1940s
Harry John Kolb ’40
Harry John Kolb ’40, who turned to real estate sales after a career as a research chemist and manager with the DuPont Co., was born on June 5, 1918, in Buffalo, N.Y. The son of Charles J. and Elizabeth Kuebler Kolb, he grew up in the Buffalo suburb of Kenmore, where he was graduated in 1936 from Kenmore High School. Harry Kolb arrived on College Hill that fall and joined the Emerson Literary Society. He served as its president as well as a member of the Interfraternity Council during his senior year. Manager of the varsity baseball team, he was also active in debate. Excelling academically, he was awarded the Huntington Mathematics Prize Scholarship and the Tompkins Prize in Mathematics, and achieved election to Phi Beta Kappa. He left the Hill with his B.S. degree in 1940.
Harry Kolb went on to acquire an M.A. in chemistry from Haverford College in 1941 and his Ph.D., also in chemistry, from Northwestern University in 1943. For two years thereafter he served as a project engineer with the U.S. Navy. Employed at the Naval Research Laboratories in Washington, D.C., during the latter stages of World War II, he was involved in research on an improved sonar detection system.
Released from the Navy as a lieutenant (j.g.) after the war’s end in 1945, Harry Kolb went to work as a basic research chemist for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., the giant chemical corporation in Wilmington, Del. He became a research supervisor and later technical services manager for the synthetic textile fiber Dacron. The author of numerous papers in technical journals, he had developed a patent for DuPont’s Dacron early in his career with the company. During his 36 years with DuPont, he was given numerous and diversified assignments in various geographical locations, some of which encompassed international business trips. For the last 15 years before his retirement, he was in middle management as technical marketing manager, selling molecular and polymer technology.
Dr. Kolb retired from DuPont in 1981. At that time, he and his wife, the former Jean H. Renfer, whom he had wed in Wilkes Barre, Pa., on Feb. 20, 1960, decided to sell real estate to provide a new focal point for their lives. For several years, through a local Century 21 office, they sold real estate as a husband-and-wife team.
Harry Kolb, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences as well as honorary scientific societies such as Sigma Xi, enjoyed travel abroad, which he and his wife did extensively, as well as gardening, reading and listening to music. He also enjoyed scanning the heavens through his Celestron 90 telescope. His hobbies included bird watching, stamp and postcard collecting, and working crossword puzzles. An active member of the Lutheran Church, in whose choir he sang, he was a loyal and supportive Hamiltonian.
Long a resident of Kennett Square and most recently of a retirement community in West Grove, Pa., Harry J. Kolb died on June 30, 2012, at the age of 94. Predeceased three months earlier by his wife of 52 years, he is survived by a daughter, Catherine Stroup; a son, Peter R. Kolb; and three grandchildren.
Seth J. McKibbin ’41
Seth J. McKibbin ’41, employed in industrial relations by Corning Glass Works for 35 years, grew up in Hornell, N.Y., where he was born on July 15, 1919. A son of Frederick A., a highway contractor, and Rose Rice McKibbin, he enrolled at Hamilton from Hornell High School in 1937. A member and later house manager of the Emerson Literary Society, he also managed the varsity baseball team and was a drummer as well as drum major in the College Band. An elder of the College Church and active in student government, he left the Hill with his B.S. degree in 1941.
The following spring, soon after the country had entered World War II, Seth McKibbin, having been turned down for the Navy because he was “too short,” enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. On April 4, 1942, shortly before he went on active duty, he and Elizabeth Cundy were married in Hornell. Trained in communications at Yale University, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. As a communications officer, he served for four years through the end of the war, including two years in Burma and India, engaged in air traffic control, among other duties. Discharged as a captain in 1946, he traveled home by way of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, thereby completing a trip around the world.
That year, Seth McKibbin began his long career with Corning Glass Works (now Corning, Inc.) in Corning, N.Y., not far from his hometown of Hornell, as a production scheduler. He soon switched to industrial relations, initially as a wage and salary analyst. Subsequently involved in negotiating labor agreements with unions in 30 locations in the U.S. and Canada, he later served as wage and benefit administrator and ultimately as corporate manager of employee services. He retired in 1981.
