1950s

William Allen Bush '50

William Allen Bush '50, a longtime resident of New York City, was born on May 21, 1928, in Tuxedo, NY. A son of Harrison O. and Mary Walker Allen Bush, he grew up in Sloatsburg, NY, bordering on New Jersey, and came to Hamilton in 1946 from Suffern High School, where he was graduated as first in his class. He joined Tau Kappa Epsilon, played in the College Band, and focused on foreign language studies, in which he excelled. Known for his sartorial elegance and sophisticated humor, he was awarded the Winslow Prize in Romance Languages and received his diploma with honors in French in 1950.

Intending to pursue a career in teaching, Bill Bush went on to graduate study in French at Yale University. The College has no information about his subsequent activities except that he resided for decades on Morton Street in Greenwich Village, traveled extensively abroad, especially in Europe, and, according to his newspaper obituary, was a veteran of the U.S. Army.

William A. Bush, who faithfully contributed to the Annual Fund over the years, died on October 23, 2008. He is survived by a brother, Harrison O. Bush, and a sister, Gertrude Hewitt, as well as nephews and nieces.
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John Louis Fell '50

John Louis Fell '50, emeritus professor of film at San Francisco State University and a noted authority on early cinema history as well as a jazz aficionado, was born on September 19, 1927, in Westfield, NJ. The son of Shelby G., a business executive, and Frances Hildebrand Fell, he grew up in Westfield and was graduated in 1945 from Westfield High School. He entered Hamilton that fall but left the Hill after a semester in response to an irresistible call from Selective Service.

In 1947, following a year in the U.S. Army Air Force, John Fell returned to College Hill and resumed his studies with such success that he gained election to Phi Beta Kappa. He served on the staff of campus radio station WHC, played clarinet in the College Band, and also contributed his instrumental talent to the Fallacious Five jazz band. Called by The Hamiltonian the "perfect example of the rational mind in an irrational world," he received his diploma with honors in anthropology in 1950.

After briefly taking courses in anthropology at Northwestern University, John Fell headed to New York City, where he pursued graduate studies in cinema and eked out a living as a magazine editor, free-lance writer, and jazz musician. Besides writing "pulp" for men's magazines and numerous film scripts, he joined fellow jazz enthusiasts in Greenwich ­Village, including classmate and fellow Fallacious Five veteran James Lincoln Collier, in playing gigs with his clarinet. For a time he also taught in a private secondary school, where he "supervised a class of schizophrenic boys, which prepared me for academia."

John Fell, who had acquired an M.A. in communications from New York University in 1954, stayed on at N.Y.U. to earn his Ph.D in that field in 1958. Upon obtaining his doctorate, he left the East Coast for Montana State College (now University) to take over its film and television department. He remained there in Bozeman for two years as an assistant professor, primarily supervising educational television. On December 5, 1958, while at Montana State, he was married to Suzanne Shillington in Idaho Falls, ID.

In 1960, John and Sue Fell moved to California when John was appointed to the faculty of San Francisco State College (also now University). As an assistant professor, he taught courses in motion picture history, theory, and esthetics in the department of radio-TV-film. His intellectual curiosity and wry sense of humor permeated his classroom presentations, which were drawn from his impressively wide reading in film. Appointed in 1964 to develop and administer a new film program, he supported student demands for a full-fledged cinema department, which was established under his chairmanship in 1967. He chaired the department until 1970 and again in 1975-76. A reluctant administrator who was happiest sharing his passion for cinema and jazz culture, and being a mentor and guide to his students, he led the department only long enough to get and keep it on its feet. He was promoted to full professor in 1970 and continued to teach at San Francisco State until his retirement in 1984.

In addition to contributing articles and reviews on film, music, books, theater, and photography to publications ranging from arts journals to Esquire and the Saturday Review, John Fell wrote album notes for jazz recordings. He also served on the editorial board of Film Quarterly, the advisory board of Film History, and as guest editor for Cinema Journal. A member of numerous professional organizations, including the Writers' Guild of America and the American Federation of Musicians, he was a former president of the national academic film organization, the Society for ­Cinema Studies (1981-83).

