Town Topics

Mary B. Hall

Derek T. Weatherill

Derek Townsend Weatherill, 75, of Princeton, died April 9 at home, following a seven-year battle with CNS lymphoma.

Born in England, he explored the coves and cliffs of Cornwall as a young boy, and attended The Kings School Canterbury. After two years of national service in the Royal Air Force, he attended Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1951.

After graduation he joined the Distillers Company Ltd. in South Wales, where he worked for five years before moving to the United States to work with the Gordons Dry Gin Company. As a young bachelor, he lived in New Jersey, learned to fly, and spent his summers at the Jersey shore. On home leave in England in 1960, he met his future wife, Jill, on a sailing course. Married in 1961, he lived in New Jersey for four years before being promoted to plant manager of a new factory in Illinois. In 1973, he returned to New Jersey, settling in Princeton, to manage three factories in Illinois, California, and New Jersey. Following the company's merger with Guiness America, he became a senior vice president. He retired in 1990.

In retirement, he devoted much of his spare time to travel, listening to classical music, tending his vegetable garden, and volunteering in the Archeology Department at Princeton University. He later became a docent in the Princeton University Art Museum.

He is survived by his wife, Jill; a daughter, Sally; three sons, Simon, Julian, and James; a sister, Claudia; and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held May 1 at 9:30 a.m. in Bristol Chapel at the Westminster Choir College.

Memorial donations may be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Donations Department, 1275 York Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10021.

Jacob C.E. Dekker

Jacob C. E. Dekker, 82, of Princeton, died at the University Medical Center at Princeton on April 3. He was a professor emeritus of mathematics at Rutgers University.

Born in Hilversum, Netherlands, he attended the University of Leiden until 1942. With the help of friends he came to the United States in 1947.

He attended Syracuse University as a graduate student and received his Ph.D. in 1950 under the guidance of Professor Paul Rosenbloom. He stayed at Syracuse as an Instructor for another year and then went to the University of Chicago for a three-year appointment. In 1954 he joined Northwestern University. In 1956 Prof. Kurt Goedel at the Institute for Advanced Study invited him to come to Princeton for a two-year stay.

In 1958 he became a full professor at the University of Kansas, in Lawrence. In 1959 he decided to move back to New Jersey, having accepted a position as full professor in the Mathematics Department of Rutgers, in New Brunswick. He taught there for 27 years until his retirement in 1986.

Prof. Dekker is survived by his wife of 53 years, Henny.

A memorial gathering will take place on Tuesday, April 20 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Graduate Student Lounge of Rutgers Student Center on the New Brunswick campus. Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor's choice.

Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.

Edna Peronneau

Edna "Renee" Peronneau, 77, of Princeton, died April 9 at Princeton Care Center.

Born in Reistertown, Md., she spent her childhood in Baltimore. In her late teens she moved to New York City, where she worked while completing the requirements to graduate from Jamaica High School. She subsequently attended night classes at Queens College while working as a nurse's aide, then entered the nursing program at Albert Einstein Hospital School of Nursing. After receiving her R.N. certification there, she pursued a master's degree in nursing administration at C.W. Post College while working as a nurse at Calvary Hospital in The Bronx, New York.

She spent 18 years at Calvary Hospital before retiring in 1997. At the time of her retirement she was a Nursing Supervisor in the hospital's department of oncology.

In 1995 she moved from The Bronx to Princeton to be near her longtime friends, Eugene and Cleo McKay. Shortly after moving to Princeton she began to attend the Nassau Christian Center, a membership she continued after her retirement.

Stricken with a spinal ailment in 1997, she underwent several months of therapy at Princeton Hospital and a spinal fusion operation at Kessler Clinic in Orange before entering the Princeton Nursing Home in 2001.

She is survived by her friends, the McKays of Princeton, and a community of friends at the Princeton Care Center.

A graveside service was held April 13 at Colonial Memorial Park in Hamilton. Arrangements were by the Hughes Funeral Home, Trenton.

Stephen D. Pensak

Stephen D. Pensak, 57, of Highland Park, died March 31 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Born in Princeton, he lived for many years in New Brunswick and Highland Park.

He received his bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

He worked for several years as a computer programmer at Quantitative Analysis Service in Jersey City before retiring in 2002.

He is survived by his mother, Charlotte Pensak of Princeton; and two brothers, David and Martin, both of Wilmington, Del.

No memorial service plans have been set. Arrangements are under the direction of The Jaqui-Kuhn Funeral Home, Highland Park.

Virginia Karchere

Virginia Karchere, 81, of Princeton, died April 5 at Merwick Rehab Hospital and Nursing Care Center.

Born in Los Angeles, she had lived in Westport, Conn., for 43 years before moving to Princeton in 1998.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College and a master's degree from the London School of Economics.

She was employed as an economist for the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. Previously, she taught economics for many years at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Conn.

She was a League of Women Voters volunteer in Westport and was the first woman elected to the Town of Westport Board of Finance.

Predeceased by her husband, Alvin J. Karchere, she is survived by two daughters, Martha Karchere of Boston, Mass., and Sarah Karchere of Princeton; two sons, David of Loveland, Colo., and Peter of Eagle River, Alaska; and ten grandchildren.

A memorial service was held on April 8 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. Interment was at the Unitarian Church cemetery in Westport.

Arrangements were under the direction of The Kimble Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions may be sent to The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, Va. 22203; or to a charity of the donor's choice.

Peter S. Hirsch

Peter S. Hirsch of Skillman died April 6 at home, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

He is survived by his parents, Emily and Erwin Hirsch; his wife, Bonnie Parker; two daughters, Tucker Hirsch and Natasha Lazarus; and two sisters, Carolyn Spolidoro and Nancy Napalo.

A memorial service was held at the Unitarian Church on April 13.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Adirondack Mountain Club for the Keene Valley Chapter, 814 Goggins Road, Lake George, N.Y. 12845, where Mr. Hirsch was chapter president.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.

Mary B. Hall

Mary B. Hall, 78, of Princeton, died April 7 at home.

Born in Wingate, N.C., she was the daughter of the late Craven Cullum and Virginia Curry Burris.

She retired after 30 years of service as an elementary school teacher with the Barclay Brook Elementary School in Jamesburg.

She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Harry H. Hall Jr.; a son, Harry III of Plainsboro; a daughter, Virginia Suechting of Neenah, Wis.; two brothers, Allan C. Burris of Raleigh, N.C., and Robert Burris of Charlotte, N.C.; a sister, Frances Crooke of Wingate, N.C.; and three grandsons.

A memorial service was held April 13 at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Interment was private at Princeton Cemetery.