Georgia H. Graham

Georgia H. Graham, 90, died on May 7, 2013 at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro after an illness of four months. Known to her grandchildren and others as “Gigi” after her remarriage in 1971 to her surviving husband, John, she was raised in South Dakota and southern California and attended the University of Oregon, before marrying and moving ultimately to Princeton in 1956.

During her Princeton years Georgia was a skilled and avid golfer, and a member of Springdale Golf Club, but she gave up the game without apparent regret when she moved into her much loved historic home in Griggstown 42 years ago. For many decades she was in real estate sales, most notably associated with Stewardson & Dougherty Real Estate.

Although she was not a joiner, Georgia’s charm, beauty, elegance, and sense of fun enlisted the affection and loyalty of a wide circle of friends. She had many hobbies and passions: knitting, quilting, sewing, dancing, card games of all types, especially bridge and poker, dogs, gardening, fashion, shopping, wine, cooking, and travel. At all her hobbies she was more than adept, and her passions were exactly that. She flourished hostessing dinner parties, maintained, prepared, winnowed, and refined an enormous recipe collection, authored a cooking column for a period in a local Princeton newspaper, and owned a cookbook collection the size and quality of which would grace a large public library.

While she did not shun North American travel, her preferred destination was Europe, particularly France. A dedicated Francophile, Georgia loved Paris and Provence equally, returning in the last several decades at least annually to each for a two-month stay. She was fond of driving and plotted itineraries over the years that left very little of Western Europe and Britain unseen. Nor was fine dining ignored; at one juncture she had eaten in every French 3-star Michelin restaurant, except one.

Besides her husband, Georgia is survived by a sister and a brother, four children of her first marriage, Terrence York (Suzanne) of Fairhope, Ala., Constance Lynch (Terrence) of Pacific Palisades, Cal., Mary Elizabeth Wood (William) of Villanova, Pa., and Jeffrey York of Princeton, five grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren. She was interred at the Griggstown Cemetery on May 11.

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Elizabeth Stetson Pettit

Elizabeth Stetson Pettit, 92, passed away peacefully in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Mrs. Pettit was born in Bedford, N.Y., the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. Clifford McChristie, and was a long-time resident of Princeton, New Jersey and Chappaquiddick Island in Edgartown, Massachusetts. She lived a full life, impacted many, and will be missed by her family and friends.

Elizabeth, also known as “Snookie” to her friends, and as “Bizbeth” to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, grew up with a love of horses. She rode her pony, Pet, all over the Bedford countryside and was especially proud of being in charge, at age 12, of a local junior horse show. She also enjoyed riding in equitation classes at Madison Square Garden.

Elizabeth was a woman before her time, and her love of physical challenge and adventure expanded as she grew older. As an adult she learned to ski, sail, fly an airplane, and drive a four-in-hand. She enjoyed many summers cruising the waters from Chesapeake Bay to Maine, and while closer to home on Chappy, she was a crack crew on a Rhodes 19. In addition to all her physical pursuits, Elizabeth was well known for her photography and was proud of having started with a Kodak Brownie camera. She loved to travel, took photographs wherever she went, and had several shows. Her last exhibit, which she put on at the age of 90, included photographs from South Korea and the Galapagos. She also had a lifelong interest in dogs. She actively bred, raised, and showed Irish Wolfhounds and Norfolk Terriers.

Throughout her life, Elizabeth was active in numerous community and philanthropic organizations. Elizabeth was dedicated to land preservation in New Jersey through the Delaware and Raritan Greenway, and on Martha’s Vineyard through the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. She was instrumental in the preservation of the nearly 2,000 acre Seabrook Farm and hundreds of additional acres of productive farmland in Mannington Township, N.J.

Elizabeth attended Miss Hall’s School and Vassar College. She married Basil Wise Stetson in 1940 and they had four children. Mr. Stetson passed away in 1974. Elizabeth is survived by her husband, William Dutton Pettit, whom she married in 1986, and by her four children, Elizabeth Kratovil of Bridgeton, N.J., Charlotte Stetson of Middlebury, Vt., Basil Stetson and his wife, April Cornell, of Burlington, Vt., and Iola Stetson, of Redmond, Wash., as well as 6 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Besides Mr. Pettit, Elizabeth is survived by his five children and their spouses, and by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Friends and family are invited to a reception, planned for Friday June 21at the D & R Greenway in Princeton, between 4 and 6 p.m. Friends and family are also invited to a service and burial at St. Matthews Church in Bedford, N.Y. at 10:30 a.m. on June 22.

In memory of Elizabeth, the family asks that donations be made to the Delaware & Raritan Greenway, One Preservation Place, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 or to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, Wakeman Conservation Center, 57 David Avenue, Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard 02568.