In 1984, Seth and Betty McKibbin moved from their longtime home in Painted Post, N.Y., where he formerly chaired the village’s planning board, to Sun Lakes, Ariz., not far from Phoenix. There, residing “between the 10th green and 11th tee” on the Cottonwood Golf Course, he pursued golf with pleasure. He also became a charter member of the Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church in Tempe and was active in his townhouse association. He and Betty also enjoyed travel, which encompassed all 50 states as well as many countries.
Seth J. McKibbin, a faithful alumnus, died on Oct. 26, 2013, in Chandler, Ariz., at the age of 94. Predeceased by his wife of 66 years in 2008, he is survived by two daughters, Louise C. and Nancy E. McKibbin; a son, Frederick A. McKibbin ’75; and seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Howard Mansfield Keefe, Jr. ’42
Howard Mansfield Keefe, Jr. ’42, a veteran aviator and champion air racer who learned to fly while at Hamilton, was born on April 24, 1921, in Chicago. A son of Howard M., a magazine advertising manager, and Mabel Keelin Keefe, he grew up in the Chicago area, was graduated in 1938 from New Trier High School in Winnetka, and came to College Hill from Glencoe that fall. He joined Alpha Delta Phi (his father had been an Alpha Delt at the University of Chicago) and quickly became known on campus for his athleticism in three sports, golf, hockey and soccer. Howie Keefe played and lettered in all three for four years and was captain of the soccer team in his senior year. A member of the Publications Board and stalwart of the Winter Carnival Committee, he was elected to Quadrangle and Was Los.
Most significantly, Howie Keefe was introduced to the cockpit at Hamilton by participating in the College-accredited civilian pilot training program as a junior, flying a Piper Cub out of the old Utica airport. Drawn early to aviation by such boyhood heroes as Charles Lindbergh and barnstormers Roscoe Turner and Jimmy Doolittle, he took advantage of the opportunity to acquire his pilot’s license just when American entry into World War II was looming. Not long after earning his B.S. degree in 1942 (by that time the U.S. was involved in the war), he enlisted in the Navy Air Corps. Commissioned as an officer, he served “stateside” through the war’s end as a flight instructor, among other duties. On June 24, 1943, he and Rosemary C. Burghart were married in Lake Forest, Ill.
Released from active duty as a lieutenant (j.g.) in late 1945, Howie Keefe returned to his native area, where he sold advertising for the Chicago Tribune and then became its marketing director. Encouraged by a fellow Winnetkan, Henry S. “Pete” Hoyt ’45, who coaxed him to fly his Cessna 172, Howie got back into aviation. He began drawing up his own flight charts and soon turned it into a sideline business. The aviation charts he invented, called Sky Prints, were marketed in spiral-bound atlas format, a first in aviation, and they were used extensively by private pilots.
Fired by the Tribune because he had become a “publisher,” deemed a conflict of interest, Howie Keefe was rescued by the Bureau of Advertising of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, which sent him to head up its Los Angeles office in 1966. While there, he bought a P-51 Mustang (a World War II fighter), named it “Miss America” and began cross-country air racing. From 1969 to 1981, he raced the red, white and blue plane, setting the record for the most consecutive unlimited pylon air races (21) and, in 1972, the propeller-driven speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in six hours and 21 minutes. He stopped racing at age 60. In 1980, at about the same time, he developed a new and innovative air chart atlas and began another company, Air Chart Corp., in Venice, Calif., to market it.
Divorced from his wife in 1971, Howie Keefe married Margaret “Midge” Fraser in 1988. They resided in Marina del Rey, Calif., where Howie kept busy with his chart company after giving up flying, while also racing sailboats and teaching his new bride how to fly. By that time he was something of a legend among devotees of air racing as the pilot of “Miss America,” and in 2001 his own account of his adventures, and occasionally harrowing experiences in the air, was published in a book of memoirs, Galloping On Wings.
