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Vol. LXV, No. 13
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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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Vol. LXV, No. 13
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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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Suzanne Johnston, 84, of Princeton, died February 9 at home. She and her surviving husband, Hugh, were documentary filmmakers who lived and worked in Princeton for over 50 years.
Born on September 3, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pa., she graduated with bachelor’s degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh. Subsequently, she studied at Radcliffe College, graduating with a Master of Arts in art history in 1953.
In 1954 she moved to New York and began writing for art and industrial design magazines. Soon after she and her husband married, they moved to Princeton to work for a local company, On Film, Inc., as writers and producers. In the 1960s they began producing 16mm films independently. A few of their early productions focused on New Jersey: “A Different Childhood” documented poverty in Trenton, and their film, “Hey Cow I See You Now”, which aired as the opening sequence of the first episode of Sesame Street, was shot on the historic Walker Gordon Dairy Farm in Plainsboro.
She was a gifted scriptwriter and wrote the scripts for each individual film. She was able to transfer her previous experience as a writer for magazines to write in the film medium. She believed in the power of documentary films, and the impact that a film’s message and design could have on social change.
She and her husband wrote and produced over 50 documentary films during the course of their career. Some of their well-known productions include “Mystery of the Maya” (1974), “Magic Windows” (1981), and “Pueblo Presence” (1981), which was shown at the National Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. Articles about her and her husband have appeared in The New York Times, The Times of Trenton, Town Topics, and other publications.
In addition to the 50 film scripts she wrote, she also wrote numerous articles. One of her articles, “As I Remember Weegee,” was published in The Photo Review (Winter 1999).
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Hugh; and her children, Huguette, Claire, and Frances.
A memorial service will take place on May 7 at 11 a.m. at the Aquinas Institute of Princeton University.
Margaretta “Peggy” Sergeant Harrison Calvert, 84, died March 19 at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Raised in Ardmore, Pa., she was the second of five children born to Joseph Harrison Jr. and Rita Heckscher Harrison. She graduated from the Shipley School in 1944.
Following her marriage to Hyman L. Battle Jr. (Princeton Class of 1946), she moved to Princeton where she lived until 1968. She raised four sons and was an active member of the Princeton community. She acted in many local McCarter Theatre productions and volunteered for both the Red Cross and the hospital at Fort Dix.
After her divorce, she met and married Jim Calvert, at the time the youngest Admiral in the US Navy. He was posted to the United States Naval Academy as Superintendent and together they spent four years as a dynamic team in a very public role. After the Navy, many successful years in business and numerous sailing adventures, she and her husband retired to Beaumont. Their marriage lasted more than four decades before her husband’s death in 2009.
A passionate and skillful painter, she studied at the Art Students League in New York and the Silvermine Guild of Artists in Connecticut. She apprenticed with Charles Reid, Ted Goerschner, and Burt Silverman. Beaumont at Bryn Mawr is currently hosting an exhibition of over 60 of her paintings.
Her radiant vitality and wonderful sense of humor touched everyone she met. She was a cherished sister, devoted mother and grandmother, as well as a loyal and compassionate friend.
She is survived by two sisters, Henrietta Marshall and Lea Bolling; two brothers, Stevens Harrison and Joseph Harrison III; four sons, Craig, David, John, and Kemp Battle; two stepsons, James and Charles Calvert; and 14 grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place on April 2 at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pa. at Noon.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to HiTOPS, 21 Wiggins Street, Princeton, N.J. 08540.
Donald F. Denny, 81, of Ambler and Cape May Point, N.J., died March 15 at home.
He spent his childhood years growing up in St. Davis. After graduating from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in 1947, he enrolled in Villanova University. A year later he joined the Navy ROTC and in an impulsive moment, enrolled to be a pilot.
Upon graduating in 1952 with a degree in chemical engineering, he was sent to Pensacola, Fla. for flight training. In 1952 he married Rita Taylor of Philadelphia and together they had five children. They divorced in 1973, and in 1976 he met Viki Sappington, while teaching scuba diving at the Main Line YMCA. They married in 1978.