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Carroll O’Brien Kane

Carroll O’Brien Kane passed away on April 11, 2013 at her home at Riverwoods, in Exeter, New Hampshire. She was 89 years old, and is dearly missed by her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Carroll was born on St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1924, to Richard Matthew O’Brien and Catherine Normile O’Brien, in Hartford, Connecticut. She attended Oxford School and Smith College. She met Theodore Gibbs Kane at a post-war dance at Trinity College, in Hartford. They were married on July 13, 1946, and moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where Ted finished college and she taught second grade at Miss Fine’s School, which later merged with Princeton Day School. She later taught at Sewickley Academy, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.

Carroll enjoyed her garden, her summers on Chappaquiddick Island, worldwide travel with her husband and her children, and dinner parties with her many friends. She served as a docent at the Princeton University Art Museum, and in various positions in the Council of Garden Clubs of Sewickley, and the Garden Club of Princeton. She served as a judge of flower arrangements in many regional competitions for the Garden Club of America.

Carroll is survived by her husband of 67 years, and her children T. Gibbs Kane, Jr., of Rye, N.Y., Richard S. Kane of South Dartmouth, Mass., and Katherine K. Blaxter of Newburyport, Mass., and by 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. They all fondly remember her beach picnics on Chappy.

Contributions may be made to the fund in her name at Princeton Day School or to the Trinity Counseling Service. A memorial service has been planned for 10:30 a.m., May 30, at the Aquinas Institute, 65 Stockton Street, Princeton.

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Dale Roylance

Dale Ronald Roylance, 89, died peacefully Sunday morning, May 19, 2013, at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, after a brief illness.

Born on December 9, 1924, in Salt Lake City, Dale enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 and then attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied art history. A talented graphic artist and lover of books, Dale came to Princeton University Library in 1956 as an art cataloguer and the following year, was taken under the wing of Gillett G. Griffin, curator of graphic arts at Firestone Library. Working as assistant curator, Dale developed not only an appreciation for the history of printing but also a talent for passing on this knowledge and enthusiasm to students.

In 1960, Dale transferred to Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library, where he developed a program on the arts of the book with classes, exhibitions, and publications. He also continued his own work as an artist, illustrating a number of children’s books. When Griffin left Firestone and Joseph Rothrock returned to teaching, Dale was the ideal successor and held the position of curator of graphic arts at Princeton from 1980 until his retirement in 1995. Many generations of students and faculty have benefited from his passion for books, both in the classroom and in the galleries. During his long and distinguished career, Dale prepared more than 100 exhibitions and worked on 44 publications.

Following his retirement, Dale continued to commit his talents to the community, serving as a founding member of the West Windsor Arts Council and organizing the book collection in the Manor House Library at the Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart School for Boys.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Una Roylance, brothers Vaun and Kaye and nephew Clifford. He is survived by his niece Cheryl Helms.

A memorial gathering will be held at a future date.

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James G. Robinson

James G. Robinson, 92, of Monroe Township, New Jersey formerly of Princeton, died Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro.

Born to Ellsworth D. and Helen G. Lockhart Robinson, in Sewickley, Pa., his family moved to Tulsa, Ok. in 1925, following the discovery of oil in that area. After 20 years, Jim moved to Pittsburgh, Pa. where he lived briefly, then to Lawrenceville.

He attended Princeton University receiving his BS in 1943 and his Master’s Degree in 1948.

Jim worked for the U.S. Navy as an engineer on many electronic projects including atomic bomb testing in the South Pacific, cosmic ray research in Colorado, and in the development of the YP-59, the first jet aircraft eventually built in 1959. He became the director of contract development for the Atomic Energy Commission. Later, he worked for the Applied Science Corporation of Princeton as director of research in the development of telemetering equipment and finally was director of research for McLean Engineering in Princeton Junction retiring in 1986 after 29 years with the company.

Mr. Robinson was a member of the Nassau Club in Princeton, the Princeton Club in New York City and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He lived the quiet life enjoying photography and traveling around the United States.

Jim was predeceased by his beloved wife Carol L. Robinson in 2011, his parents and a half-brother, John E. Robinson. Surviving are his sister-in-law Margo Petersen and her husband Fred, of Hamilton, two nieces Stacy Sarno of Chesterfield, N.J. and Jennifer Zerbe of Ridley Park, Pa. and five great nieces and nephews.

A funeral service was held on Saturday, May 25, 2013, at 11 a.m. in the Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton, followed by burial at Princeton Cemetery.

Visitation was held on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the time of the service.

Memorial contributions to the Princeton Small Animal Rescue League, 900 Herrontown Road Princeton, NJ 08540 are appreciated.

Extend condolences at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.

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Memorial Reminder

A memorial gathering to celebrate the life of Robert Benjamin Hearne, who died April 17, 2013, will be held at 2 p.m. on June 9, 2013 at the Princeton Airport, Princeton, New Jersey.