Read About Who We Are and What We Do
Memoriam
We celebrate the lives of fellow 46ers who are now climbing the celestial hills, wishing them peace.
2018
William J. Watson #3306
William John Watson, 59, of Westcliffe, CO passed away October 23, 2018 with his loving family by his side. He was born November 13, 1958 to William and Lillian (Vanderwiele) Watson in Paterson, NJ. A proud veteran of the US Army, William served his country as an Airborne Ranger in the 2nd Ranger Battalion 75th infantry regiment from 1978-1982. Continuing to service his country, William became a Building and Fire Inspector in New York State where he worked prior to his retirement to Westcliffe. After moving to Westcliffe William volunteered with the Custer County search and rescue team as a man tracker. After his service with the search and rescue team he volunteered with the Custer County Sheriff’s pose on the mounted (horse back) patrol team. He loved the Wet Mountains and spent many precious hours hiking, camping and riding his horses. He is survived by his sons, Christian (Taylor) Watson of Canon City, Tyler Watson of Westcliffe, granddaughter, Bellamy Watson, former wife Nancy Watson and brother Bryan Watson. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Bobby Watson and sister Brenda Watson. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Sangre de Cristo Hospice West, 601 Greenwood Ave., Canon City, CO 81212. Arrangements entrusted to Harwood Funeral Home. Online condolences at Harwoodfunerals.com.
Lois Gnann #849
On September 4th, 2018, Lois Gnann passed away peacefully. She enjoyed her last days in beautiful Adirondack weather at the home she built with her family.
Lois loved living in the Adirondack mountains, moving to Tupper Lake in 1973 and climbing each of the 46 High Peaks shortly thereafter.
She welcomed any chance to spend time outdoors; rain, shine, or snow, with her husband (Jerry), boys (Abe, Jake, and Eli), and a Labrador Retriever at her side!
Lois was brought to this area not only for its beauty but also to pursue a teaching career at the Tupper Lake Schools.
Many local residents will remember her as their teacher, their fellow faculty member, their children’s teacher and perhaps their mentor.
She thrived on teaching and took great joy seeing the look of triumph on a student’s face as they exclaimed “Oh, I get it now!”
In lieu of flowers or donations to Lois’ family, please contribute to the Adirondack Foundation Alice and Paul Grulich Memorial Scholarship Fund which meant so much to her (www.adirondackfoundation.org/give-now).
Leo F. Cote #2690
Spring '18
H. Galen Parker #1588
H. Galen Parker
Rochester, NY
Born 9/22/1940
Died 3/1/2018
This is a picture of my oldest brother Galen, on the left, and my brother Steve on the right taken at my daughter Kate (and Patrick)'s wedding in 2012. Galen died last week at age 77 in his sleep from heart failure. As Galen's wife Linda (who took the picture) said "he had a sweet wild heart."
He struggled a bit in elementary and secondary school, later diagnosed with ADD, but in those days he was labelled In school as a difficult kid. In high school, he did poorly in some classes, but aced physics because he was very smart and had a teacher who understood him. I think he adopted a few elements of what in those days we called "a hood" - he had slicked back hair, smoked cigarettes, drank beer, ran with fast girls, and drove fast cars. A bit rebellious.
But you couldn't find a nicer, more warm-hearted guy. And he was an electronics genius, soldering together all kinds of pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, tuners and speakers in a nice little “radio shack" my father built for him in our basement - my dad always "encouraged an interest" of any of his kids. Galen actually fabricated his own radio transmitter, strung an antenna from his bedroom window to a neighbor friend’s house and proceeded to broadcast (without FCC permission, of course), probably broadcasting Carl Perkins and "Blue Suede Shoes" over the airwaves. Most memorably, perhaps, he loved rock 'n' roll and played it in the basement very loud. When I was seven and eight years old, I remember my mother fixing dinner in the kitchen. She'd walk over to the corner of the kitchen above my brother's electronics shop in the basement and stamp on the floor, shouting, "Turn it down, turn it down!" And to my carefully concealed delight, the sound of Elvis Presley singing "Don't Be Cruel" would get just a little bit louder. A hero standing against authority!