In 1956 after flying P2V’s for the US Navy overseas, he was discharged and became chief chemist and a manger of Denny, Hilborn & Rosenbach (DHR), a family-owned paint manufacturing business. He eventually became President, and after returning DHR to profitability, sold it to Finnaren & Haley, a larger competitor, where he became vice president of manufacturing. In 1977, he became CEO and EW Kaufmann Company, where he remained until he retired in 2002.
Throughout his life he had a much sought after skill with all things mechanical, from working in bicycle shops as a youth, to rebuilding automobile engines in his teens, to remodeling power boats in his adult years. He had a lifelong love for the sea. In the mid 1960s he became an avid scuba diver and instructor through the Main Line YMCA. He was also a longtime member of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May where he served in many capacities including Commodore.
His success on the sailboat racing circuit was more than matched by his self-taught proficiency in the kitchen. Through 40 years of learning and innovation, his cuisine reached levels that would amaze, inspire, and delight family and friends. His wine collection will be much enjoyed by his family.
He could be fiercely competitive but rarely lost perspective whether he won or lost. By honoring commitment and trust, he bred staunch loyalty in his family and friends, across three generations.
His effortless intelligence was mixed with an engineer’s pragmatism and tempered with a youthful spirit. He was a compassionate sage with a sense of humor. He debated for sport but his beliefs were founded on the iron-clad logic of an inveterate problem solver. He was a man who took pride in toiling in his kitchen and pride in seeing his businesses run efficiently.
Predeceased by his children, Andrew and Patricia, who died in infancy; he is survived by his wife, Viki; his sister, Eleanor Hallinan; three children, Donald Jr., Chistopher, and Rita; and five grandchildren.
A memorial service was held March 26 at Manufacturers’ Golf and CC, 511 Dreshertown Road, Ft Washington, Pa. Interment was private.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the CW Stuard Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May Sailing Foundation of which Mr. Denny was founder and president, (c/o CYCCM, PO Box 260, Cape May, N.J. 08204).
Rose C. Golden, of Augusta, Maine, died March 14 after a brief illness.
She worked for Town Topics in Princeton for many years before becoming a lobbyist and event planner for the New Jersey Press Association. She retired in the early 1990’s and moved to Augusta, Maine, in 1995.
She was a longtime resident of Pennington and also resided in Lawrenceville.
She is survived by her three children, Richard, Ellen, and William; four grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
Donations may be made to Temple Beth El at PO Box 871, Augusta, Maine, 04332.
J. Kenneth Hanawalt, 77, of Princeton, died March 12 of Alzheimer’s disease.
Born in Rochester, N.Y., he attended schools in Cleveland, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn. before graduation from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a degree in Psychology. An early entrant to the computer business in the late 1960s, he retired in 2001 from a successful career as software consultant and educator.
A gentle man with a dry sense of humor, he practiced an easy-going eclecticism throughout his life. Starting college in engineering, his interests shifted as he became involved with the university radio station, WUOT. There, he was both a technician and, following a love of music and opera encouraged by his father, an announcer for classical music programs. His impressive knowledge and appreciation of classical music became a lifelong pleasure. When a college television station was started in the 1950s, he became producer and teacher of televised classes.
Immersed in these media, he managed to delay graduating for many years. After his neglected studies caught up, his German professor expressed doubt that he would ever pass the language requirement. Resolute, he left campus to spend a year in Germany, where he volunteered as a hospital intern under the auspices of the Internationale Freundschaftsheim (friendship home), a pacifist retreat near Hannover. Returning fluent in the language, he became a star pupil and after graduating spent a year teaching German in area high schools.
Active in Presbyterian youth fellowship throughout college, he went on to earn a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., and was ordained as a minister in 1965. He accepted the offer of a 2-year assignment with the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia where he pursued his earlier interest in human service, interviewing and training volunteers and leading workshops in Germany and Austria.
In 1968 he moved to Princeton when a college friend urged him to partner in a startup software enterprise. He taught himself programming and hardware skills in order to manage that side of the business. In 1970 a neighboring firm, Mathematica, Inc., asked him to assist with their growing computer operations. He soon was managing an expansive array of early mainframe computers at Mathematica’s Princeton Junction location. There, he met and married a fellow employee, Carol Anderson.
