In Memoriam, Winter 2004

1930s

Willard Bear ’34, December 1, 2002, age 90. Creator of Oregon’s statewide teacher in-service day, Bear had a 38-year career in education. He retired as deputy superintendent of public instruction in 1973. After teaching at high schools in Newport, Carlton, and Monroe, Washington, Bear served as principal at Carlton, Scappoose, and Newberg high schools and then joined the Oregon state education department. He earned his master’s degree in education at the University of Washington and his doctorate at the University of Oregon. He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Eva, and two daughters.

Sigverd Gjerde JD ’34 passed away in 2003 at the age of 101.

1940s

Yvonne Craig Wilson ’47, 2002. She married George Wilson after World War II. They had been married for 50 years when she passed away.

1950s

George Keith Anderson ’50, December 21, 2002, age 75. Anderson served in the Navy during World War II. He was an office manager and later owned Northwest Tube and Metal Fabricators. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Shirley, two sons, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Floyd Bennett ’50, February 5, 2003, age 84. Bennett was a pilot in World War II and was stationed in Portland during the Korean War. He founded and owned Bennett Hearing Service and was past president of the Exchange Club and Full Gospel business Men’s Fellowship. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Venita, one daughter, two sons, and five grandchildren.

Evelyn Thorsen Brown ’50, December 9, 2002, age 76. Brown, a lifelong Portlander, was an editor for the U.S. Forest Service for 20 years. She is survived by her husband of more than 50 years, Charles, two daughters, one son, and two grandchildren.

Louis Bonney JD ’50, January 2003. Bonney served as assistant attorney general of Oregon for 30 years. He is survived by his wife, three sons, a sister, and four grandchildren. 

Carol Wilcox ’52, January 1, 2003, age 72. A psychologist, she primarily worked with children and adolescents. After traveling and living in Europe in the early 1960s, Wilcox worked at Santa Clara Mental Health services in California and then for Solano County as a staff psychologist and director of mental health. Throughout her career, she maintained a private psychotherapy practice. Wilcox was an avid traveler and hiker, and she tutored English-as-a-second-language students through the Napa Valley Library. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Portland.

Betty Jean Duke Kemp ’53, August 21, 2003, age 71. Kemp dedicated her professional life to helping others as a social worker, lay minister, and counselor. Throughout her life, she enjoyed music, travel, cooking, church activities, fishing, and spending time with family and friends. Kemp maintained her ties to the College by serving as a decade chair and class agent from 1989 to 1991, and by singing in the Alumni Choir from 1982 to 1992. Survivors include her daughter, Lauri Kemp, a brother, two sisters, and a stepsister.

Jack Woodward ’54, January 14, 2003, age 79. During World War II, Woodward was stationed in Scotland as a radio operator for the Army Air Force. He bought Wally’s Music Shop in Oregon City in 1947 and ran it with his wife, Betty, for almost 25 years. After earning his degree from the College, Woodward taught at a Portland grade school for nine years. He was a lifelong musician who played saxophone at the annual Sandy Mountain Festival, Elks lodges, and various functions in the Northwest. He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, two nephews, one niece, and one great-niece. His wife died in 1999. 

James McFarland ’57, February 1, 2003, age 67. He joined the Navy while at the College, and after graduation attended the Armed Forces Staff College and the Harvard School of Government. McFarland retired from the Navy as a two-star admiral in 1992. He served in St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Vietnam, the Middle East, and other locales. His last job with the Navy was as commander of the Naval Security Group and deputy director of Naval Intelligence, where he earned the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for his service in Desert Storm. After retiring from the Navy, he lived in Maryland and was vice president for business operations in government, education, and health at Oracle Corporation. He was an avid trout fisher and sports fan. He married Elsie Jean Baker ’55in 1957, and they had three children before divorcing. Later, in 1978, he married Paula Wiise. They had two children together, and Wiise had a daughter from a previous marriage whom McFarland raised as his own. He is survived by Paula, six children, and three grandchildren.

Alastair “Al” Hood ’58, April 25, 2003, age 67. Hood was a Seattle pianist and composer who fostered the city’s experimental jazz scene. He took a master’s degree from the University of Washington, and in the 1960s was a featured composer in the New dimensions in Music group, which melded contemporary jazz with theatre, dance, and light shows. He taught jazz privately and at Seattle Central Community College during the 1970s and ’80s. His 1978 album, Not Quite Rite,was one of the first experimental jazz albums to come from Seattle. After living in San Francisco and Europe, Hood returned to Seattle, where he worked at the University of Washington bookstore and hosted weekly jazz sessions in his apartment. He is survived by his son, daughter, and ex-wife,Charlotte Hood ’59.

