February 21, 2001: Memorials

Orvel Sebring '26

Orvel died on Dec. 20, 1999, of Parkinson's disease. He was born June 24, 1905.

Though a resident of Pennsylvania since 1933, Orvel considered Florida, where his father and grandfather in 1911 pioneered a town bearing the family name and established the citrus industry in the center of the state, his home state.

Orvel was a member of Tower Club and the Triangle Club at Princeton. He served the class as pres., secy., and was a member of the committee that inaugurated the faculty/alumni forum program at Alumni Day and reunions. The Princeton Club of Philadelphia was very active under his leadership as pres. during the 1960s. He was also chair of the Princeton committee to nominate alumni trustees.

Orvel graduated from Harvard law school in 1933 and became an associate of the Philadelphia law firm Morgan, Lewis & Rockius. He eventually became a senior partner and retired in 1976.

Orvel was a director of many organizations, including the Bryn Mawr Hospital, and was an elder of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. He married Margaret Dulles in 1935, and they lived in Villanova, Pa., for 50 years before moving to Dunwoody Village in 1986, where his wife died in 1997. He is survived by three children and their spouses, Margaret Sebring Southerland, Heatly Dulles Sebring MD '62, and Milbrey Sebring Raney, six grandchildren (including two grandsons, Princeton '98 and '01), and two great-grandchildren.

The Class of 1926

JUSTUS CRESSINGHAM POOLE '31

Jut was born July 27, 1909, in Bradford, N.Y., and spent most of his early life in various New Jersey towns, including Elmira, Millport, Glen Falls, and Elizabeth. He attended Battin H.S. and, at Princeton, won honors as a member of the track team, the Triangle Club, symphony orchestra, and Whig Hall. A few more years and Jut forsook New Jersey and moved to New York, where he remained until his death on July 2, 2000.

After graduation Jut entered Harvard law school but left after a year to study English literature at Columbia. He then studied fiction at NYU. None of this proved fruitful, and so, on a more prosaic angle, he became the RCA representative for Long Island with the Bruno, N.Y., firm.

Justus is survived by his wife, Helen Merolla, and two daughters, Susan Park and Joan Lauri. The class extends its sincerest sympathy to the entire family.

The Class of 1931

William Strong Babcock Jr. '33

Bill died of a heart attack on Nov. 24, 2000, eight days after the death of his wife, Dinah. They had been married for 51 years. He was 89 years old.

Bill graduated from Princeton with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was a member of the rugby club. He enjoyed his occasional return visits to the campus for reunions. In particular, he enjoyed the 40th reunion in 1973, which coincided with his son, Keith's, graduation from Princeton. Bill spent the majority of his work life with RCA. He worked at the Camden, N.J., plant for more than 25 years. One of the high points of his working experience was helping to develop the transmission equipment for the lunar rover on the first moon landing in 1969.

Bill died in Haddonfield, N.J., where he had lived since 1950. He is survived by his daughter, Janet Klagholz, his son, Keith M., a sister, Nancy, and two grandchildren. Bill will be missed greatly by his family and friends.

The Class of 1933

OLIVER CROMWELL MUNSON '45

Oliver died on Jan. 13, 2000, at his home in Ft. Lauderdale after a struggle with cancer. Oliver, a resident of Babylon, Long Island, N.Y., entered Princeton from the Peddie School. At Princeton he was a member of Charter Club, but departed for service as a Navy officer aboard the USS Laffey, a destroyer stationed in the Pacific theater. Upon his return he married the former Helen Jenkins of Manhasset, Long Island, and took up residence in that town, later moving to Huntington, Long Island. He became an executive of Grinnell Lithographic Co., becoming pres. and CEO of Grinnell, a position he held until his death. He and Helen had a son, Raeburn. Helen died in 1989, after an extended battle with cancer.

Oliver moved to Ft. Lauderdale and married Sheryl, who survives him, along with Raeburn and granddaughters Pamela and Paige. Oliver was a lifetime member of the New York Athletic Club and was a member of the Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Ft. Lauderdale. He was an orchid grower and a member of several orchid societies. In 1995, a Vanda orchid was named in his honor.

The class extends its sympathy to all.

The Class of 1945

George Richard N. H. Nash '45

Dick died on July 22, 2000. Born in Menton, France, Dick grew up in Washington, DC, and Warrenton, Va., spending his summers at Castine in Maine. Dick did not enter Princeton with the class but joined us from Exeter a year later as his brother Philip entered with the Class of '46. At Princeton, Dick was in the ROTC program, was commissioned in field artillery, and served with the 90th Infantry Division in George Patton's Third Army, seeing extensive combat in France and Germany. Upon his return to Princeton, he joined Triangle Club and was a member of Cap and Gown. As capt. of the golf team, Dick was famed for winning a match against Navy with a hole-in-one on the 18th green. Golfers Bill Campbell and Tom Horn became lifelong friends. Dick received a degree in English in 1948 and was active in securities markets until the 1980s, when he turned to his primary interest in life, inner spiritual concentration. Dick joined various groups organized by gurus and other mystics in such exotic locales as India and Puerto Rico in addition to the western US.

In addition to brother Phil, Dick is survived by two daughters, Sophie Ours and Emily Morse, as well as by five grandchildren and two sisters. The class extends its sympathy to all.

The Class of 1945

HARRIS BATES STEWART JR. '45

"Stew" died Apr. 25, 2000, after a battle with cancer. He entered Princeton from Exeter. His Princeton connections include his grandfather, George 1876, his father, Harry B. '03, his uncle, Weir '15, and his cousin, Weir Jr. '45. Stew's Princeton studies were interrupted by service as a first lt. with the Fifth Army Air Force in the Pacific, seeing combat over New Guinea and the Philippines. After graduation in 1948 with a geology degree, Stew became an English teacher at Hotchkiss. He then joined the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, where he became one of the foremost oceanographers in the world. Stew began his publication success with The Global Sea and Deep Challenge, both of which gave a lay explanation of oceanography. Stew also published Id of the Squid, No Dinosaurs in the Ark, Grungy George, Sloppy Sally, and Injections of Hospital Humor. His crowning publication was a collection of oceanographic essays published last year, The Unpredictable Mistress. In the 1980s, Stew retired from government to become director of the Center for Marine Studies at Old Dominion U. In 1959 Stew married Elise Cunningham, who died from cancer in 1988. Subsequently, Stew married Louise Conant Thompson, sister of Dodie Carothers, wife of classmate Stuart. Louise preceded Stew in death by four weeks.

Stew is survived by daughter Dorothy Barrett, son Harry, sister Ann Birch, brother John, and four grandchildren.

The Class of 1945

Graduate Alumni

Robert Carroll Riggelman *89, Molecular Biology, Feb. 17, 2000

Antonio Edward Chavez *77, Woodrow Wilson School, Mar. 5, 2000

Leslie Elizabeth Mason *85, Architecture, Mar. 11, 2000

Harold Basowitz *51, Psychology, Mar. 13, 2000

Michael Ivan Austrian *64, Politics, Mar. 15, 2000

milton Norbert Brutten *43, Modern Languages & Literature, Mar. 16, 2000

Clement Wilson Fairweather Jr. *42, English, Mar. 17, 2000

Joe Webb Peoples *32, Geology, Mar. 21, 2000

Melvin Willard Ecke *51, History, Mar. 27, 2000

Harold Lloyd James *45, Geology, Apr. 2, 2000

John Mickle Hemphill II *64, History, Apr. 3, 2000