Howard M. Keefe sold his chart company in 1990, and in 2002 he and Midge moved to central Florida. His self-described “most exciting, fun-filled, fascinating life” ended on July 26, 2013, in Lakeland, Fla., at the age of 92. He is survived by his devoted wife of 25 years. Other survivors include two sons and a daughter from his previous marriage, Howard M. III, Charles B. and Dorothy M. Keefe, and a granddaughter.
David Stuart Kelsey ’43
David Stuart Kelsey ’43, who retired as regional workers’ compensation manager after 36 years with Utica Mutual (now National) Insurance Co., was born on April 26, 1922, in Fairport, N.Y., near Rochester. The son of Grant D., a sales representative, and Ada Cullen Kelsey, he grew up in Fairport but spent summers with his family on Canandaigua Lake where he developed a lifelong fondness for sailing and sailboat racing. Dave Kelsey enrolled at Hamilton from Fairport High School in 1939, joined Delta Upsilon and played hockey. He left the Hill in early 1942 and served in the U.S. Army for three-and-a-half years through World War II’s end. The last 13 months were spent with the Army Corps of Engineers in the Philippines, where he participated in the Luzon campaign.
Discharged as a technical sergeant in 1946, Dave Kelsey returned to College Hill for a year to complete his studies. He was accompanied by his wife, the former Lucille E. Hept, whom he had wed in Fairport on Nov. 11, 1944. They were among the first to occupy the temporary North Village housing set up for returning veterans and their families. With transfer credits, Dave Kelsey was awarded his B.S. degree in 1948.
After brief employment as a bank teller, Dave Kelsey began his long career with Utica Mutual. A specialist in workers’ compensation, he supervised casualty insurance compensation claims in the company’s Rochester office while residing in suburban Pittsford. Transferred to the company’s main office in Utica in 1980, he retired in 1983 and moved from New Hartford to Canandaigua, N.Y. He and his wife spent their winters in Vero Beach, Fla.
Dave Kelsey, whose home was on Canandaigua Lake, raced sailboats and was a past commodore of the Canandaigua Yacht Club. He was also an enthusiastic golfer and member of the board of governors of the Canandaigua Country Club. When wintry weather kept him away from the water and greens, he devoted his time to woodworking. Among other things, he built a desk for a local lawyer, a lectern for a church in Utica and twin beds for his grandchildren, as well as a medical instrument case for President Lyndon B. Johnson to present as a state gift to Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
David S. Kelsey was still residing in Canandaigua when he died on Sept. 22, 2013, at a hospice in Naples, N.Y. He was 91. Predeceased by his wife of 64 years in 2008, he is survived by three daughters, Sheryl Shaffer, Dayle Quarfot and Laura J. Kelsey, and nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Theodore Adams Searle ’43
Theodore Adams Searle ’43, a lifelong resident of Randolph, N.Y., where he was born on Sept. 2, 1921, combined the law with banking in that small community near Jamestown. The younger son of Robert T., an accountant, and Florence Adams Searle, he was graduated from Randolph Central School in 1938 and entered Hamilton after taking a year of Alfred University extension courses in Jamestown. Ted Searle joined Theta Delta Chi and focused his athleticism on soccer, lettering in that sport. When his father died at the beginning of his sophomore year in 1940, he intended to withdraw from Hamilton, but stayed on at the behest of his advisor, Professor Otto Liedke, who urged him to borrow money from the College and continue his education. He took the advice and never regretted it.
By the time he was awarded his B.S. degree in January 1943, Ted Searle had entered the U.S. Army. He served as a communications specialist with Signal Corps intelligence in North Africa and Italy during World War II, engaged in cryptanalysis. On Feb. 20, 1943, before being sent overseas, he was wed to Mary L. Visker in Washington, D.C. His three years of military service ended after the war’s conclusion in 1945.
Having long intended to become an attorney, Ted Searle enrolled in law school at Cornell University in 1946. After receiving his LL.B. degree in 1949, he was employed for two years by Travelers Insurance Co. in Denver before returning permanently to his hometown. There he began his career in banking as a teller at the State Bank of Randolph and rose to vice president. As the bank’s loan officer, he gained the trust of his clients for his sterling character. He retired from banking in 1975, but continued to practice law for many years thereafter.