Galen enlisted in the Army right out of high school, August 1958, and ended up spending several years in Germany near the (then Soviet bloc) Czech border. He had musical talent and learned some fantastic boogie woogie playing the piano in the enlisted men's club in Germany. He also taught himself the accordion and lots of German drinking songs which graced many family functions in the following decades. Those songs also later graced the hallowed environs of "Bullwinkle's Bar" in Rochester, a funky 60s bar where Galen would sit in at piano when the owner Betty took a break and where both Steve and I celebrated our 18th birthdays with Galen.
He had married Hannelorre Karlas in Germany and came back home in 1961 or '62, soon going to work as a field electrician at Kodak in Rochester. His first vehicle on his return was a really cool little powder blue Vespa motor scooter. I was 13 and desperate to have a motorcycle, so he'd let me wash and wax his scooter (which I was more than happy to do) and as a reward he'd take me for a ride on it. He also built a great-looking electrical control panel for the switches and other gear on the Lionel train set that Steve and I had set up in the basement space where Galen once had his "hi-fi" set up.
I got my driver's license in 1965. Galen bought his first new car the next year, a beautiful green, 1966 Pontiac GTO, with a Hurst transmission, a 389 cubic inch engine with three deuces (three two-barrel carburetors) and 360 horsepower. One of the hottest muscle cars of the muscle car era. My senior year in high school, he and Hanne would bring their baby over to our house every Sunday afternoon. Galen would smile and toss me the keys to his GTO before I even had to ask. I'd go out and pick up a carload of friends who had been waiting anxiously for this Sunday ritual, making sure I was out of ear-shot of our back yard before letting those horses run. A few hours later, I'd bring the car back, tires hot to the touch but otherwise none the worse for wear. And a grateful "thanks" to Galen as I handed back the keys.
Galen and Hanne were married until 1977, during which time they had two lovely daughters (Chris and Yvonne). In those years, Galen also went to night school for 11 years to earn his electrical engineering degree and at work transferred into Kodak's solid state physics research lab. He was appreciated in the research lab for his problem-solving ability and his affability. His college graduation party was one for the memory books, lots of him playing the accordion with the likes of “Roll Out the Barrels" and lots of dancing. Galen became active in the church where we had grown up, working with the Boy Scout troop there and taking them camping in the Adirondacks (where he also camped and hiked with his daughters). He would scare the daylights out of the young scouts by sneaking off into the woods as they sat in the dark around the campfire and becoming the much-feared "Moss Man" he had told them about during the long hikes in the earlier that day - Moss Man was just too horrible a creature to contemplate and Galen had a perfectly garbled, gravelly voice those boys (and Galen's daughters) will long remember.
After he and Hanne divorced, Galen found Linda Tenz, his co-worker at Kodak, and they married in 1980, living ecstatically together since then. He continued hiking in the Adirondacks, taking my 60-year old father with him and the two of them (with my brother Steve, and I as very occasional companions) climbed all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks with summits of 4,000 feet or higher, many of them trail-less peaks, and became “46’ers.” He also took up sailing in the 1970s, racing (a J-24 boat, I think) on Lake Ontario, sailing to Canada and the 1,000 Islands, and he and I sailed a smaller boat one beautiful summer afternoon on the ocean off the coast of Chatham on Cape Cod.
Somewhere in the late 70s or early 80s, I gave Galen a copy of Scott Joplin's complete works and Galen became a life-long ragtime man. Ragtime spoke to something in his soul in a way that few other things did. He became an accomplished ragtime pianist, traveling with Linda to (and sometimes performing ragtime songs at) various ragtime festivals from California to Sedalia, Missouri (Joplin's hometown) to Wisconsin and upstate New York. He took an early out as Kodak was going down the toilet and in retirement channeled his substantial energy into music, going to "piano camp" in Vermont each summer, taking up cello, writing arrangements and playing with other amateur musicians. Linda helped Galen keep his life organized and stay in touch with family (including his four grandchildren) and his many, many friends.
He was a unique character, "one of a kind" as Trevor said last week. I can't recall him ever saying an unkind word to anyone, although he was pretty merciless talking about Kodak management in the later years. He got along with all kinds of people, most of whom remember him for his humor, helpfulness and kindness. I'll remember him as a gentle, loving and generous big brother.
