to other parts of the globe. While residing in Allendale, NJ, and working out of Manhattan, he advanced from rate clerk to freight supervisor. He retired from the Y.S. Line in 1987.
In retirement, Perry Pindar, who was not married, continued to enjoy tennis and hiking, as well as travel in Europe. He also enjoyed his 20-year, part-time employment as a school crossing guard. In 2004, in failing health, he moved, after 43 years in Allendale, to a health care facility in Ridgewood, NJ. Perry L. Pindar, a faithful and generously supportive alumnus, died there on March 28, 2008. He is survived by two sisters, Jewell Reilly and Barbara Smith.
John William Wagner '44
John William Wagner '44, who retired as vice president and treasurer of J.P. Stevens & Co., after 40 years with the textile manufacturing firm, was born on December 5, 1922, in New York City. The only child of Edmund F., a real estate consultant, and Mildred Borgstede Wagner, he grew up in White Plains, NY, where he was graduated from White Plains High School. He entered Hamilton in 1940, became a member of Psi Upsilon, and was assistant manager of the basketball team in his junior year. At the beginning of 1943, however, he withdrew from the College to enroll in the U.S. Army Air Corps' meteorology program at New York University. Later assigned to basic training instruction, he served with the Air Corps for three years through the end of World War II.
Discharged as a staff sergeant in 1946, John Wagner returned to College Hill that summer to complete his studies. He was awarded his A.B. degree in 1947, a few months after he had already begun his employment with J.P. Stevens. Headquartered in New York City, it was then the largest textile company in the world. He soon added to his credentials in 1949 by earning an M.B.A. from the New York University School of Business Administration. In subsequent years he held increasingly important positions in the company's financial operations, including manager of its tax department. Given the additional title of assistant treasurer in 1969, he was named treasurer in 1981 and a vice president in 1984.
Involved with mergers and acquisitions, financing and refinancing, and restructuring and downsizing as well, John Wagner enjoyed the challenges that his responsibilities entailed. Even after his retirement at age 65 at the end of 1987, he briefly stayed on as a consultant to arrange financing for a leveraged buy-out. The company ultimately became West Point Stevens and continued to manufacture sheets and towels under, among others, the venerable Utica label, harking back to the era when Utica, NY, was a major textile manufacturing center.
Besides membership on local school and civic boards and committees in Chappaqua, NY, where he had resided for 35 years, John Wagner, a lifelong devout Lutheran, was highly active in the Lutheran Church in America. He served as treasurer of its Metropolitan New York Synod during the 1960s and was a member of the board of the Wartburg Lutheran Home, a retirement community in Mt. Vernon, NY. He was also a trustee of the Lutheran Institute in Washington, DC, chaired the board of the Wartburg Home Foundation, and was for many years a trustee of the American Bible Society. In recognition of his church and religious contributions, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by Hartwick College in 1966. A devoted Hamiltonian, he served for many years as treasurer of the Metropolitan Alumni Association. In addition, he was president of the Alumni Association, chairing the Alumni Council in 1971-72.
With retirement, John Wagner gratefully enjoyed more time with his family. He could also indulge in mid-week golfing rather than just on weekends, and "extended periods of relaxation in Florida in February and on the shores of Lake Champlain in July."
John W. Wagner who had been residing in Shelburne, VT, since 1999, died on March 7, 2008, while hospitalized in Burlington. He is survived by his wife, the former Margaret E. (Peggy) Watson, whom he had married on April 22, 1950, in White Plains. He is also survived by a daughter, Nancy Goss; a son, Robert J. Wagner; and a granddaughter.
Matthew Aloysius Hartman, Jr. '44
Matthew Aloysius Hartman, Jr. '44, a lawyer who became the real estate supervisor for Maricopa County in Arizona, was born on July 18, 1922, in New York City. The eldest of four sons of Matthew A., a physician, and Mary Agnes Linskey Hartman, he grew up on Long Island, where he was graduated in 1940 from Huntington High School. Having sustained serious injury in an automobile accident the year before, which left him with a limp, Matt Hartman had his determination and perseverance tested early on. He entered Hamilton from high school and joined Chi Psi, and although the accident would keep him out of military service, it never dampened his spirits nor prevented him from participating in swimming and tennis while on the Hill. Already with a future as a lawyer in mind, he remained at the College for two years before withdrawing to begin studies at St. John's University School of Law.