Ted Searle, a former president of the Cattaraugus County Bankers Association and treasurer of the New York State Bankers Association, was also highly active in his community. He served for 32 years as a trustee of the Randolph Children’s Home, 25 of them as chairman of its board. Under his leadership, the buildings of that refuge and training center for over 100 homeless and dependent youngsters were either modernized or replaced. He was also a past president of the Conewango Watershed Commission. A member of the vestry and senior warden of Grace Episcopal Church in Randolph, he served in addition on the executive council of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.
Known for his love of the outdoors as well as golf, tennis and reading, Ted Searle increasingly spent time in Florida during his later years. There he and Mary played tennis in the morning and sailed in the afternoon. They also enjoyed summer vacations in the Adirondacks. A devoted Hamiltonian who kept in close touch over the years with friends made in college, he frequently attended reunions on the Hill.
Theodore A. Searle died on Aug. 11, 2013, at the home of his daughter and caregiver, Jane S. Cain, in Randolph, in his 92nd year. Predeceased by his wife, he is survived by three sons, Theodore A., Jr., Tyler D. and John J. Searle; two daughters, Julia S. LeGrant and Jane Cain; and 13 grandchildren.
Richard Dean Stockton ’43
Richard Dean Stockton ’43, a longtime stockbroker in his native area of Chicago, was born on April 9, 1922, in nearby Evanston. The son of Walter T., an architect, and Catherine Woodman Stockton (later DeMoe), he was graduated from Evanston High School in 1939 and followed his stepbrother, Earl T. DeMoe, Jr. ’42, to Hamilton that year. Dick Stockton joined Chi Psi and signed on to the staff of Hamilton Life, becoming features editor of the student newspaper. He also contributed extracurricular time to the Charlatans and campus radio station WHC, then in its formative stages. Known for his “mass of well-groomed hair” as well as his penchant for sleeping “whether in class or out,” he served on the Interfraternity Council in his senior year.
By the time he received his B.S. degree in January 1943, Dick Stockton had already enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Commissioned as an officer, he served in the Pacific theater during World War II and commanded a mine sweeper. Discharged as a lieutenant (j.g.) in 1946, after the war’s end, he returned to the Chicago area, where he became a partner in an insurance agency. Married in Evanston on June 9, 1947, to Ethel M. Loegler, he settled with his family in suburban Glenview in 1957.
Dick Stockton left insurance for the securities investment field and was employed by several Chicago stock brokerage firms, most notably Howe, Barnes & Johnson. He joined that firm in 1962, and in 1985 he was promoted to senior vice president in charge of investments and research.
A past president of the Chicago Executives Association and the Westmoreland Country Club, where he enjoyed playing golf, Dick Stockton was known to family and friends as “a great story-teller.” Predeceased by his wife of 59 years in 2006, he took up residence in a retirement community in Evanston in 2010.
Richard D. Stockton was still residing in his native Evanston when he died on Sept. 12, 2013, at the age of 91. He is survived by a son and daughter, Richard W. and Lindsey Stockton, as well as a sister.
Herbert Shank Chase, Jr. ’45
Herbert Shank Chase, Jr. ’45, a longtime California newspaper editor and publisher who crusaded on behalf of environmental causes, was born on March 21, 1923, in Bayonne, N.J. The only son of Herbert S., an oil company executive, and Hazel Noera Chase, he grew up in Elizabeth, N.J., where he prepared for college at Pingry School. Herb Chase enrolled at Hamilton in 1941. He joined Alpha Delta Phi and went out for football, lettering in the sport. He also served on the staff of the student newspaper, Hamilton Life.
In 1943, at the end of his sophomore year, Herb Chase withdrew from the College to go on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. He was assigned to the Navy’s V-12 program at Colgate University. Commissioned as a Marine second lieutenant, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California and later served in the Pacific theater during World War II. Following his release from military service in 1946, he returned to College Hill and completed his course of study. He was graduated in 1947 and left the Hill having made many lasting friends.