In 1979 he joined the subsidiary Mathematica Products Group, becoming an expert in applications of their business information system, RAMIS. He provided customer education, sales support and staff development, traveling widely to install new systems and train users throughout the U.S. and abroad in several countries.
While living in Princeton, he volunteered regularly at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. His interests also extended to the kitchen, where he did all the cooking.
He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Carol; and his adopted daughter, Gwyneth Catlin.
A memorial service will be held April 10 at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Church, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the RFB&D Princeton Studio, 69 Mapleton Road, Princeton, N.J. 08540.
Vera K. Fedorov, 75, of Princeton, died March 22 at University Medical Center at Princeton. She was battling a spinal cord injury for the past seven months.
Born in Panchevo, Yugoslavia, she resided in Manhattan, Princeton, and Sanabell Island, Fla.
She lived in Berlin during WWII and immigrated to Manhattan as a young teenager. She received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in the 1950s. After marrying and moving back to the East Coast, she received an advanced degree from Columbia. She was a professor at Douglass College and Rutgers University.
In the early 1980s she started her own real estate development business in Hoboken, N.J. that she ran until she died. She also enjoyed travelling and spending time with her grandchildren.
The daughter of the late Nicholas N. and Vera Kovalevski, she is survived by two sons, Victor and Mark Fedorov; a daughter, Veronica Savage; and give grandchildren.
The funeral service was held on March 26 at the Orthodox Church of St. Elizabeth, 38 Princeton Avenue, Rocky Hill. Burial was private.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
Josef A. Borg, 83, of Princeton, died March 20.
Born in Malta, Europe, he came to the United States following World War II and settled in Princeton in 1950.
He was a respected bespoke tailor and fashion designer of fine men’s clothing. He had a shop located at 57 Palmer Square, dressing the wealth of Princeton and famous people around the world. In 2000, he celebrated 50 years of business.
During his formidable years, he was an active and recognized member of the Rotary Club in Princeton. In his youth, during the World War, he custom tailored uniforms for Officers of the British Royal Navy. Despite a thriving business, he left Malta for the promise of America. Before starting his own business in Princeton, he worked briefly under noted designer Edith Head of Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California.
He is survived by four sons, Christopher, Robert, Peter, and Josef Jr.; two grandchildren; five sisters, Sister Benerice Borg of the Franciscan Order, Mary, Lucy, Sylvia, and Martess; and his former wife, Josephine Wolf Borg.
A private Memorial Mass was held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church. His burial will be in his homeland of Malta at a future date.
Arrangements are under the direction of Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton.
Virginia “Ginny” Wells Winegar, 80, died March 21 at her home at Lakeview in Doylestown, Pa.
Born in Latrobe, Pa., she was the daughter of the late LeRoy Bullard and Katherine Jane Semler Wells.
She was the wife of the late Herbert Joseph Winegar, who passed in 2003. She and her family lived in Baltimore, Washington DC, Larchmont, N.Y., Princeton, and Lawrenceville, N.J. After her husband retired from AT&T Bell Laboratories, they moved to Sergeantsville, N.J. and then to Pine Run Community in Doylestown.
The ultimate party gal and “hostess with the mostess,” she lived life to the fullest. She was an avid tennis player and loved the game of bridge. She was also an active member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Princeton Hospital and a volunteer with many organizations. She was the co-chair of the Princeton ‘Roaring Fete’ in 1973 and she chaired the Parvee Foundation while at Pine Run Community.
She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Winegar; her daughter, Janet Stone; five grandchildren; and her sister, Janet Wells Meade.
A private graveside ceremony will be held at Unity Cemetery in Latrobe, Pa.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Lakeview at Pine Run, 2425 Lower State Road, Doylestown, Pa. 18901; or to Doylestown Hospital Hospice, 595 West State Street, Doylestown, Pa. 18901.
Arrangements are under Reed and Steinbach Funeral Home, Inc., Doylestown.