After obtaining his LL.B. degree in 1945 and admission to the bar a year later, Matt Hartman began his practice in association with a large firm in New York City in the field of Admiralty law. Not finding the situation particularly appealing, he tried out a small, two-person firm before establishing his own private practice in his hometown of Huntington in 1948. Married to Lillian M. Broderick that year, he practiced in Huntington until 1957 when, his marriage dissolving, he turned over his legal cases to Dick Graf, his high school and college classmate, and moved to Arizona.
Matt Hartman settled in Phoenix, where he was employed by the Arizona State Highway Department as a title examiner until 1971. That year, he transferred to the Maricopa County Highway Department as acquisition agent. He remained in real-estate-associated legal work in the department until his retirement as director of real estate services in 1990.
While in Arizona, Matt Hartman met Margaret G. (Gail) Wooden, a public school teacher, and they were married in Scottsdale in 1974. They both liked to sail, and at one time Matt was even commodore of the Scottsdale Yacht Club, "a small club on a small artificial lake in the middle of the desert," but still a lot of fun, as he later recalled. In addition, he enjoyed music, travel, and the challenge of crossword puzzles, and he above all took pride in his family. As a faithful Hamiltonian, he served as president of the Arizona Alumni Association and was a highly successful class agent for the Annual Fund.
Matthew A. Hartman, who had suffered a variety of serious health problems in recent years, was still residing in Scottsdale when he died on April 6, 2008. In addition to his wife Gail, he is survived by two daughters from his first marriage, Nancy M. Hartman and Susan Coury, as well as a stepdaughter and stepson; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; and a brother.
Robert William Bauer '46
Robert William Bauer '46, for over three decades a manager for the J. C. Penney department store chain, was born on March 1, 1925, to Harry J., a business executive, and Margaret McQuillin Bauer, a nurse, in Englewood, NJ. Bob Bauer grew up in the Garden State and entered Hamilton from Tenafly in 1942 as a graduate of Tenafly High School. After a year of uncertainty because of World War II and the military draft, he withdrew from the College and joined the U.S. Navy. Assigned to preflight school as a naval aviation trainee, he later enlisted in the Marine Air Corps and concluded his military service in 1946 as a navigator-bombardier.
In the fall of that year, Bob Bauer returned to College Hill to resume his studies. He also lettered in soccer, served on the Winter Carnival Committee, and became what The Hamiltonian called the "most potent panjandrum of the Theta Delts," and credited him with pulling the fraternity house "through the usual crises." He left the Hill with his diploma in 1949 and entered J. C. Penney's management program that fall. It was the beginning of a career with the company that extended through more than 35 years. Initially assigned as a trainee to a Penney store in San Francisco, CA, he soon became an assistant manager in Daly City and Hayward, followed by manager of stores in San Mateo and Hanford. In 1971, he and his wife (the former Virginia Dorrance, whom he had wed on October 7, 1950, in Maplewood, NJ), along with their growing family, left the West Coast for Memphis, TN, where Bob was given the task of opening the company's new store in the Raleigh Springs Mall. He stayed on as manager of Penney's large retail outlet in the Poplar Highlands Mall in Memphis until his retirement in 1985.
While in Memphis, Bob Bauer served as president of the Retail Merchants Association as well as first chairman of the Better Business Bureau and vice president of the Tennessee Retail Association. He was also a director of the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. Retirement gave him the opportunity to pursue his lifelong love of flying. An instrument-rated pilot, he enjoyed taking to the air on a regular basis, and when not "boring holes in the sky," he and his second wife, Dare S. Bower, gardened, read, and traveled.
Robert R. Bauer, a faithful alumnus, died on March 10, 2008, at his home in suburban Memphis. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons and two daughters, Robert W., Jr., and John R. Bauer, and Holly Healy and Elizabeth Brennan, from his first marriage, which had ended in divorce. Also surviving are two stepdaughters and 14 grandchildren.