Herb Chase, who had a longstanding interest in journalism, began his career as a reporter for various newspapers, including the Newark Evening News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. On Nov. 27, 1948, he and Elise D. Kirkland were married in Elizabeth. Having fallen in love with California while at Camp Pendleton, Herb Chase soon left the East Coast to settle with his bride in Malibu and later in Santa Monica. In California, he reported for the Sacramento Union and the Independent.
In 1949, initially in partnership with H. Durant Osborne ’34, who was later city editor of the Los Angeles Times, Herb Chase took over the Independent, a weekly newspaper in Santa Monica. He continued to edit and publish what became the Independent Journal Newspapers for many years thereafter. An ardent advocate of investigative journalism who practiced what he preached, he led crusades opposing oil drilling in Santa Monica Bay as well as development plans that would have jeopardized its public beaches.
Through the years, Herb Chase owned and edited various publications, and co-founded an offset printing firm. Although he finally retired in 2012, he continued to write for local papers. Always a promoter of Santa Monica, he launched an online newsletter, Santa Monica Boosters, in his final years.
Within his community, Herb Chase served as a director of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and Family Service of Santa Monica, and coached Santa Monica Little League as well as youth softball, soccer and football. He was especially devoted to the Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club, and served on its board for more than 50 years. His dedication to youngsters was reflected in his loving involvement in the lives of his own children and grandchildren.
Herbert S. Chase, Jr., a faithful alumnus and onetime president of the Southern California Alumni Association, died on July 6, 2013, following a brief illness, at the age of 90. It concluded “a dynamic life filled with inventive ideas and a generous spirit.” He is survived by four daughters and a son from his first marriage: Anne Chase-Stapleton, Ashley Andrews, Frances Workman, Carole Elliott and Herbert S. Chase III; a stepdaughter and daughter from his second marriage, in 1970 to Marjorie Zickler: Lori Bierschenk and Paige Chase; and 15 grandchildren.
Frederick David Whiting ’45
Frederick David Whiting ’45, a physician who practiced medicine in Binghamton, N.Y., for 37 years, was born on Sept. 21, 1923, in Olean, N.Y., west of Binghamton, near the Pennsylvania border. The younger son of Kenneth P., a salesman, and Helen Tracey Whiting, “Ted” Whiting grew up in Binghamton, where he was graduated in 1941 from North High School. That fall, he followed his brother, Kenneth P. “Ken” Whiting, Jr. ’43, to Hamilton and joined his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha. He went out for basketball and lettered in the sport.
At the end of his sophomore year in 1943, Ted Whiting left the Hill to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Assigned to the Navy’s V-12 program at St. Lawrence University, he was soon reassigned for medical training under Navy auspices to the University of Buffalo. He acquired his M.D. degree in 1947 and returned to his hometown to serve his residency at Binghamton City Hospital. On Nov. 25, 1950, he was married in that city to Elizabeth Berry, a nurse. That same year, as a reservist, he was called to active duty with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps upon the outbreak of the Korean conflict. He remained in uniform for two years. Thereafter, he continued in the Naval Reserve, eventually retiring with the rank of lieutenant commander.
After his release from military service in 1952, Ted Whiting established his practice of internal medicine in Binghamton. He also engaged in teaching as associate professor of medicine at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and associate director of education at Binghamton General Hospital. He was elected president of the Broome County Medical Society in 1957. Even after his retirement he continued to make himself available to those seeking his medical advice.
Some 15 years ago, Ted Whiting retired to Bradenton, Fla., where he continued his ardent devotion to physical exercise. A generously supportive alumnus, he also kept in touch with many of his Hamilton classmates and occasionally visited College Hill.
Frederick D. Whiting died in Bradenton on July 25, 2013, in his 90th year. He is survived by his wife of 62 years. Also surviving are two sons, Mark W. and James F. Whiting; a daughter, Maria Jensen; and five grandchildren and two great-grandsons. His brother Ken predeceased him in 2007.
