Dionir Young

Dionir Young, 91, died on January 1 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis. She was born on June 22, 1922 in Belem do Para, Brazil, the daughter of Maria Jose Alves de Souza and Eleuterio Vicente Gomes.

Dionir was educated as an elementary school teacher, but instead joined Pan Air do Brasil to become the first flight attendant in Brazil in 1944. She and Jordan M. Young met at the beach outside Belem but lost touch when he returned to the U.S. to join the Army during World War II. She came to New York City after the war and they married in Princeton in 1952, where Jordan was in graduate school.

After a few years living in Rio de Janeiro and Venezuela, Jordan began a long career as a history professor in New York City. Dionir and Jordan settled in Princeton, New Jersey where they raised their son Jordan M. Young II. She was active in the Princeton Y, organizing their international festivals, and in hosting Latin American students studying at Princeton University. She was a long-time volunteer at the Princeton Hospital and the mainstay of the Princeton Circulo Hispano-Americano. She was a magnificent hostess, turning the dinner party into an art form. In 2013, Di and Jordan moved to an assisted living apartment at Eastview in Middlebury, Vermont to be near their son and daughter-in-law.

Dionir is survived by her husband Professor Jordan M. Young of Middlebury; her son Jordan M. Young II and daughter-in-law Margaret Levine Young of Cornwall; two grandchildren; her sister Maria do Ceu Ribeiro Lopes of Rio de Janeiro; and numerous nieces and nephews in Brazil. A memorial service was held at Eastview, and a memorial concert will be held in Princeton in the late spring. Donations may be made in her name to the Arthritis Foundation, 1330 W. Peachtree Street, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30309 or www.arthritis.org.

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Dirck Llyod Dimock

Dirck Lloyd Dimock, 83, formerly of Mass., passed away at West Park Hospital’s Long Term Care Center in Cody, Wyo, on Sunday, February 23, 2014.

Dirck was born on June 23, 1930 in Braintree, Mass. to parents Stuart and Helen Wood Dimock. Early in his life his father thought it would be a good idea to move the family to a goat farm. Dirck did not like goats nor the chores associated with them, although he remembered what kind of goats they were. Dirck had two brothers, Bruce and Alan. The children were raised on goat’s milk, which Dad always said gave him immunity to poison ivy.

Dirck dealt with the challenges of fairly severe dyslexia in his youth. He tells a story of holding a book upside down in front of him when his father came into the room. His father assumed that young Dirck had hastily picked up the book to cover up something he shouldn’t have been doing, so he asked him to read it to him. Dirck proceeded to read the book to him without apparent problem — he didn’t even know that he was holding the book upside down.

When higher education beckoned, he left for Antioch College where he met Shell, a Wyo. ranch girl named Anne Paton. They married in 1952. When they finished college, they moved to Baltimore, Md. so that Dirck could pursue his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. In Baltimore they started their family and named their first son, Allyn, after a favorite college professor. Lisa Shea was born a year and a half later.

With Dirck’s PhD degree in physics in hand the couple moved to Princeton. Christopher, their third child, was born there.

Dirck worked for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) for many years as a plasma physicist on a joint nuclear fusion project for Princeton and the federal government researching the feasibility of economical fusion power. He specialized in Thompson Scattering, the laser measurement of the speed of accelerated particles and in ruby laser set up and calibration. He became one of the world’s leading experts in this field, which led to numerous requests to travel as a visiting scientist to places like Germany, India and Japan. He even had an invitation to Novosibirsk, Russia, which he declined. He and the family spent the year of 1963 in Munich Germany where he worked as an exchange scientist at the Max Planck Institute. In the 1980s Dirck spent approximately five summers in Nagoya, Japan working with Japanese scientists on their nuclear power program.

Anne and Dirck divorced in 1974 but remained on amicable terms.

Work on fusion energy research consumed Dirck’s days until his retirement from PPPL in 1992, but modern dance and body work became a passion of his outside of the office. It was through this interest that he met Odile Rouquet in the late 1980s and the two became close. Odile has been a very important presence in his life since that time.

Dirck moved from Princeton to Hadley, Mass. shortly after his retirement. For almost 20 years he enjoyed the rural nature of the Berkshire mountains area of western Mass., only a few hours from his children and their families who resided in eastern Mass. for many years while Dirck was in Hadley.

After retiring, Dirck joined Princeton Scientific Instruments as a principal investigator, where he was involved in numerous projects. He also worked for Princeton Optical on occasional consulting projects. He learned to pilot a plane and obtained his private pilot’s license in order to be able to commute from Hadley to Princeton for consulting work. He divided his time between dance, science, and deep tissue body work, while making time for his children, grandchildren, Stephen (Caitlin) Dimock, Heather (Dustin) Rhodes, and Tyler Dimock, and most recently two great grandchildren, William Luke and Hayley Rowena Rhodes. Odile continues to visit regularly from her home in France.

In April 2013, after having been diagnosed in 2010 with Alzheimer’s, he moved to Cody to live with his daughter Shea. In November 2013 he moved to assisted living and then in December to long-term care as his disease progressed.

Ballard Funeral Home in Cody, WY is handling arrangements. An online memorial is available at www.ballardfh.com.

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Felicity Cope Roberts

Felicity Cope Roberts, 79, of Princeton died Monday, February 17, 2014 at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro.

Born in Philadelphia she was a resident of Princeton for over 60 years. An artist and needlepoint expert, Felicity was a member of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. She volunteered her time and talent for the Princeton Hospital Fete, her artwork for the Princeton Day School Fair, and other Princeton Day School functions. Her artwork was utilized in the signs for the Bryn Mawr Book Sale and the lettering for the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society. She was an alumni of Miss Fine’s School and Sarah Lawrence College.

Daughter of the late Thomas Pym and Elizabeth Wethered (Barringer) Cope, she is survived by her former husband Shepherd K. Roberts; son Oliver P. Roberts (Dena); three daughters Elizabeth B. Roberts, Anne R. Thorpe (Robert), Alison C. Emann (Michael); and four grandchildren Brook, Hope, Walter, and Bennett.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Awbury Arboretum, 1 Awbury Road, Philadelphia, PA 19138.