Richard Lee McClelland

Richard Lee McClelland, D.D.S., 89, died Thursday, July 28, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. He had his dental practice in Princeton for 30 years and was a resident there for nearly 50 years.

A graduate of Princeton University with the Class of 1950, he received his dental degree from the University of Pennsylvania with clinical and academic honors. Dr. McClelland was on the staff of the Princeton Medical Center and was chairman of the dental department on several occasions. He also was the first dentist to serve on the executive committee of the Medical Center. He is a fellow of the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, the Academy of General Dentistry and was recognized by the Marquis Who’s Who in America. Case histories and photographs of his prosthetic dentistry were used by faculty members of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry in publications and credited to him.

During World War II he enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and served as an aircrew man in 1945 and 1946. He chose to remain in the Inactive Reserve at the time of his discharge. Three years later he was notified of his selection for commissioning as an Ensign in the Reserve. His recall to active duty during the Korean War was delayed until he received his dental degree. As a Lieutenant in the Dental Corps, he served briefly aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Tarawa in the Atlantic before transferring to the carrier U.S.S. Bennington for her voyage from Rhode Island around the tip of South America to California and the Western Pacific. Following his release from active duty Dr. McClelland joined the Naval Reserve Research Company 4-1, meeting in Princeton. A portion of his annual training as a reservist was at the Navy’s advanced postgraduate dental facility at Bethesda Naval Hospital. After his promotion to Commander, he held office in 1972-1973 as the national dental surgeon of the Reserve Officer Association of The United States, representing Reserve dental officers of all three uniformed services.

He retired with the rank of Captain in the United States Navy after more than 30 years in the Navy Reserve; five of which were on active duty.

Dr. McClelland was a past president of the Rotary Club of Princeton, a 50 year member of both The Nassau Club and the Princeton Club of New York. He was a former member of the Old Guard. He leaves his wife of more than 57 years, Elizabeth Anne McClelland, three sons, R. Scott McClelland of Columbia, S.C.; Wlliam A. McClelland of Charlotte, N.C.; and R. Craig McClelland of Rock Hill, S.C.; nine grandchildren; and a brother, W. Craig McClelland of Hobe Sound, Fla.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 at the Mather-Hodge Funeral 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton. Burial will follow in the Princeton Cemetery. Calling hour will be from noon until the time of the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers contributions in his name may be made to the Salvation Army or the USO.

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Isobel M. Metzger

Isobel M. Metzger died on July 27, 2016 in Princeton, New Jersey. She was 98 years old.

Born in Lima Peru, Isobel was the eldest child of Scottish parents, the Rev. John A. Mackay and Mrs. Jane L. Mackay. John Mackay was the founder of Colegio San Andres in Lima, and served as an evangelist and educator in Latin America. Isobel received her early education in Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, and Inverness, Scotland.

In 1932 the family moved to Summit, New Jersey, and four years later, when John Mackay was called to become president of Princeton Theological Seminary, Isobel and the family moved to Princeton. She graduated from Summit High School, Wellesley College, and Columbia Teachers College. Following graduation Isobel taught in schools in Silver Spring, Maryland and Short Hills, New Jersey. In 1944 she married Bruce M. Metzger, who went on to teach for many years as a professor of New Testament at the Princeton Theological Seminary. They were married for 62 years, until Bruce’s death in 2007.

Isobel was active in service to the Christian Church. She served on the New Brunswick presbyterial and on the New Jersey synodical for several years, and taught Sunday school classes for many years at First Presbyterian Church (now Nassau Presbyterian Church). Fluent in Spanish, during the 1990s she supported and encouraged the Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana (the Spanish Presbyterian Church) that worshipped at the Kingston Presbyterian Church. Isobel welcomed students to her home each semester and extended warm hospitality to countless visiting pastors, missionaries, and professors from the United States and abroad. She contributed articles to the Oxford Companion to the Bible (1993) and was co-compiler of the Oxford Concise Concordance (1962).

Isobel also took part in community activities. She served as president of the Wellesley Club of Central New Jersey and as a trustee of the YWCA of Princeton for 4 years. For 19 years she volunteered in the Princeton University program for helping international graduate students with their usage of English conversation. Her hobbies included gardening and oil painting, and she travelled widely with her husband and family.

Isobel was predeceased by her parents, President John A. Mackay and Jane Logan Mackay; her husband, Professor Bruce M. Metzger; and three siblings, Duncan A. D. Mackay, of Washington, D.C.; Elena Mackay Reisner of Falls Church, Virginia; and Ruth Mackay Russell of Columbus, Ohio.