Andrew Felix Siedlecki '46
Andrew Felix Siedlecki '46, a longtime judge and former district attorney of Tioga County, NY, was born on November 13, 1922, to Adolph M., a paper mill foreman, and Ludwina (Louise) Indyk Siedlecki, in Deferiet, NY, east of Watertown. He grew up in Deferiet and was graduated in 1940 from Augustinian Academy in Carthage, NY. After a year at Fordham University, he transferred to Hamilton in the fall of 1942. However, after only a semester on the Hill, Andy Siedlecki withdrew to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served 30 months overseas, including tours of duty in North Africa and Italy before his discharge as a sergeant at the end of World War II. He was assigned to a Judge Advocate General's unit while in Italy, and it inspired him to consider law as his future career.
In the spring of 1946, Andy Siedlecki resumed his studies on College Hill. A member of Lambda Chi Alpha as well as the Newman Club, and described in The Hamiltonian as "a particularly voracious scholar," he earned his A.B. degree with honors in history in 1948. He enrolled in law school at Cornell University that year and was awarded his J.D. degree in 1951.
The following year, Andrew Siedlecki established his law practice in Waverly, NY, near the Pennsylvania border. Appointed assistant district attorney of Tioga County in 1959, he was named district attorney by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1965. Elected to that post the following fall, he retained the office for 12 years, and during his tenure he successfully tried "every case in the book" and was affirmed on all appeals.
In 1977, Andrew Siedlecki was elected for a 10-year term as Tioga County judge. While county judge, as well as county surrogate and family court judge, he was known for the efficient manner in which he transacted court business, keeping to the calendar without undue delay. Reelected in 1987, he retired from the bench at the mandated age of 70 in 1992.
Judge Siedlecki, a former president of the Tioga County Bar Association, continued to reside in Waverly, where he had been active in community organizations. Never married, he was devoted to his family, and lovingly cared for his parents in their old age. He also became legal guardian and surrogate father in helping one of his sisters rear her three children.
The Hon. Andrew F. Siedlecki died on January 26, 2008, at a nursing home in Watertown. Besides nieces and nephews, he is survived by a sister, Mary McGimpsey.
Louis Ernest Griffey '47
Louis Ernest Griffey '47, an ear, nose, and throat physician and surgeon who practiced in Massachusetts for 35 years, was born on November 23, 1926, in Detroit, MI. The son of Oreste Griffey, a tanner, and the former Pierina Brayda-Bruno, a shoe-factory worker, both of whom had emigrated to this country from Italy, he grew up in Endicott, NY, and was graduated from Union-Endicott High School. Louis Griffey, also known as "Lou" or "Griff," came to College Hill in 1943. He joined Lambda Chi Alpha and served as a sophomore on the Student Council at a time when there were very few "civilian" students on campus because of World War II. Covering expenses as a waiter and dishwasher, he remained on the Hill until 1945, when Selective Service called for his presence in the U.S. Army.
In 1947, after serving in uniform during the last months of the war and its aftermath, Louis Griffey returned to Hamilton and resumed his studies. A member of the Newman Club and a soccer player in his senior year, he completed his premedical course of study and left the Hill with his diploma in 1948. He went on to the State University of New York College of Medicine at Syracuse, where he earned his M.D. degree in 1952. On January 15, 1950, while still a medical student, he was married to Gladys R. Gschwind in Utica.
Louis Griffey reentered the U.S. Army following medical school, this time as an officer in the Medical Corps. He interned at Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, CO. After another two years of service, he left the Army in 1954 as a first lieutenant and moved to Boston, where he completed his residency in otolaryngology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary while residing in suburban Natick. In 1957, he established his practice in the Natick-Framingham area, which expanded into the Otolaryngology Associates, with offices in Natick, Framingham, and Marlborough.
Dr. Griffey, who served on the staffs of three local hospitals, performed some of the first complex ear, nose, and throat (ENT) procedures to be done in the Boston suburbs. Devoted to his patients, he earned their gratitude, as well as that of their families, who would annually present him with small gifts of appreciation at Christmas time. Dr. Griffey and his wife also helped staff the Boston Marathon emergency-care tents for several years, and annually for weeks while in the Caribbean, they helped provide care at a missionary hospital on St. Lucia, where Dr. Griffey introduced modern surgery techniques to the island.