However, John Fell's enduring influence and lasting impact was through his shaping of the film department at San Francisco State and his scholarship as reflected in five books, most notably Film and the Narrative Tradition, published in 1974. He went on to write Film: An Introduction (1975), A History of Films (1979), and Film Before Griffith (1983). His last book, Stride! (1999), was an important contribution to jazz piano history.

In retirement, John Fell, residing in Larkspur in Marin County, north of San Francisco, continued to teach film and jazz courses at the College of Marin. He also continued to write and to "play very dated jazz with a group of old gentlemen on Friday afternoons."

John L. Fell died on October 8, 2008, following a massive stroke. He is survived by his wife of almost 50 years. Also surviving are two daughters, Justine R. Fell and Eliza M. Durkin, and three grandchildren and a sister. His son, John S. Fell, the victim of a diving accident, died in 1989.
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Gerald Irving Maas '51

Gerald Irving Maas '51, a longtime real estate broker and management consultant, was born on March 31, 1929, in Jamaica, Queens, NY. A son of Irving A. Maas, general manager of a motion ­picture export association, and the former Mary Foley, "Gerry" Maas grew up in New York City and prepared for college at Hackley School in Tarrytown, where he was graduated in 1946. In 1949, after taking courses for two years at Syracuse University, he transferred to Hamilton. Affiliated with Sigma Phi, he became an enthusiastic intramural competitor as well as a member of the ski team. He also made numerous lifelong friends during his sojourn on the Hill. He received his A.B. degree with honors in economics in 1951.

That year, Gerry Maas achieved what he called "the dubious distinction" of being the first man in his Hamilton class to be drafted into military service. After serving for 28 months during that Korean War era, he was discharged from the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant in 1953. He then returned to New York City and pursued studies at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business while working as a credit reporter for Dun & Bradstreet. By the time he received his M.S. degree from Columbia in 1956, he was employed in the investment department of the New York Trust Co.

In 1959, Gerry Maas was an investment advisor with the ­Monmouth-Lee Corp., an investment firm also located in New York City. Soon named a vice president of the company, he remained in investment and management consulting, later with Heine, Fishbein & Co., until 1981, when he turned to real estate brokerage with Richard Cantor, Inc. He subsequently became a senior associate broker of the firm, renamed Cantor-Pecorella, Inc., and remained with it for many years. While continuing to live and work in Manhattan, he took the opportunity, whenever finances permitted, to travel extensively abroad. He also remained in close contact with many of his old Hamilton friends and would often take the train (he did not drive a car) to Albany, where Hill friends would pick him up and take him to tailgate parties at Hamilton-Williams football games.

Gerry Maas, unmarried but in the company of a female companion for a number of years, led a generally simple life. He was particularly proud of his longtime association with Sanctuary for Families, a not-for-profit social service agency founded by Sarah and Gilman Burke '54, which assists battered women and their children. For a decade, Gerry served as a director of the agency. He was also devoted to Hamilton, and one of his last services to the College was assisting it in obtaining possession of the Sigma Phi house, now the Siuda House, Hamilton's admission building.

Long in failing health, Gerald I. Maas was still residing in Manhattan's West Village when he died on October 6, 2008. Among survivors is his brother, Richard Maas.
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Arthur Hastings Merritt III '51

Arthur Hastings Merritt III '51, a retired data processor, ­analyst, and programmer, was born on December 23, 1929, in Mt. Vernon, NY. His parents were Arthur H., Jr., employed in the advertising field, and Catherine Johnson Merritt. Art Merritt grew up in the New York City area and was graduated in 1947 from Roosevelt High School in Yonkers. He entered the College that fall and joined Delta Phi, later becoming secretary of the newly chartered local chapter. Known among other things for the "off-key wail of his harmonica" and his eagerness to share a joke, he left the Hill with his A.B. degree in 1951.

Art Merritt enlisted in the U.S. Navy upon graduation and at the time of the Korean conflict, and received his commission as an ensign following Officer Candidate School. Assigned to the destroyer U.S.S. Isherwood, he served aboard as communications and subsequently operations officer in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. He was released from active duty as a lieutenant after three years in uniform in 1954.

