Joyce Howe

Joyce Howe, 65, passed away on November 6 at home in Princeton, NJ, after a nine-year battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alex Levine, her husband of 35 years, was at her side.

Manhattan-born, she grew up in Queens, first behind her father’s laundry in Jackson Heights, then in Corona. A proud 1976 graduate of Stuyvesant High School, she attended SUNY Buffalo, majoring in English, the school newspaper, and rock concerts and club shows. She returned to New York and worked for The New York Times, then Glamour Magazine, first as a flunky, later as a writer and editor, and began an 18-year career freelancing for countless publications and working for government agencies and nonprofits. Much of her writing dealt with women’s and Asian American issues. She and Alex lived in the East Village, Paris, Berkeley, Aix-en-Provence, and Oakland before moving to Princeton in 2002.

Joyce loved being an adoptive Princetonian almost as much as she loved considering herself a lifelong New Yorker. Her utter devotion to her daughters, Nathalie and Jade, included working at Community Park School in a variety of volunteer positions. Later, she ran the Power Lunch reading program and worked as an instructional assistant (and was a proud PRESSA member). She was also a passionate volunteer with Democratic presidential campaigns throughout her life, including with the PCDO in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Joyce was a familiar face at each and every church rummage sale and countless garage sales, at the Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale, and in a comfortable chair near the magazines at Princeton Public Library, which she never left without visiting the used bookstore. She loved walking around town. Her favorite haunts included the Record Exchange, the Nearly New Shop, Tomo Sushi, Another Angle, the Garden Theatre and Montgomery Cinemas, McCarter Theatre, and anywhere she could meet a friend for coffee. She loved bumping into neighbors at Conte’s and Main Street, whose closing she lamented, along with those of Abel Bagel, Jordan’s, Micawber Books, and Jane. She never missed a CP, JW, or PHS musical, orchestra, or choir concert, talent show, or cabaret night. She was also an avid Town Topics reader.

Predeceased by her parents and sister Mary, she is survived by her loving husband and daughters Nathalie Levine (Anna Rose Gable) of Highland Park, NJ, and Jade Levine (Julia Lubey) of Manhattan; by her sisters Joan and Janet of Queens; her sister- and brother-in-law Lisa and Jim Levine of Princeton; her nephews Zeke and Elijah Levine and niece Freddie Levine; and countless other relatives and friends in Princeton, New York, the Bay Area, and around the country.

Her kind, loving, and devoted caregivers Ayishatu Ibrahim and Mariama Sumareh, whom we cannot thank enough, helped us through many difficult years and knew how to make Joyce laugh. We also thank the staff of Penn Medicine-Princeton Home Care for years of steadfast and compassionate support.

A celebration of her life will be held in Princeton in early 2024. Anyone so inclined is invited to contribute in her memory to 101fund.org, which supports Princeton High School graduates with need-based college aid. Joyce taught and loved many of them, and they loved her back.

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Alfred Lavern Bush

Alfred Lavern Bush of Princeton died at home on November 9, 2023. He was born in 1933 in Denver, Colorado, into a fifth-generation Mormon family. An avid mountain climber in his youth, Bush graduated from Brigham Young University in 1957 where he continued graduate studies in archaeology before joining the Fifth University Archaeological Society excavations at the Mayan site of Aguacatal in Campeche, Mexico, in the winter of 1958. The following summer he was a student at the Institute for Archival and Historical Management at Radcliffe College. Bush served in the Medical Service Corps of the U.S. Army in the Panama Canal Zone.

Alfred Bush moved to Princeton in 1958 to become an editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. In the course of his research, he discovered a lost 1800 portrait of Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, which was announced in his monograph The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson (1962). This portrait of President Jefferson now hangs in the White House and is featured on the Jefferson nickel.

In 1971 Bush proposed and organized an exhibition of ancient Mayan hieroglyphic texts at the Grolier Club in New York — a show that exhibited a purported fourth surviving Maya codex. Highly controversial, the codex underwent nearly 50 years of extensive testing before Mexican authorities declared it genuine in September 2018. Referred to as the Grolier Codex, it dates from the 11th century and is now recognized as the earliest surviving book from ancient America.

