Gloria Jones Borden

Gloria J. Borden of Princeton, and Professor Emerita of Temple University died on May 16, 2014 in Princeton. The cause was adeno carcinoma. Born in 1930 in Columbus, Ohio, she grew up in a small Welsh community, Jackson, Ohio, where her father ran a pig iron blast furnace, Globe Iron Co. Educated at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. and the, then, Connecticut College for Women in New London, Gloria developed a life-long interest in the spoken word. She majored in English literature, worked as a professional actress in the 1950s, as a speech pathologist in the 1960s, and spent the rest of her working life as a professor of speech science, first at City University of New York and then at Temple University in Philadelphia.

As an actress, she was the resident ingenue at Ivoryton, Conn. and St. Petersburg, Fla., toured the country playing in Noel Coward’s Hay Fever with Miriam Hopkins, acted in live television dramas in New York, and in 1955 originated the part of Miep in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank. In the same year, she married John Borden. She left the theatre when she became pregnant with the first of their four children.

Upon completion of a Master’s degree in speech pathology at Columbia’s Teachers College, she worked during the 1960s with children and adults with speech and language problems at St. Francis Hospital in Trenton, in public schools in Montgomery Township and Princeton, and in private practice. During the same period, she and her husband, John Borden were raising a family in Princeton and had become active in the Princeton Quaker Meeting.

Receiving a PhD in speech science from City University of New York in 1972, Gloria spent the next two decades as a research associate at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven conducting research on the physiology and acoustics of normal and abnormal speech, and teaching experimental phonetics to undergraduate and graduate students at CUNY and Temple University. She published 30 research papers in journals such as Brain and Language, Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, and Journal of Phonetics. During these years, she was an active member of the American Speech and Hearing Association, the Acoustical Society of America, and the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Her book, Speech Science Primer, first published in 1980, was the best selling text in the field through five editions and was translated into Japanese.

At Temple, she was presented the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1988. She was proudest of a popular interdisciplinary course “Nuclear Arms” that she organized and taught during the Cold War period of the 1980s along with professors from physics, philosophy, and political science. She also hosted a radio interview and call-in show on WRTI called “Options” which dealt with controversial subjects such as apartheid, the cold war, and AIDS.

After her retirement from Temple and Haskins, she spent the next 10 years helping Princeton Friends School, a Quaker elementary school, build a schoolhouse. She served for two terms as president of the Board of Trustees and chaired its first capital campaign. Her love of the spoken word was maintained by participation in an informal play reading group and in an unusual literature reading group, facetiously called “Deep Think,” which has been meeting in Princeton for over 50 years to read aloud. She also was a member of House II, Community Without Walls.

She is survived by her husband of 59 years, John; her daughters and sons-in-law, Rebecca and Douglas Bunnell, Julia and Nicols Kennedy; her sons and daughters-in-law, Thomas and Julia Borden and Samuel and Susan Borden; and 12 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on June 14, 2014 at Princeton Quaker Meeting. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Princeton Friends School, 470 Quaker Road, Princeton, N.J. 08540.

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Lily Mildred Cutts Brown

Lily Mildred Cutts Brown, 89, of Skillman died on Saturday, May 17, 2014, at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital of New Brunswick.

Lily was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and was the daughter of the late Edward J. and Ula (Wilkie) Cutts and the sister of the late Edward Cutts of Calgary, Alberta. She met her husband, William Everett (Bill) Brown, while attending the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin, with a major in home economics and a minor in psychology. She was an active sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority and continued this connection through the years.

Lily was a long-time resident of Princeton, where she raised her family as a loving mother and devoted wife. She had a longstanding interest and appreciation for art and art history. From 1970 to 1976 she was the U.S. director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), which supports scholarship, training, and the conservation of antiquities in Egypt. From 1983 to 1991 she and Bill lived in Tokyo, where she tutored Japanese students learning the English language and explored ikebana, the highly formal Japanese art of flower arrangement. She studied and became certified as a teacher in the Sogetsu school. During these years, she and Bill travelled throughout East Asia, and she had the opportunity to see and collect many lovely pieces. In 1980, she became a docent at the Princeton University Art Museum, and she continued this affiliation for many years. She was also active in the Princeton High School PTA, the College Women’s Club, the Present Day Club, and the Dogwood Garden Club.

Lily is survived by her beloved husband of 69 years, William E. Brown of Skillman, New Jersey; two sons, Duncan (Janet Elliott) of La Jolla, California, and Stuart (Lori) of Studio City, California; and a daughter Beth Steward (David) of Robbinsville, New Jersey. She leaves six grandchildren; Lillian Brown, Vivian Sheffield (Billy), Kiana Brown, Lucas Brown, David Steward, and Chris Steward; and a great-grandson Hank Sheffield.

There will be a private memorial service. Arrangements are under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Mercer Engine Co. #3 Scholarship Fund, 363 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, N.J. 08540, or to the Princeton University Art Museum at McCormick Hall, Princeton, N.J. 08544 (Attn. Institutional Advancement).