Following employment as a service representative by American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in Washington, DC, and later White Plains NY, Art Merritt moved to Massachusetts in 1960 and joined General Electric Co. in Pittsfield. He began as a field service representative and became a planning and scheduling engineer and eventually an application engineer, performing tests and data analysis in connection with the Navy's Polaris missile submarine program. He was subsequently engaged in marketing various G.E. aerospace applications for the military. In 1972, he left G.E. and settled in North Carolina to take a data-processing position in the textile industry. Beginning as a programmer and analyst for Macfield Texturing in Madison, he later did programming and design for Annedeen Hosiery Mills in Burlington. He retired in 1994.

For many years, Art Merritt's chief hobby was model railroading. Active in the Carolina Model Railroaders, Inc., in Greensboro, he served it in various capacities, including president. He was also active in Parents Without Partners and, quite fond of ballroom dancing, even instructed a dance class for a time. In retirement he took up a new "career" as a fly fisherman, making almost daily trips to lakes in pursuit of elusive denizens of the water. In time he "learned to cast the rod fairly well," as he modestly admitted, which gave him great satisfaction.

Arthur H. Merritt III, a faithfully supportive alumnus, most recently a resident of Pineville, NC, near Charlotte, died on May 14, 2008. His marriage in 1964 to Kaye Burton having ended in divorce, he is survived by a son, William J. Merritt. A daughter, Catherine, predeceased him.
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William Walter Trickey, Jr. '51

William Walter Trickey, Jr. '51, a retired business entrepreneur, was born on September 9, 1929, in Denver, CO. His parents were William W., an engineer, and Ida Mae Douglas Trickey. "Bill" Trickey grew up in New Jersey and prepared for college at Carteret School in West Orange, where he played football, captained the hockey team, and was elected president of the senior class. He came to College Hill from Essex Fells in 1947, joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, and played football for four years as well as hockey and lacrosse. Tapped for Was Los, he was described by The Hamiltonian as soft-spoken and a "genial ­cosmopolite." Majoring in Spanish and political science, he was awarded his diploma in 1951. Decades later, he candidly admitted that at Hamilton he had "learned how to study and acquire some knowledge despite sleeping in class."

Rather than going on to graduate school after leaving the Hill, as he had planned, Bill Trickey found himself in the U.S. Air Force, following the outbreak of the Korean War. He applied to Aviation Cadet School, became a navigator-bombardier, and was stationed in Japan as well as Korea. He served for more than four years until 1955 and was discharged as a first lieutenant.

Married to Martha I. Clayton on July 28, 1956, in Plainfield, NJ, Bill Trickey took courses in civil engineering at Newark College of Engineering and the Johns Hopkins University while working for a concrete pressure pipe company in New Jersey and Maryland. Beginning in 1957, he engaged in stressed concrete component construction with Raymond International, fabricating and driving concrete pilings in Boston and Detroit, and even in Venezuela. After two years, with a new friend whom he had met in Venezuela, he established Northeast Concrete Products, a prestressed concrete company in Plainville, MA, becoming its president.

A few years later, Bill Trickey and his partner sold the company to a competitor, and he was subsequently employed as a production and operations manager in the precast and prestressed concrete industry, first in Southern California with International Pipe and Ceramics Corp. and thereafter in Illinois with Midwest Prestressed Concrete Co., beginning in 1967. Named vice president of production for the company in 1970, he left the industry in 1974 to enter a new field, constructing and selling homes in Rockford, IL.

Bill Trickey, who became a director of the Rockford Home Builders Association and member of the Rockford Board of Realtors, continued in the real estate field, in sales and property management, until 2000, when he sold his rental units in order to "spend even more time on the golf course." Besides ardently golfing, following the Chicago Bears, and playing a little gin, he devoted his retirement years to his family. He also retained fond memories of Hamilton, including those fabled Sunday morning milk punch parties in the College Cemetery as well as the side trips to Cazenovia.

