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Benson Leeroy Skelton Sr., Cls 27, of Tallahassee, Fla., on Aug. 20 at the age of 105. Mr. Skelton worked for bakery companies in Georgia, Alabama and Florida and eventually became president of the Southern Bakers Association in Atlanta. Mr. Skelton was a life member of the American Society of Bakery Engineers and the American Society of Association Executives. The Georgia Society of Association Executives each year presents an award named in his honor.
Frampton Erroll Ellis Jr., AE 36, of St. Simons Island, Ga., on Aug. 9. Mr. Ellis retired from the Federal Aviation Administration after serving as director of the Supersonic Transport Office. A member of Chi Phi fraternity while at Georgia Tech, he received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Ellis began his career at the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore and later became dean of engineering at the Aeronautical University of Chicago. He obtained a private pilot’s license in 1942, served as a flight test engineer during World War II and retired as a captain in the Navy Reserve. After the war, he served in the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics’ research division and later became director of the weapons systems division. He received a Navy League Medal for his leadership in the development of a vertical-takeoff airplane.
Harold J. Freedman, EE 39, a resident of Great Neck, N.Y., on March 5. During his time at Tech, he was the official motion picture photographer of football games, standing on the rooftop of the west stands. He was active in a New York alumni group. He spent his career in the film industry, working in the sound department of 20th Century Fox before joining Deluxe Laboratories in New York, at which he established the sound department to record magnetic tracks on the Cinemascope prints distributed to theaters. Mr. Freedman was a life fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and a member of the Will Rogers/Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation. He was commissioned in the Army Signal Corps and spent 1942 assigned to the British Royal Air Force to study its development of Identification Friend or Foe. Upon returning to the Signal Corps research laboratories, he was one of the project leaders in the development of IFF for the U.S. Air Corps. Survivors include his brother Irwin B. Freedman, IE 44.
Samuel R. Phillips, TE 38, of Peachtree City, Ga., on Sept. 19. Mr. Phillips, who received an advanced management degree from Harvard, was assistant director of the textile division of Uniroyal in New York City and later president of Latex Fiber Industries in Beaver Falls, N.Y. While in Beaver Falls, he served as the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce president. In 1980, he retired to Peachtree City, where he and his wife started a Japanese ministry at their church.
David Comfort Watkins Sr., IM 39, of Charlotte Courthouse, Va., on Aug. 10. He was a founder of Virginia Crafts Inc. and Heidi-Ho Inc., both in Keysville. Mr. Watkins served as a councilman and mayor of Charlotte Courthouse, director of the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation, president of the Charlotte County Ruritan Club and a board member of the Charlotte County branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. An Army captain during World War II, he served in the European theater and flew reconnaissance missions over Italy.
Olin Joseph “Joe” Baggarly Jr., ME 42, of Atlanta, on Aug. 25. He worked for Strother Barge Construction Co. until he co-founded Barge & Co. Construction, from which he retired in 1981. He was a member of the Buckhead Kiwanis Club, which once named him Man of the Year, and a 50-year member of the Atlanta Athletic Club. A member of Kappa Sigma fraternity at Tech, he served as a first lieutenant in World War II and was stationed at Turner Field in Albany, Ga. Survivors include his granddaughter Taylor Lesesne Frierson, EE 09.
John Charles “Jack” Beck, IM 48, of Mountain Brook, Ala., on Aug. 9. Mr. Beck was a special agent in the FBI before becoming a principal and eventually president of Bethea Co., now MacLean Power Systems, in Birmingham. He later founded Beck Associates, for which he worked until his retirement. Before attending Georgia Tech, he was a student at the University of Alabama and served in the Alabama National Guard, achieving the rank of captain in the Army. He served in the European theater during World War II. He was a member of the Former FBI Agents of Birmingham.
Joseph Knox Felker Jr., Cls 44, of Inman, S.C., on Aug. 7.
John Graham, EE 43, of Tallahassee, Fla., on July 25. He retired from a 44-year sales career with Allis-Chalmers in 1983 and became north Florida sales representative and head trainer for Dale Carnegie, training hundreds of people in sales and positive thinking. A co-op student and member of the tennis team at Georgia Tech, Mr. Graham served in the military following graduation. In addition to tennis, he enjoyed ping-pong and croquet. In 2008, he wrote an autobiography to pass on some of his life experiences to his children and grandchildren.