Robert Jennings ’58, December 9, 2002, age 68. Jennings served in the Army and went to Oregon State University before attending the College. He started working in sales at the family business, Staff Jennings Marina, in 1962 and became company president in 1968. He participated in marine dealer groups and industry associations nationwide, and remained active in the industry after retirement in 1985. Jennings was a life member of the Scottish Rite Sellwood Masonic Lodge. He is survived by his son, daughter, and three grandchildren.

1960s

Jane Johnson Coffey ’63, November 27, 2002, age 88. Coffey earned a master’s degree from Western Oregon University. She was a homemaker and volunteer reading tutor. In the 1970s and ’80s, she lived in Sun City, Arizona, returning to Portland in 1994. Her husband of more than 55 years, Stanley “Bud,” died in 1990. She is survived by her daughter, granddaughter, and one great-grandchild.

Margery Smith MA ’64, December 15, 2002, age 84. Smith was a schoolteacher for 45 years in Idaho and Arizona, and for the school districts of Portland and Reynolds. Smith married Ray Seeley in the early 1940s, and he died in 1947. Then in 1953, she married Perry Smith, who passed away in 1969. She is survived by her daughter, sister, and one grandchild.

Gerry Duvall ’68, February 2, 2003, age 57. Duvall worked in the timber industry his entire life. He is survived by his wife, Pamela Pitts Duvall ’69, and their three children.

Elizabeth Merrill JD ’69, February 2003, age 77. Before earning her law degree, Merrill worked for the Department of the Navy, taught English and journalism at Portland’s Roosevelt High School, and served as a Portland police officer. She then operated a successful private practice in Tillamook for 10 years, a job she left in order to join the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles as a hearings officer. She continued to work for the DMV until her retirement in 1993. Merrill was also an active community volunteer. She is survived by three sons, two daughters, and four grandchildren.

Laura Lemon Vogel ’69, May 23, 2003, age 56. She was a children’s librarian for more than 20 years, and worked for both Lebanon and Salem-Keizer school districts. She earned two master’s degrees: one in teaching from Oregon State university and the other in library science from the University of Michigan. Vogel was a great reader, traveler, and knitter, and she was an original member of the Westminster Chimes handbell choir, with whom she played for 23 years. She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Allan, two sons, and two grandchildren.

1970s

Terence “Terry” Coleman ’73, November 2002, age 55. Coleman earned his master’s degree from American University and in 1985 began a proud career at Intel. He was well educated and well traveled. He is survived by his wife of more than 15 years, Jerilynn.

Curtis Daniels MAT ’77, February 24, 2003, age 53. He was a teacher and baseball coach for 28 years, beginning his career at Lewis Junior High School in Vancouver, Washington. He coached baseball for five years at Columbia River High School. The Washington State Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame inducted him into membership in 1997, and in 1999 he began scouting for the Chicago White Sox. He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Pamela, and two sons.

Lynn B. Witte JD ’79, December 2002. Witte was former chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s taxation section. An ERISA attorney with the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw, Witte will be remembered as a lighthearted but tough litigator.

1980s

Cathy Krolak Chisel ’83, M.P.A. ’84, November 7, 2002, age 42. She was court administrator for the Sparks Municipal Court in Nevada. From 1989 to 1999, she served as senior administrative analyst for Washoe County and then as court administrator of the Second Judicial District Court. Before moving to Nevada’s Washoe County, Chisel was an administrative analyst for the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Portland and then for the City of Corvallis. She is survived by her husband, William.

Richard Howsley JD ’84, March 2003. He was a prominent local land-use attorney and a partner at Lane Powell Spears lubersky. Prior to joining Lane Powell as a partner, Howsley was partner and president of his own firm. Earlier, he was partner and president of southwest Washington’s largest law firm, Landerholm Memovich Lansverk & Whitesides. During his nearly 30-year career, Howsley also served as director of Clark County’s Regional Planning Council and director of Clark County’s regional government. Survivors include daughter Kelly Howsley, son James Howsley, and brothers Darrel Howsley and Lloyd Hammons.

Brian Robert Jones JD ’87, December 2002, age 42. He died after battling heart disease. Jones was a Portland native with a private practice in the area. He is survived by his wife, a stepdaughter, and two brothers.