Francis Nichols Wright ’48
Francis Nichols Wright ’48, a self-described “workaholic” who followed a 32-year career in chemical sales and marketing with 20 additional years as a bookkeeper for an automobile dealership, was born on May 13, 1926, in Hartford, Conn. The younger son of James L., a life insurance company manager, and Sophie Nichols Wright, he grew up in Rochester, N.Y., where he was graduated in 1944 from Monroe High School. Frank Wright enrolled at Hamilton that fall, joining some 50 students who came to the Hill as freshmen in the final year of World War II. With the revival of the College’s athletic program after the war’s end, he played basketball and became a mainstay of the soccer team, lettering in that sport. A member of Psi Upsilon and known for his amiable disposition, he aspired to a career as a physician and spent many afternoons in Hamilton’s science labs. He left the Hill with his A.B. degree in 1948.
Frank Wright applied to the University of Rochester Medical School, but when his admission was delayed for a year, he obtained a “temporary” job with Union Carbide Corp.’s chemicals division. He continued in various sales and marketing management positions with the company until his retirement in 1980. As it turned out, he never regretted having taken the path that led away from medicine, for it provided him with more time to spend with his wife and sons. Married to Barbara Jayne Leach on Sept. 7, 1957, in Verona, N.J., he ultimately settled with his family in the Garden State, first in North Caldwell and later in Brick, an hour away from Princeton.
After retiring from Union Carbide, Frank Wright kept busy in various jobs for a few years before finding full-time employment in the business office of Larson Ford, Inc., in Lakewood, N.J., handling accounts receivables for the automobile dealership. After two decades with Larson, he retired for a second time in 2005, at the age of 79.
An Eagle Scout in his youth, Frank Wright was a longtime participant in Boy Scouts’ activities, including service as assistant scoutmaster. When his sons were young, he also coached and umpired Little League baseball. In addition, he was active in the Presbyterian Church as a deacon, elder and trustee. He enjoyed gardening, reading and travel, as well as playing bridge and following the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys. An ardently devoted Hamiltonian and generous contributor to the College, he served as class president and correspondent for this magazine. In recognition of his outstanding volunteer services on behalf of the Annual Fund, he received the Chairman’s Award in 2001.
In 2003, Francis N. Wright moved from his home in Brick to Crestwood Manor Retirement Community in Whiting, N.J. He died there on June 8, 2013. Predeceased by his wife in 2001, he is survived by two sons, Scott N. and Craig G. Wright, and a granddaughter.
Walter Harold Granata, Jr. ’49
Walter Harold Granata, Jr. ’49, a petroleum geologist and founding member of the geology department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was born on Dec. 2, 1926, in New York City. His parents were Walter H., an importer-exporter, and Susan Jane Mosher Granata. Walt Granata grew up in Mount Vernon, in Westchester County, N.Y., where he was graduated in 1944 from Davis High School. After serving as a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps during the end of World War II, he entered Hamilton from Mount Vernon in the spring of 1946. He found the campus looking “like an R&R center for U.S. servicemen,” where “olive drab, blues or khakis were the order of the day.”
Married in his hometown to Dorothy E. Durfey on Aug. 23, 1947, Walt Granata, along with his bride, took up residence in North Village, the temporary housing created on College Hill for veterans and their families. A member of Theta Delta Chi, he majored in geology and was graduated in 1949. He stayed on the Hill for a year as a special student to take additional courses in geology and physics.
Walt Granata, who earned an M.A. degree in geology in 1952 from the University of Missouri, began his career that year as a geologist with Sohio Petroleum Co. After acquiring his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wyoming in 1960, he left Sohio to serve as a staff geologist for Monsanto Chemical Co. in Louisiana. In 1964, he joined Sinclair Oil & Gas Co. in Texas as a regional stratigrapher, but turned to teaching a year later as an assistant professor of geology at Wisconsin State University in River Falls.
Dr. Granata began his tenure at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1967 as a member of its chemistry department. He soon took part in the establishment of the university’s geology (later geosciences) department, which he chaired as professor of geosciences from 1970 to 1979. He left the university in 1981 to return to field work with Oasis Oil Co., and was stationed in Libya as well as England for a time. In 1984, he returned to Indiana, Pa., to serve briefly as chief geologist for J & J Enterprises, a gas exploration company.
