Katharine Joan Peterken Tate
03/27/1932 – 12/29/2024

Katharine Joan Peterken Tate, a beloved mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away on December 29 after a brief illness. She was 92.

Born in New York City on Easter Sunday 1932, to Katharine Von Elling Peterken and Albert Edward Peterken, she was forever called “Bunny” by her family. She was raised in the Bronx by her aunt and uncle, Frederick and Ann Veit, and attended Walton High School. Summers spent in Winsted, Connecticut, gave her time with her mother and sparked a lifelong affection for the New England landscape and life on a lake.

Some of Katharine’s best memories derived from her years as an honors student at Swarthmore College. After graduating in 1953, she taught at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York and lived for a time in Greenwich Village. While visiting her uncle in Morocco during the summer of 1951, she met Robert Wood Tate, a Swarthmore alumnus who was an engineer in the U.S. Air Force. They reconnected years later and, after a few dates, married in 1956.

The family lived in California and Washington, D.C., before settling in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1968 with their five children. There Katharine took on the role of landlady to, among others, many Princeton graduate students from all over the world. She took up work outside the home when the children were older and in the 1980s became part of the staff of the development office at Princeton University, a position she held for 10 years. Much of her time in subsequent years was devoted to faithfully caring for her aging aunt and uncle.

Katharine was an excellent cook and enjoyed bringing people together. One friend recalled, “I have such a vivid memory of her … always welcoming, always putting people at ease, and always curious about others.” Many who lived for a time in the Tate’s Victorian house became lifelong friends. The community she built extended to mid-coast Maine, where the Tates spent summers beginning in the 1970s. In her last year, she was still enjoying living in her summer cabin in the woods.

Until her final days, Katharine was thinking about how to feed family and friends, what new tastes she could enjoy, and how to be a good host, while she was watched over by family members and visited by many of her dear friends.

Katharine is survived by her children Jacques Tate (May, deceased), Anne Tate (Robert Massie), Thomas Tate, Laura Tate Kagel (Martin), and Carol Tate (David Schrayer); her half siblings Nancy Connole (Michael) and James Maguire, nieces Valerie Tate (Gregory Arms) and Louise Tate Hood (Murray); longtime friends François Bontoux and Christine Wüthrich; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband of 63 years, Robert Wood Tate.

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Joseph L. Stonaker

Joseph L. Stonaker, longtime Princeton attorney, died at age 92 on January 17, 2025 at Stonebridge at Montgomery, where he had resided for the past eight years.

Joe Stonaker was born in Princeton, son of Joseph Stonaker and Barbara Cavanaugh Stonaker, and lived in Princeton, except for his education and Navy years, until his move to Stonebridge.

Educated at St. Paul’s School and Princeton High School, Class of 1950, where he was a track team runner and class officer, Stonaker went to Lafayette College on a full track scholarship, graduating in 1954, and then served a two-year term in the U.S. Navy in Guided Missile Research.

With the GI Bill Joe went to Georgetown Law School and came back to Princeton where he practiced law from 1959 until retirement in 2008. Joe was a solo practitioner with a general practice and later representing various townships such as Plainsboro, Cranbury, Lawrence, and West Windsor as well as the Mercer County Planning Board. He was involved with rezoning of those townships from farmland to residential uses with open space and farmland set-asides, setting the current development pattern, and he litigated Affordable Housing matters before New Jersey courts.

Joe was married to Francesca Benson with whom he had two children, David and Laura, and to Janice Stonaker, his law partner, who died of cancer in 2001, and then to Julia Bowers Coale for the past 22 years.

A true gentleman, an understanding and feeling person, practical and effective attorney and problem solver, Joe is an example of the best in true humanism and professionalism. He is greatly loved and missed.

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Ian C. Bowers

Ian Curtis Bowers, age 82, a resident of Princeton, passed away at home on January 13 following a brief illness.

Born somewhere between the bean fields and corn fields of Mount Pulaski, Illinois (population 1,500, more or less), Ian was the only child of Glenn and Maxine (nee Cowan) Bowers, who predecease him. After attending Mount Pulaski High School (home of the Hilltoppers), Ian attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne (home of the Fighting Illini), where he earned a BS degree in Communications and a MS in Journalism, before moving to New Jersey and earning a PhD at Rutgers University (home of the Scarlet Knights) in Cultural Anthropology.

Ian’s education stood him in good stead as he progressed through his working life. Teaching gigs at Fordham University, Rutgers University, a stint with the Guggenheim Foundation, and a position as Assistant Publisher of Automobile Quarterly paved the way to a long tenure as a senior executive in both the Human Resources departments of Home Life Insurance Company and the Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Company, formed in 1992 when Phoenix and Home Life merged.

Ian’s passions included skiing, long summer days at the beach, engaging in countless do-it-yourself projects at home in Princeton, and getaways in Vermont and at the Jersey Shore. None however, took precedence over his passion for his spouse of 49 years, Peg Bowers, who survives him. In addition to Peg, his presence will be sorely missed by his sister-in-law Helen, her spouse George, his brother-in-law Frank, his nephew Joseph, Joseph’s spouse Hannah, his grandnephew Leo, his longtime bestie Ron, and countless others who miss him dearly.