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James R. Casserly 

James R. Casserly, a resident of Princeton from 1953 to 1965, died on April 28, 2014 in Glastonbury, Conn. at the age of 93. Born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Akron, Ohio, Jim graduated from Wooster College (BA ’43) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS ’43) and served in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean conflict. He married Patricia Jean Lund in 1950, and was blessed with three children: James L. Casserly (now of Washington, D.C.), Patricia S. Critchfield (now of Portland, Maine), and Michael S. Casserly (Princeton).

While in Princeton, Jim worked as a marketing engineer at Johnson & Johnson and then at Applied Sciences Corporation of Princeton. Always an active citizen, he played trombone in the Princeton Community Band and was president of the Parents-Teachers Association for Valley Road School.

After his first marriage ended in divorce in 1965, Jim moved to Glastonbury, Conn., where he worked at Pratt and Whitney and UTC Fuel Cell Division, married Jane Kaiser (1980), and became a father to her five children: Karen, Deb, Rick, Lisa, and David. After his retirement, Jim drove a school bus and worked in the IT department of Manchester Community College. He was active in the Glastonbury Art Guild (serving a term as president), Glastonbury Fine Arts Commission, and East of the River Support Group (he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1999).

Survivors include his wife, his three children, five stepchildren, six grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren. The family asks that any contributions in his memory be directed to the American Parkinson Disease Association.

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Walter Alexander Dowers Jr.

Walter Alexander Dowers Jr., age 88, passed away on May 12, 2014 at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Born in Princeton, he was a lifelong resident. He was a graduate of Princeton High School. Mr. Dowers retired from the Princeton Post Office with many years of service. He was an U.S. Army Veteran of World War II. Dowers was a member of the First Baptist Church of Princeton where he was a longtime Trustee and a faithful church worker. He was also a member of the American Legion, and was Fire Commissioner of the Kingston First Aid Squad. His hobbies and interests included archery, locksmith, photography, worldwide travel, bowling, and martial arts.

Son of the late Walter Sr. and Anna Dowers, and husband of the late Estella Dowers, Mr. Dowers is survived by his brother George and Lillian “Snooks” Dowers; nieces and nephews George Dowers Jr. of Jersey City; Bryce Dowers of Ewing; Lori Dowers of Lawrenceville; devoted friend Minnie Sumners of Ewing; and a host of other relatives and friends.

The funeral service was held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at the First Baptist Church, located at the corner of John Street and Paul Robeson Place in Princeton. Calling hours were from 9 a.m. until time of service at the church. Interment is at Franklin Memorial Park in North Brunswick, N.J. Arrangements are by the Hughes Funeral Home.

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H. Patricia Twitchell

H. Patricia “Tricia” Twitchell passed away on May 13, 2014 at Stonebridge in Montgomery, N.J., where she had been a resident for nearly 10 years.

Tricia was born in London, England in 1934, the daughter of Marian and H. Kenaston Twitchell and the granddaughter of Sen. H. Alexander Smith and Helen Dominick Smith.

Her family returned to the United States in 1939 and Tricia graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1953. Shortly after graduating, she based herself in Europe and became a staff member of Moral Re-Armament, Inc., which has been credited with playing a significant role in the reconciliation of Germany and France in the years following World War II.

In the early 1970s, Tricia settled in Princeton, where she worked at Princeton University’s Firestone Library for 28 years, retiring in 1999. Among many friends made during her time at Firestone were several student workers who marked their close friendship with Tricia by having her named an honorary member of their Princeton Class of 1981.

Tricia was a member of the Nassau Presbyterian Church where she served as a deacon and committed volunteer. For many years she was a devoted weekly volunteer with Recording for the Blind (now Learning Ally), carefully monitoring the recording equipment while her partner volunteers read. She was a member of the Colonial Dames of America, whose focus and programs complemented her life-long interest in history.

Tricia is remembered as someone who brought a spark to her family life, and someone who had a definite opinion on nearly every subject. She will be remembered for her great sense of humor, her warmth and genuine interest in other people, her humanity, perseverance and stoicism, her generosity, her open minded willingness to understand and empathize, and her positive attitude towards life. She had a large circle of friends and family who will remember her and the “twinkle in her eye” fondly that so marked her personality.

Tricia will be buried alongside her parents and grandparents at the Princeton Cemetery. She is survived by her brother H. Kenaston Twitchell, Jr. and sister Anne T. Wishard, Ken’s wife Toby Heidenreich and Anne’s husband Van, as well as a host of beloved nieces and nephews: Van and Diana, Eric and Julie, Maggie, Alex and Andrew.

Her family expresses their gratitude to Tricia’s close friends Pat Gibney and Carol MacAdam, who tirelessly gave love, assistance, and companionship through Tricia’s final years. Additionally, the family thanks the staffs of Stonebridge and Princeton HomeCare Hospice, who brought Tricia comfort in her final days.

A memorial service will be held at the Nassau Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. on June 6, 2014.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Tricia’s name to the Crisis Ministry of Mercer County.