In 1991, Walt and Dottie Granata made the last of innumerable moves when they settled down on 23 acres near Greenville, S.C. When he was not at home landscaping, swimming or playing the piano, Walt and Dottie enjoyed travel and camping. “Once a rock hound, always a rock hound,” he retained his interest in geology as well.
Walter H. Granata, Jr. died on April 18, 2013. Predeceased by his wife of 64 years in 2012, he is survived by three sons, George E.’73, Barry C. and Glenn W. Granata; two daughters, Susan E. Woodard and Carolyn A. White; and 14 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. A memorial scholarship for research in geology has been established at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Walt Granata’s honor.
Robert David Hale ’49
Robert David Hale ’49, a writer, lecturer, bookseller and former president of the American Booksellers Association, was born on Jan. 16, 1928, in Batavia, N.Y. His parents were David W., a carpenter, and Rea Phillips Hale, a clerk. Bob Hale came to College Hill from Batavia High School in 1945. Although drawn to the world of books, he was self-confessedly not a good student. The assigned textbooks bored him, and he much preferred to spend his time browsing in the library’s stacks.
After his freshman year, Bob Hale left the College to help support his family. He returned to Batavia, where he found employment as a bookkeeper for a coal and lumber company. Having been exposed to acting with the Batavia Players while in high school, he soon immersed himself in the other world he loved, the theater. While in summer stock at the Duxbury Playhouse in Duxbury, Mass., he met Lydia Lund Almy, and they were married in 1958. By that time he had been introduced to bookselling as manager of the Westwinds Bookshop in Duxbury from 1952 to 1957.
After his marriage, Bob Hale turned to journalism as assistant editor of the weekly LeRoy, N.Y., Gazette News. He subsequently served as managing editor for Curtiss Johnson Publications in Connecticut. In 1970, after eight years as manager of the Connecticut College Bookshop, which he had established, he was hired by Wellesley College as general manager of its Hathaway House Bookshop. He soon made it nationally known because of the many authors whom he invited to speak there. In 1976, he was elected president of the American Booksellers Association. He became the associate executive editor of the ABA in 1978 and went on to establish, with Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, the Center for the Book. He traveled widely to promote libraries and reading as part of that national program, and he was even chosen to stock the libraries in the White House and at Camp David for President Jimmy Carter and his family. As a mentor to authors, as well as booksellers, he was credited with having had a significant impact in the world of books.
Bob Hale returned to Duxbury in 1983, having purchased the Westwinds Bookshop. In his spare time he took to writing a widely read regular column on books for the Duxbury Clipper as well as a couple books of his own, both novels. The Elm at the Edge of the Earth was published in 1990, followed by The Cloud Dweller in 2003. After selling his iconic bookshop, Westwinds, in 1990, he devoted his time and attention to the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society as its president for many years.
Residing in a 300-year-old home in nearby Pembroke, Bob Hale and his wife took to raising sheep and goats, and later miniature horses. Bob also enjoyed gardening as well as reading “big fat biographies.” Noted for his “amazing capacity to draw people to him” and as one who “was forever engaged in opening minds and introducing new ideas with his masterful wit and intellect,” Bob Hale made a profound impression on those who came to know him.
Robert D. Hale was still residing in Pembroke when he died on Oct. 21, 2013. Besides his wife of 55 years, he is survived by two children, Christin and David Hale; two stepchildren, Robert and Elizabeth Almy; and nine grandchildren and a brother,
Donald.
Frederick Walter McGarity ’49
Frederick Walter McGarity ’49, a lifelong resident of Norwich, N.Y., who taught French and Spanish in its high school, was born in Norwich on April 19, 1926. The son of Walter R. and Margaret Mee McGarity, he enrolled at Hamilton in 1945, a year after his graduation from Norwich High School. As a rising sophomore, he left the Hill for a year to serve in the U.S. Army and was stationed in postwar Japan. Intent upon concentrating on foreign languages in preparation for teaching after his return, Fred McGarity, a member of the Newman Club, received his A.B. degree in 1950. The Hamiltonian predicted that he would be remembered “for his good humor and his quiet chuckle at life.”