William W. Trickey, Jr., who had been residing in recent years in Knoxville, TN, near his children, died there on February 28, 2008. In addition to his wife of 51 years, he is survived by a daughter, Maria Christina (Chris) Davis; a son, William D. Trickey; and four grandchildren.
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Donald Edward Cramer '52

Donald Edward Cramer '52, a retired advertising executive and longtime Seneca Falls, NY, community leader, was born in that historic village on May 8, 1930. His parents were George W., an advertising manager, and Christine Blackmer Cramer. Don Cramer grew up in Seneca Falls , where he was graduated from Mynderse Academy in 1948. He came to College Hill that fall, joined Tau Kappa Epsilon, and became one of the last four Chapel bell ringers before the conversion to electronic ringing in 1949. After three years on the Hill, he transferred to Syracuse University. There he majored in journalism and psychology, and obtained his B.A. degree with honors in 1953.

Drafted into military service following his graduation, Don Cramer spent two years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, primarily as an instructor in Germany and France. Discharged as a corporal in 1955, he began his long career in advertising with C. L. Rumrill Co., an agency in Rochester, NY. On December 29, 1956, he was married to Ann Mandelbaum in Hanover, NH.

Don Cramer, who was employed as an advertising ­manager in San Francisco, CA, during the early 1960s, returned to New York State and settled in his hometown of Seneca Falls, where he worked in advertising for a time with Goulds Pumps, Inc. By the 1970s, while continuing to reside in Seneca Falls, he had returned to Rumrill, then Rumrill-Hoyt, Inc., in Rochester, as a media supervisor. He was associate media director for a successor agency when he retired in 1987. In partnership with his wife Ann, he subsequently established Cramer & Cramer, communications consultants engaged in doing work for Rochester ad agencies and local political campaigns.

Throughout his career, Don Cramer had an enduring interest in community service, and especially on behalf of local libraries. A former president of the board of trustees of the Finger Lakes Library System, he also served on the board of the Seneca Falls Library and helped to spearhead the ­capital campaign for the construction of its new library building. In 2005, he and Ann were the co-recipients of the Finger Lakes Library System's Ruth Polson ­Public Service Award in recognition of their significant contributions to their local library.

Don Cramer's love of books and reading also led him to volunteer as a teacher in the Junior Great Books program and serve as president of Literary Volunteers of Seneca County. In 2006, he was named its Volunteer of the Year. When his children were young, he was president of the Seneca Falls School Board. More recently he was a member of the village's Heritage Area Commission, and his volunteer activities included delivering Meals on Wheels every Tuesday for many years.

Don Cramer, whose affection for Hamilton remained constant throughout his life, enjoyed travel, especially river cruises, and was no stranger to the waterways of Europe as well as those in the United States. He followed politics with avidity, along with college lacrosse. A student of the works of Edgar Cayce and a believer in reincarnation, he attended numerous conferences and ­workshops of the Association for Research and Enlightenment.

Donald E. Cramer's valiant struggle with blood cell cancer ended on December 1, 2008, at a hospice in Ontario, NY. In addition to his wife of 52 years, he is survived by two sons, Hans F. and August H. Cramer; a daughter Heidi Conley; and five grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
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Charles Addison Keeler, Jr. '52

Charles Addison Keeler, Jr. '52, an attorney long prominent in advancing health care and other social services in Binghamton, NY, was born in that city on October 8, 1930. A son of Charles A. '20, also an attorney, and Esther Montgomery Keeler, a registered nurse, "Addy" Keeler followed his father to College Hill from Binghamton Central High School, where he was graduated in 1948 as first in his class. He joined his father's ­fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, managed the baseball team, and played junior varsity soccer as well as intramural volleyball. A "spiker" for a championship YMCA volleyball team while in high school, he vigorously advocated without success for a varsity team at Hamilton.

Addy Keeler became involved in numerous campus activities besides sports. He served on the staff of The Continental, participated in debate, gaining election to the forensic honorary Delta Sigma Rho, and was a ­member of the Chapel Board. He also sang baritone in the Choir for four years and with classmates Warren Dodson and Lawry Gulick, originated the idea in October 1950 of forming what became the Buffers. A key member of the original eight, he suggested the name Buffers for the male a cappella singing group, which continues to entertain on College Hill to this day.