Bush became Curator of Western Americana at Princeton University’s Firestone Library in 1961 and served in that position for over 35 years. During his tenure he enlarged the size of the collection tenfold, expanded the collections of Native American materials, and added an important photographic archive. With Lee Clark Mitchell, he published The Photograph and the American Indian (1994) in conjunction with a major exhibition at Firestone Library. In 2006, following his retirement, the Princeton University Library Chronicle devoted an entire volume to Bush’s contributions to Native American studies. Equally at home in Princeton and in the American Southwest, Bush worked tirelessly to recruit Native American students and acted as an undergraduate advisor and friend to many. In 2020 he received the Princeton University Alumni Award, a rare honor for a non-alumnus, for his interest in and commitment to Native American students. Throughout his life, Bush remained an active researcher and essay writer.

Alfred Bush served for three decades on the editorial board of the Princeton University Library Chronicle, and was its editor from 1962 to 1977. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Friends in June 2023. Bush was also founding editor of Princeton History, first issued in 1971. In 2019 he was made an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Western History Association. He served until his death on the Visiting Committee of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Alfred Bush had a genius for friendship. He took great pleasure in introducing his many diverse friends to one another, thus creating new webs of friendship that now span Mexico and the United States.

He is survived by his brother Vernon Bush of American Fork, Utah, and his sister Peggy Arnold of Grand Junction, Colorado; his adopted son Paul Tioux of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

At Alfred’s request there will be no funeral or memorial service. Donations in his honor may be made to the Friends of Princeton University Library or the School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM.

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Reinhard Paul-Gunter Kruegel

1939 – 2023

Reinhard Paul-Gunter Kruegel, 84, passed away in Elizabeth City, N.C., on September 27 after a long struggle with the aftereffects of Covid and other health issues. Reinhard was born in Bad Godesberg, Germany, to Gottwald Hugo Reinhard and Eleonore (née Hunninghaus) Kruegel on June 2, 1939, the youngest of five children.

Reinhard is missed dearly by his family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Linda Kruegel, his children and grandchildren: Michele (Lincoln Cairns) Kruegel and their daughter, Tallulah; Brian (Jenn) Kruegel and their daughter, Lahna. He also leaves behind his sisters Helga Waldinger and Gudrun Graff, his brother Hartmann Kruegel, numerous in-laws, and nieces and nephews across the United States, Germany, and Canada. He was preceded in death by his parents as well as his sister, Lore Grohsgart.

Reinhard grew up in post-WWII Germany. After serving in the German Navy under NATO from 1957-61 he immigrated to Ontario, Canada, where his brother, Hartmann, and his family had established roots. He studied data processing before moving to Chicago in 1963 where he worked during the day at Continental Coffee. At night, Reinhard took classes at Lakeview High School to improve his English.

Due to his dedication and hard work, Continental Coffee transferred Reinhard to their New Jersey location where he managed the office as well as the data processing and credit departments. This is where he met Linda and they started their family.

Reinhard shared his passion for downhill skiing with Linda, Michele, and Brian. As a couple, Reinhard and Linda spent their off-hours ballroom dancing and playing tennis. Reinhard’s lifelong love of soccer motivated him to teach his son and anyone else who wanted to learn how to play the game. He turned his passion into action by getting involved with the Princeton Soccer Association and was one of the first parents to bring professional coaching to the fledgling club. A steward of the game, Reinhard blew his whistle or raised his flag as a referee for hundreds of matches at the club and high school levels.

In 1976, Reinhard became a naturalized U.S. citizen and his name is listed on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor on Ellis Island.

Reinhard earned his GED at Hackensack High School in N.J., later receiving his BS in Business Administration at Thomas Edison University in 1989. After a fulfilling career at Continental Coffee, he was Vice President of Information Technology at Brunswick Bank and Trust until retiring. Reinhard was at the forefront of computer programming. As a Certified Network Engineer, he contributed to the seamless transition of Y2K spending countless hours testing code and analyzing data. His efforts helped ensure customers had the proper balances in their accounts on January 1, 2000. After retirement, he was happy to remind people of how he paid his dues and didn’t want to troubleshoot problems with cell phones, computers, or television remotes.

Reinhard and Linda moved to Hertford, N.C., shortly after retiring. They made amazing new friends and filled their time with engaging activities. Reinhard sang bass with the Albemarle Chorale and volunteered for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). He enjoyed playing tennis, golf, and poker, bicycling, bowling, reading voraciously, solving sudoku, and complaining about North Carolina drivers. Reinhard loved going to the opera and enjoyed classical music. He could name any piece playing on the radio and its composer, usually before the DJ announced it.

A dedicated husband, father, grandfather, and friend, he was always ready with a glass of champagne to celebrate moments big and small alike. His booming voice and big heart will never be forgotten.