Fred McGarity went on to earn an M.A. in 1952 from the New York State College for Teachers in Albany. He subsequently returned to his hometown, where he would teach for many years at Norwich High School. The College has no other information about him except that Guest Book memorial tributes indicate he was long a volunteer at Our Daily Bread Food Closet in Norwich. Other tributes referred to him as “a gentle soul” and one with a passion for learning.
Frederick W. McGarity died on July 16, 2013, while hospitalized in Johnson City, N.Y., as verified by a brief newspaper obituary. Several cousins are his only survivors. Although Fred McGarity had little communication with the College after he left the Hill, he remembered Hamilton in his will.
Harold James Pratt ’49
Harold James Pratt ’49, who retired as a customer service supervisor after 34 years with 3M Co., was born on June 21, 1928, in Brooklyn. A son of Harold J., a telephone engineer, and Florence Jenks Pratt, he was a grandson of Edwin H. Jenks, Class of 1886. He prepared for college at Peddie School in New Jersey and entered Hamilton from Montvale in the Garden State in 1945. Jim Pratt joined the Emerson Literary Society as well as the Choir. He also served on the staffs of campus radio station WHC and The Hamiltonian. Known for “his sense of the whimsical” and “savage good-will,” he majored in history and was graduated in 1949.
In 1953, after serving as a staff sergeant stationed in Germany during the Korean War, Jim Pratt returned to New Jersey and went to work for Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. (3M). On Aug. 14, 1954, he was married to Phyllis S. Christianson in Park Ridge, N.J. The couple later settled in Wisconsin, where Jim Pratt was employed in sales by 3M. Later promoted to customer service supervisor, he retired in 1987.
Jim Pratt, who enjoyed reading and listening to classical music, was also highly active in volunteer work. For 38 years he recorded for the Minnesota Talking Books Network, part of the state’s services for the blind, and for many years he read newspapers to residents of a local nursing home. A member of the United Methodist Church in River Falls, Wis., where he had long resided, he also sang in its choir.
The College has belatedly verified H. James Pratt’s death on Aug. 3, 2009, while hospitalized in River Falls. He was survived by his wife, the former Jeanne Brophy, whom he had wed in 1979. Also surviving were two sons, Ian J. and Stuart Christian Pratt, and a daughter, Diana Curtis, from his first marriage, as well as grandchildren and brother, Robert P. Pratt ’45.
Judson Hughes Struble ’49
Judson Hughes Struble ’49, a retired appeals examiner for the New Jersey Department of Labor, grew up in Newton, N.J., where he was born on March 9, 1927. A son of Oliver W., a meat wholesaler and retailer, and Elsie Bardwell Struble, a teacher, he prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and came to College Hill from Newton in 1945. He joined Tau Kappa Epsilon and served on the staff of campus radio station WHC. Known to fellow students for his love of classical music and command of the French language, he pursued his studies “calmly and unostentatiously” until his graduation as a French and history major in 1949.
Judson Struble took graduate courses in Romance languages at the University of Virginia until 1952. After serving for a year as a French instructor at Salisbury School in Connecticut, he returned to Newton to become assistant manager of O. W. Struble & Co., the family business. In 1959, he began his long career in state government as a claims examiner for the New Jersey State Employment Service (later the Department of Labor). Until 1972, he worked in various unemployment claims offices, becoming a senior claims examiner. That year, he was appointed to the Appeals Tribunal as a hearing officer for disputed claims for unemployment and disability benefits. He retired as senior hearing officer in 1990.
Judson Struble, a former vice president of the New Jersey Council of State Employees, was an active member of the Lions Club and the Episcopal Church. He indulged his lifelong love of classical music by attending concerts and opera productions in New York City as well as in New Jersey. Hamilton benefited from that love when he donated to its music library his impressive collection of compact discs. He also had a great affection for animals, particularly cats.
Judson H. Struble, a generous supporter of the College, had been residing in East Orange and Montclair, N.J., before returning to Newton in 2010. He died while hospitalized in his home town on Sept. 1, 2013. Unmarried and “a friend of Bill and Dorothy,” he is survived by nieces and nephews, as well as his two beloved cats.