Possessing an unusually inquisitive and probing mind, Addy Keeler excelled academically and was graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1952, with high honors, as well as department honors in English literature, mathematics, philosophy, and public speaking. He went on to Cornell University's law school, where he served on the Law Quarterly and received his LL.B. degree in 1955 as first in his class. He returned to his native Binghamton and, after admission to the Bar, became an associate with Hinman, Howard & Kattell, his father's law firm, the largest in the city. Except for two years (1957-59), when he was a con­fidential law clerk to the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court in Albany, he would remain as a partner in the firm until his retirement as of counsel in 1999.

In addition to a general ­practice, Addy Keeler was involved early in his career in ­representing the Link company, marketers of the aircraft flight simulator. It involved him in travel abroad to such places as Karachi and Tel Aviv. He later specialized in health law and estates and trusts, in addition to taxation, pensions, and employee benefits for Link and other local companies as well as medical practices.

Also highly active in his community, especially in the health care field, Addy Keeler was extensively involved in the creation of a number of local and regional health planning organizations. He was a co-founder and president of NY-Penn Health Planning Council, counsel and a director of Twin Tier Home Health Care and Good Shepherd-Fairview Home, and a director of the Broome County Nursing Home Board. A member of the advisory council of the New York State Health Planning Commission, he had been in addition president of the County Social Planning Council and Urban League, and a director of the Arts Council and the United Way. He also willingly "got down in the trenches," helping out at a local soup kitchen.

Addy Keeler, whose wide-ranging interests encompassed tennis and bowling in addition to volleyball, also read avidly. After his retirement, he enthusiastically joined his wife, the former Nancy Bertholf, whom he had married in Binghamton on July 6, 1957, in the activities of the Binghamton ­Garden Club. An elder, deacon, and Sunday School teacher at the First Presbyterian Church, he maintained his lifelong enjoyment of singing as a member of its choir. For many years he also wrote the scripts for and performed in the Chamber of Commerce's annual show and for his law firm's annual holiday parties.

C. Addison Keeler, Jr., an exceedingly loyal and generous supporter of the College, died on January 7, 2009. He had been plagued with congestive heart problems in recent years. In addition to his wife of 52 years, he is survived by three daughters, Martha Macinski and Molly Ann and Mary Jane Keeler; two sons, James R. and Charles B. Keeler; a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter; his sister, Oppie Ludwig; his brother, John M. Keeler '55; and nieces and nephews, including James M. Ludwig III '75.
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H(erschel) Paul Lewis '56

H(erschel) Paul Lewis '56, a highly regarded neurosurgeon and a former trustee of the College, was born on May 22, 1934, to Herschel P. Lewis, a mechanical and electrical engineer who died when Paul was a boy, and the ­former Florence M. Hanna, an ­elementary school teacher, in Niagara Falls, NY. He grew up in Rochester, NY, where he attended Brighton High School and was elected president of the Student Council. He entered Hamilton ­following his graduation and, already determined to become a physician, pursued premedical studies. However, he managed to find time to sing in the Choir and contribute to The Spectator, as well as play some golf. A member of Psi Upsilon, he was graduated in 1956. On August 11 of that year, he and Barbara Lou Jager were married in Rochester.

In the fall of 1956, Paul Lewis was admitted to New York Medical College. After acquiring his M.D. degree in 1960, he interned for a year at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, OH. He went on to serve his residency in neurosurgery at Cincinnati General Hospital, affiliated with the ­University of Cincinnati. He stayed on at the University's College of Medicine as an instructor in research neurosurgery while establishing his private and later group practice. He continued to practice in the Cincinnati area for more than four decades, specializing in complex spine and gamma knife surgery, and became director of neurosurgery at Mercy Hospital and co-director of neurosurgery at Bethesda Hospital. He was also active in local medical and health organizations as well as the Hyde Park Community Methodist Church and its choir. Woodworking and jewelry making were among his side interests.