She is survived by her sons, John M. Metzger and Dr. James B. Metzger, and their wives, Sandra (Wellington) Metzger and Dawn (Mosier) Metzger; as well as 14 nephews and nieces; and two first cousins.

Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home,
Princeton.

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James Robert Deneen

James Robert Deneen died on July 16, 2016, at the Morris Hall Meadows in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, following a prolonged illness. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Thalia S. Deneen and his son, Christopher Deneen. A memorial gathering for friends and family will be held on Saturday, September, 17, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.

Jim was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to James A. Deneen and Margaret (née Simpson) Deneen on March 28, 1928. He grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, moving to Evansville, Indiana in his teen years.

In his late teens, Jim entered St. Meinrad Seminary where he majored in philosophy and classics. Upon graduation, St. Meinrad sent him to the University of Innsbruck for graduate
studies in theology. Jim would often describe this as the best time of his life; studying theology in Austria, biking in the summers through Europe with fellow seminarians, and studying German and French at the Universities of Paris and Heidelberg.

After ordination in Innsbruck, Jim returned to the United States to serve the Diocese of Evansville. He was chief administrator of a nursing home and superintendent of Evansville Catholic Schools. During this period he also earned an MA in school administration from Catholic University in 1957. Despite his many responsibilities, he found time to teach classes in religion and history. Teaching would remain a life-long passion for him.

In 1968, Jim earned his PhD in educational administration from Indiana University, Bloomington. A year earlier he had become executive secretary of the superintendents department of the National Catholic Educational Association in
Washington D.C. The following year, Jim resigned his ecclesiastical position and was later laicized. He soon joined the Ford Foundation in New York City as a consultant on educational administration and began teaching as an adjunct associate professor at Fordham University.

In February 1969, Jim married Thalia Stathas, a professor of English Literature at Indiana University. In September, they moved from New York to Princeton where Jim had been hired by ETS. The following year, their son Christopher was born.

Jim joined Education Testing Service (ETS) in 1969 as director of teacher programs. He went on to become director of educational services and was later a program officer for ETS’s College Board Division and Advanced Placement Program (AP). He remained with ETS until his retirement in 1992, but until 2000, he was an active member of the Joint College Board-ETS Research Committee for the AP.

Jim remained tremendously active in retirement. The emphasis of his work had always been the betterment of teachers, schools, and students. The areas Jim worked in ranged from better classroom assessment to enhancing students’ critical thinking skills. This emphasis carried over into his retirement. During his professional career and retirement Jim authored over 40 articles and books on educational issues and taught 60 institutes and workshops for principals and teachers.

Jim also served as a member of the board of the Princeton Adult School and the board of trustees of the Princeton Charter School. As a board member, he organized and led the school’s successful accreditation process. He was also a board member and chaired the Charter School Committee of the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) in Washington D.C. He continued to serve as a consultant to ETS, the AP, and the College Board, as well as The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Retirement should be a period of diversifying one’s interests and Jim pursued this goal with vigor. He became active in the Princeton Old Guard, helping to organize speaking engagements. He also became a member of the Princeton University Art Museum Docents Association. As a docent, he was able to continue his life-long commitment to teaching. Jim also continued his membership in an informal Princeton Men’s Group that holds meetings and retreats to discuss personal experiences, intellectual interests, and news topics of global importance.

It was through the Men’s Group that Jim became involved with his final, seminal project: helping Trenton public schools and their at-risk students. The Men’s Group devoted considerable time to championing the need to provide better public education for at-risk Trenton school children. The Trenton Times made editorial page space available to Jim and his colleagues for this project. Jim and the group were lead sponsors of a symposium to reform urban education for disadvantaged New Jersey children conducted under the auspices of Princeton University’s James Madison Program. Jim and his fellow Men’s Group member, Carm Catanese, also enlisted the Trenton Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Housing authority to support summer classes for computerized reading instruction programs in Trenton public schools.

Jim and Carm sought and gained the support of several school principals and arranged workshops to train teachers to participate in the program. Working in collaboration with educational leaders, they increased involvement of Trenton public school parents in their children’s education. In 2011, at 83 years of age, Jim published his final book with Carm Catanese, Urban Schools: Crisis and Revolution. Drawing on their experiences working in Trenton and the current challenges in education, the authors provide a roadmap to where public education might go and how it might serve those most in need. This book is both synthesis and capstone to a career-long passion for excellence in education and a life lived in service and dedication to that cause.

Jim Deneen’s life is well characterized by Chaucer’s description of the clerk in The Canterury Tales: “And gladly would he learn and gladly teach.” Although Jim is no longer here, the illumination and inspiration he has provided to friends, family and the countless people whom his life has touched remain.