David W. Murphy, Jr. #9135
Janine Mauche DuMond #3847
Janine Michelle Mauche DuMond, 67, passed away unexpectedly on April 15, 2016 at the UVM Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont. She was born in Elmira, New York. Most recently of Underhill, Vermont, Janine previously lived for many years in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, New York – she called both the Green and Adirondack Mountains home.
Janine was a devoted and loving mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and aunt. She was a caring and dedicated nurse, a talented organist and pianist, a piano teacher and a swimming instructor. Janine loved hiking, cross-country skiing and kayaking – she held a deep appreciation for nature and was passionate about spending as much time as possible outdoors. She was a gifted seamstress, amateur astronomer, lover of classical music concerts, as well as an enthusiastic contra dancer and fiddle player. She and her daughter Lara finished their 46ers together in August of 1995 on the Seward Range.
Janine is survived by her son Justin Crawford DuMond (and his wife Alison DuMond) of Erie, Colorado and her daughter Lara DuMond Guercio (and Lara’s husband Brian Guercio) of Billings, Montana; her 3 grandsons Soren Joseph DuMond, Felix Ansel DuMond, and Brooks Colden Guercio; and her mother Anne Budell (VanVorce) Mauche (now recently deceased in April 2018). The oldest of 8, Janine is survived by her 4 brothers (Jacques Mauche, Timothy Mauche, Christopher Mauche and Shawn Mauche) and 3 sisters (Renee Mauche Faatz, Muffett Mauche George and Therese Mauche O’Rourke), as well as 12 nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her beloved father John Joseph Mauche, originally from Rennes, France.
A celebration of Janine’s life was held on August 2, 2016 at Adirondack Loj at Heart Lake in Lake Placid, NY – with family and friends, as well as a special loon watching us and swimming out on the lake during her ceremony. She is now out hiking and skiing mountains new and old, as we will always look for and find her spirit there.
Richard L. Macklin #39
Weatherford Mortuary
158 South Jefferson Circle
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
865-482-2464
FAX 865-481-0312
Richard “Dick” Macklin
Oak Ridge, TN
Richard Lawrence Macklin, age 97, died Sunday, January 21st, 2018 at Canterfield Assisted Living in Oak Ridge, TN.
Called “Dick” for most of his life, he was born December 24, 1920 in Jamaica, Queens, New York to Margaret Griswold Macklin and her husband, Reverend Egbert Chalmer Macklin. He attended New York City public schools and was awarded scholarships to Yale University, receiving a junior year Phi Beta Kappa, graduating with high honors in 1941, and continuing on at Yale for his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1944. Dick’s first job was with Union Carbide Corporation, working in radiation detection and monitoring at Columbia University where he made a hundred Geiger Counters for the Manhattan Project. Dick and the Geiger Counters arrived in Oak Ridge, TN in 1944, and all went to work at the Gaseous Diffusion Plant (“K-25”). In 1945 he married Virginia “Ginny” Walz, the sister of his college roommate, Norman Walz. In 1952 he transferred to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (“X-10” or ORNL) where he conducted experiments with accelerator produced neutrons. In 1960-1961 he and his family lived for one year in England while Dick served as an exchange scientist at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment Harwell. In later years Dick was also a visiting scientist for three months in Meudon, France and for some shorter trips to the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre in Geel, Belgium, and the Kernforschungzentrum in Karlsruhe, Germany. Dick published many scientific reports, received two patents, and attained fellowship status in the American Physical Society and in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
For many early years at ORNL, Dick’s primary collaborator was John “Jack” Gibbons. Dick later worked often with Ron Winters from Denison University in Ohio who came to ORNL many summers. Of note, in the early 1980s Dick Macklin’s and Ron Winters’ joint estimate of the age of the universe, based on the rhenium-osmium decay chronometer, held a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s best. Dick measured neutron cross sections (mainly capture) for many isotopes relevant to s-process stellar nucleosynthesis, providing data which were crucial to understanding how heavier elements in the universe were produced. These data made invaluable contributions to the nuclear astrophysics work of William “Willy” Fowler of CalTech, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Several visiting foreign scientists, while in Oak Ridge for a year, collaborated with Dick in neutron cross section measurements, including Roger Bird from Australia; Pieter Pasma from the Netherlands; Peter Egelstaff and Mick Moxon, both from AERE Harwell in England; and Hermann Beer from Germany. Dick mentored and collaborated with quite a few young postdocs, including Barry Allen of Yowie Bay, Australia; and Tetsuo Inada and Motoharu Mizumoto of Japan.