A loyal and generous supporter of Hamilton, Dr. Lewis served as an alumni trustee from 1978 to 1980. He also established at the College the Herschel P. and Florence M. Lewis Scholarship in memory of his parents.

H. Paul Lewis, a resident of Lebanon, OH, died on July 23, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Linda Long Lewis, a registered nurse, whom he had wed in 1979. Also surviving are a son and daughter, Michael H. P. Lewis and Susan Shallow, from his first marriage; three daughters, Rebecca Wolter, Katie Slater, and Christy Lewis, from his second; and five grandchildren.
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John Jeffrey McNamara '59

John Jeffrey McNamara '59, an advertising and public relations executive, was born on January 31, 1937, to John J. and Alexandra Salem McNamara, in New York City. He prepared for college at the Stony Brook School on Long Island and enrolled at Hamilton from St. James, NY, in 1955. On the Hill, he joined Psi Upsilon and sang in the Choir and with the Buffers.

Following his graduation as a history major in 1959, John McNamara, known to friends as "Mac," began his long career in the advertising and public relations field as a junior account executive with Albert Frank-Guenther Law, Inc. in New York City. He worked with such corporate clients as American Telephone & Telegraph Co., and was named assistant vice president and account supervisor in 1964.

In 1966, Mac McNamara joined Doremus & Co., an advertising and public relations firm in Manhattan, as an account executive. Elected a vice president in 1969, he served as senior supervisor of financial accounts. In 1975, after a year with the public relations firm of Booke & Co., he became senior vice president for new business at Wiley, Kiernan, Inc., then Wall Street's oldest advertising agency.

After a brief stint as vice president and accounts supervisor for Tinker, Campbell Ewald, Mac McNamara struck out on his own in the late 1970s to establish John McNamara Advertising, Inc., a small Wall Street agency specializing in banking and brokerage, and the tender-offer field. He divided his time between Manhattan and a second residence in Southampton on Long Island, where he enjoyed golf, fishing, and swimming.

John J. McNamara, a loyally supportive alumnus, was still president and chief executive officer of his own agency when the College last heard from him some years ago. As recently verified by Social Security records, he died on April 30, 2005. Hamilton's records indicate that he was unmarried, and the College has no information regarding survivors.
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Paul Parke Rhymer '59

Paul Parke Rhymer '59, a retired corporate systems analyst, was born on September 20, 1937, in Chicago, IL. The son of Paul M., a writer, and Mary Frances Murray Rhymer, keeper of prints at the Chicago Historical Society, Paul Rhymer, known as Parke, grew up in Chicago, where he was graduated in 1955 from the Francis W. Parker School. He came to Hamilton that fall and joined Psi Upsilon. He majored in French and was among the 32 students who ­participated in the first year of Hamilton's Junior Year in France program in 1957-58.

Following his graduation with honors in French in 1959, Parke Rhymer entered the U.S. Navy. Commissioned as an officer, he served for six years and attained the rank of lieutenant. After a stint as an information systems technical assistant with the MITRE Corp. in the Washington, DC, area, he went to work as a computer ­systems analyst for the General Electric Co., first in Phoenix, AZ, and later in Bethesda, MD. He was subsequently with Pharos ­Systems, based in Bethesda, before returning to MITRE. He remained as a systems engineer with that corporation, in various locations from Massachusetts to California, and Nebraska in between, until his retirement in 1998.

After having ample opportunities to explore various areas of the country in connection with his employment, Parke Rhymer settled down in retirement in ­Virginia Beach, VA, where he enjoyed the natural charms of Chesapeake Bay. An avid bird watcher, he would call to the birds, using their appropriate "language," to which they would respond. Just before his retirement, he had become a Roman Catholic, and he took a great interest in the richness of his new faith. He took pleasure in reading about the lives of the saints, church architecture, and Catholic doctrine and philosophy.

Paul Parke Rhymer, who had been battling cancer for several months, died at a hospital near his home in Virginia Beach on December 21, 2008. He is survived by his devoted wife, Carole Taylor Rhymer, whom he had first met when he was running marathons (including the Boston Marathon) in 1981. They were married the following year.
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