Perhaps Ian will be most often remembered for his willingness to pitch in and serve as a gentle éminence grise, the moderator of the various and sundry crises that inevitably occur in the course of home and family life. He will also be remembered for his subtle and sometimes surprising flashes of Midwestern wit, never failing to note at family gatherings that “…There are only two kinds of pie that I like … hot and cold.”

Arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home. While no funeral service will be conducted, a celebration of Ian’s life will be held at a date to be determined. Memorial donations in Ian’s name may be made to the charity of your choice.

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Constance C. Moore

Constance Cook Moore, a native of Princeton, died January 16 at home in Philadelphia after a short illness. She was 92.

She devoted her long life to art, to serving her community, to the Episcopal Church, and to her family and her friends. She was an artist who depicted the world around her in sepia pen-and-ink drawings, and a mother who found constant joy in her family. She loved Cezanne, Puccini, and dressing up for costume parties; she was creative in endless ways from excellent cooking to elaborate and funny handmade birthday cards. She traveled from Morocco to Turkey to Cuba and every year her Christmas card was a drawing of a scene from her adventures.

Throughout her life she believed her own blessings meant she had a responsibility to help others, and doing so is where she found meaning.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Princeton, N.J., she was the daughter of George R. Cook III and Margaretta Roebling Cook of Princeton and Naples, Fla., and a descendant of John A. Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge. She graduated from Garrison Forest School in Baltimore, Md., and made her debut at the Present Day Club in 1950. Defying her parents’ wish that she go to Katie Gibbs secretarial school, she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation, where she studied with Violette de Mazia.

She was the widow of Norman C. Moore, Dean of Students at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she raised her family. There, she acted and created costumes at the college theater, hosted a show on local access TV, and taught classes in parenting skills to women struggling with domestic violence. She picketed George Wallace while pushing a stroller, supported Eugene McCarthy, and boycotted nonunion grapes. She served on the vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church and in 1977 was present at the first ordination of a female Episcopal priest.

In Philadelphia, where she moved in 1981, she was deeply involved in her Center City neighborhood. A progressive Democrat, she worked at her local polling place every November. At her antiques-filled trinity on Camac Street, she hosted a New Year’s Day party as lengthy as the Mummers Parade. As president of Friends of Louis I. Kahn Park, she helped lead the park’s renovation from concrete beach to flower-filled retreat. She was on the board of the Washington Square West Civic Association and a member of the Diva Committee for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. She served on the board of directors of Associated Services For the Blind (ASB) for more than 15 years and was a full-time volunteer at Radio Information Center for the Blind, recording newspapers for visually impaired listeners. For her service, she received ASB’s Louis Braille Award in 2011.

During her 40 years as a parishioner at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where she will be buried in the historic churchyard, she served on the vestry, as a lay reader, and as rector’s warden.

Her husband died in 2002. She is survived by her children Allison (Allan Ells) of Swarthmore, Martha (Kent Gibbons) of New York, Charles (Susan Finch Moore) of Wilson, Wyo., and Patrick (Sandra Jerez) of Seattle, and grandchildren Margot, Charlotte, Adrian, Nate, Katie, Eva, Alexander, and Theo.

A funeral service will be held at St. Peter’s Church, 313 Pine Street, on Saturday, February 8 at 11:30 a.m. Memorial donations may be made to ASB, 919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 or The Friends of Louis I. Kahn Park, P.O. Box 1830, Philadelphia, PA 19105-1830.

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Dante B. Nini

Dante B. Nini, 84, of Pennington, passed away peacefully at home, Saturday January 18, 2025, surrounded by his loving family, the very people who brought him the greatest joy in life. Born in Pettoranello di Molise, Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1955 on the S.S. Homeric. Dante graduated from Princeton High School (Class of 1960) where he met his wife Judy (Seville), the love of his life. He resided in Princeton, Hopewell, and settled in Pennington. He was a member of St. James Church, Pennington and Roma Eterna of Princeton.

Dante was the proud owner of Dante B. Nini Home Improvements founded in 1978. With an unmatched work ethic and a skilled hand, Dante dedicated his career to earning the respect and trust of clients and colleagues alike.

Dante was an avid gardener, loved to cook, and enjoyed watching sports. Above all, he was a family man. His favorite pastime was being surrounded by the people he loved. Whether it was a lively holiday gathering, Sunday dinner, or a casual visit, his happiest moments were spent in the company of his family. He never missed an opportunity to share a story or teach a valuable life lesson.

Predeceased by his parents, Albino and Marianna (Antenucci) Nini, in-laws Orville and Elizabeth Seville, sister and brother-in-law Polina and Joseph Ercolano, brother-in-law Robert Seville Sr., and son-in-law Joseph Vaccaro Jr.

He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Judy Nini; daughter Denise Vaccaro; son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Jodie; sister Cesina (Joe) Mangone; brother Tony (Donna) Nini; sister Mickey (Sam) Procaccini; grandsons, Steven and fiancé (Brittany) Jamison, Brandon and wife (Kayla), Michael, Ryan; and two great-grandsons, Radik and Liam. He will be missed by many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

The visitation will be held on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Wilson Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington, New Jersey.

Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 10 a.m. at St. James Roman Catholic Church, 115 East Delaware Avenue, Pennington, New Jersey. Burial will follow at Highland Cemetery, Hopewell, New Jersey.

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