Dick and his next younger brother Philip were the 40th and 39th members of the “Adirondack 46-ers” hiking club, earned by climbing to the summit of 46 peaks above 4,000 feet in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.
Dick enjoyed spelunking with Jack Gibbons and other cavers in Tennessee and nearby states and often took his children into the easier East Tennessee caves, sometimes using a Brunton compass in mapping the caves for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Dick and his coworkers, his family, and many visiting scientific collaborators who came to Oak Ridge, enjoyed hiking trails in the Smoky Mountains and the Cumberlands and canoeing on Melton Hill Lake before Dick retired in 1990. In retirement, Dick and Ginny traveled together extensively, ranging from Virginia garden tours to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Antarctica, South Africa, and many countries in Europe.
As a longtime member of First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge, Dick served several terms on the Official Board and three years on the Nominating Committee, where he proudly led a campaign to raise the participation of women in appointed church positions from ten percent to thirty five percent. Dick was one of the rotating teachers for the Men’s Bible Class and later for adult couples Sunday school and he and Ginny served as volunteers with the Contact helpline.
The family wishes to express our thanks to the staff at Canterfield Assisted Living for the care they have given Richard and Virginia (Dick and Ginny) during their years of residence at Canterfield. Dick was loved and will be missed greatly, especially by his family.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Margaret Griswold Macklin and Rev. Egbert Chalmer Macklin, and next younger brother Philip Macklin. He is survived by his lovely wife for 73 years, Virginia Walz Macklin, age 95, of Oak Ridge, TN; youngest brother, David Macklin of Wayland, MA; and sister-in-law Betty Dalhoff and husband Frank of Yantis, TX; his children, Carol Anderson and husband Charles of Arkadelphia, AR; Roger Macklin of Oak Ridge, TN; Donald Macklin of Oak Ridge, TN; and Linda Macklin of Oak Ridge, TN; and his grandchildren Andrea Callicutt and husband Scott of Raleigh, NC, and Gwenmarie Ewing, of Dublin, Ireland. Surviving nieces and nephews include Susan Vollmer and husband Dennis of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Steven Macklin, wife Sue, and daughters Alexandra, Laura, and Jordan of Kalaheo, HI; Peter Macklin, wife Jennifer and daughter Taylor and son Patrick of Hamilton, OH; Douglas Macklin and son Tai and daughter Robin of Haiku, HI; Eric Macklin, wife Jennifer, and sons Graham and Andrew of Wayland, MA; Dick Walz and wife Sarah of Northampton, MA; Bill Walz and wife Viria of Ambler, PA and daughter Jenn Reinfurt and husband Jon and daughter Chloe of Audubon, NJ; John Walz, wife Kathleen and daughter Caroline of Mount Tabor, NJ; Peggy Galdi and husband Gary of Vero Beach, FL; Debbie Gaither, husband Rod and daughters Amanda and Emily of Oak Ridge, NC; Mark Dalhoff and wife Brandi of Nacogdoches, TX; and Kathy Jackson, her son Branden (and wife Jamie and children Alyson, Jack, and Maggie), her son Shaun (and wife Jenni and children Hayley and Logan), and her daughter Heather Broome (and husband James and children Katie, Avery, and Cayden), all of Tyler, TX.
There will be a memorial service/celebration of life at 2:00 pm Saturday March 24th, 2018 in the sanctuary at First United Methodist Church, Oak Ridge, TN with Rev. Stella Roberts officiating. Visitation with the family will be held in the church parlor immediately following the memorial service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to:
Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC)
P. O. Box 5953
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-5953
or
First United Methodist Church
1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
An online guest book may be signed at weatherfordmortuary.com