After his retirement in 1991, Louis and Gladys Griffey spent increasing time in St. Croix, the U.S. Virgin Islands, usually several months during the winter each year. There he enjoyed playing golf and tennis, two of the "carry-over" sports to which he was introduced at Hamilton, as well as engaging in a weekly poker game ("friendly" bets only). Fondly remembering his freshman days "learning about jazz and eating late-night snacks of peanut butter and toast" while housed at Alpha Delt, he remained ever faithful to Hamilton, greatly appreciative of the "truly liberal and varied education" he received on the Hill.
Long ill, Louis E. Griffey died on February 19, 2008. in Walpole, MA. Predeceased in 2007 by his wife of 57 years, as well as his eldest son, Stephen, he was also predeceased by another son, Richard, in 1974. He is survived by five daughters, Susan J., Karen S. K'74, Robin M., Elizabeth E., and Sara J. Griffey; a son, David J. Griffey; and eight grandchildren. They, as well as Dr. Griffey's many patients and friends, especially and warmly remember him as a man of great humor and wit who added a little laughter to their lives.
Owen Gregory Burns, Jr. '49
Owen Gregory Burns, Jr. '49, a retired sales representative and one of four brothers who attended the College, was born on September 25, 1922, in Utica, NY. The eldest of six children of O. Gregory Burns '14, a lawyer, and the former Kathleen Kennedy, he was a nephew of Robert O. '10, Francis J. '22, and Vincent T. Burns '27. Young Owen, known as "Red," grew up in Clinton, attended Clinton schools, and prepared for college at Kimball-Union Academy in New Hampshire. He entered St. Lawrence University in 1941, but withdrew while in his sophomore year and spent two years during World War II working in a defense plant in Rochester, NY.
In 1945, after a brief stint working on Wall Street while living in Brooklyn, Red Burns returned to Clinton and enrolled in the summer session at Hamilton. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he remained at the College through 1945-46, playing ice hockey and majoring in "beer drinking," as he once candidly put it on an alumni questionnaire. Thereafter he found employment with General Foods Corp. in sales. During the 1950s he joined the sales force of Oneida Ltd., and in 1957 was assigned by the silverware manufacturing company to Kansas City, MO, as Midwest representative for its sterling silver division. In 1965, he became district sales representative for Lunt Silversmiths in Washington, DC. After nine years in Washington, including four in retail sales with the Woodward & Lothrop department store, he returned to Kansas City as sales representative for Reed & Barton Silversmiths. He continued "selling forks" until his retirement in 1984.
That year, Red Burns, who had been residing in Shawnee Mission, KS, returned to central New York and took up residence in New Hartford. There he began to tutor Utica inner-city school children in reading and found it to be "the most satisfying experience of my life." Ardently dedicated to the task as tutor but also mentor to the youngsters, many from minority backgrounds, he met with some 20 children per week for many years, enthusiastically communicating to them his own love for the written word. In 1996, in recognition of his contributions, he was given the Mentor of the Year Award by the Young Scholars Liberty Partnership Program.
Red Burns, who once remarked that he had lived emotionally as an 18-year-old through most of his adult life, had an irrepressible, one might say incorrigible, sense of humor. Well and widely read, and quite garrulous with tongue or pen, he took a lively interest in the present as well as the past, and in the ways of the world in general. Hamilton was not spared his attentions, and his lengthy epistles to the editor of this magazine were a source of great amusement and delight, even though many of his thoughtful suggestions could not be acted upon for reasons of feasibility.
O. Gregory Burns, Jr., died in Clinton on April 17, 2008. Unmarried, he is survived by his brothers, Owen J. '47 and Richard C. Burns '49. Also surviving are a sister, Sheila Thomas, and numerous nephews and nieces, including Owen J. III '73, Andrew C. '78, and William O. Burns '88, Gregory L. Gilroy '83, and Kate M. '84 and Kyle Judith Thomas '90. He was predeceased by his brother, Nicholas K. Burns '46, and sister, Judith Gilroy.