William Raymond “Bill” Healy, IM 48, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on Sept. 22. Mr. Healy was the president of Volunteer Sales Co., a food brokerage firm serving Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. During World War II, he served in the 88th Calvary Reconnaissance Squadron in the European theater and was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. At Tech, he served as captain of the football team and received All-American honors. He was a member of the sports halls of fame of Georgia Tech, Georgia, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Lookout Mountain. Survivors include his son Rob Healy, GMgt 73, and son-in-law Brad Bourne, GMgt 72.
Richard C. Houstoun, ChE 46, of Coral Gables, Fla., on Aug. 25. Mr. Houstoun retired from Gables Engineering in 2001. He was a member of Elks Lodge 948 and the Army and Navy Club.
Samuel Cooper Inman, Cls 49, of Atlanta, on Aug. 23. The great-grandson of Samuel M. Inman, one of the five members of Georgia Tech’s first board of trustees, Mr. Inman left Tech when he was drafted into the Army at the end of World War II. He later received a business degree from the University of Georgia Atlanta Division and joined MacDougald Construction Co., participating in the development of the first sections of interstate highways through downtown Atlanta. He was a past president of the Georgia Highway Contractors Association, serving as its treasurer for more than 20 years. After selling MacDougald Construction Co. and subsidiaries in 1977, he stayed on with the new company, APAC, becoming responsible for all operations in Georgia, Alabama and Florida and some large-scale bridge and subway projects in Alabama, Virginia and Maryland. He retired in 1989. Mr. Inman was a member of many organizations, including the Commerce Club, Society of Colonial Wars, 300 Club of Atlanta and the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Survivors include grandson Samuel Walker Inman, ME 04.
Joseph Edmund Mann, ME 43, of Clinton, Tenn., on Aug. 3. He retired from Martin Marietta in 1984 after working on the development of nuclear cyclotrons, accelerators and reactors and the electron microscope. Following graduation from Tech, Mr. Mann worked at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., as part of the war effort and entered the Army Corps of Engineers’ Manhattan District, becoming involved in work essential to production of the atomic bomb.
Ernest W. “Ernie” Millen, AE 46, of Newport News, Va., on April 26. A Navy veteran, he worked for NASA’s nuclear research department for 32 years and was the owner and president of Chancelwyn Research and Almega Universal. He enjoyed fishing and playing the violin.
Murray Stein, Cls 46, of Rome, Ga., on Sept. 24. He attended Georgia Tech before serving in the Army during World War II. After earning a dental degree from Northwestern University in 1951, he entered into practice in Rome. Dr. Stein was a life member and honorable fellow of the Georgia Dental Association and served as president of the Northwestern Dental Society. He also was a life member of the American Dental Association, American Association of Endodontists, American Academy of Oral Medicine, Alpha Omega Dental fraternity, American College of Dentists, Southern Academy of Oral Surgery and Atlanta Cranial Mandibular Society. He served three terms as president of Rodeph Sholom Congregation and served on the board of directors and taught in the religious school. He also served as president of the Rome chapter of B’nai B’rith and on the advisory committee for the Georgia Holocaust Commission. He was appointed by then-Gov. Jimmy Carter to the State Board of Dentistry, on which he served for more than five years, the last year as president of the Board of Examiners.
James Edward Stitt, EE 47, of Williamsburg, Va., on June 16. Mr. Stitt retired from a 33-year career with NASA in 1980 as director of electronics at the Langley Research Center. His studies at Tech were interrupted by service in the Army Signal Corps during World War II. After training at the radar school in Florida, he was deployed to North Africa to help install relay stations for Allied troops. He was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1947 to work at Langley. In 1971, he received the NASA Special Achievement Award for his work in instrumentation, communication and electronics. A year later, he received the organization’s exceptional service medal for his outstanding leadership in research on electronic devices and measurement techniques and the practical application of advanced instrumentation systems.
Harrison Morton Wadsworth Jr., IE 49, MS IE 54, of Atlanta, on Aug. 3. Dr. Wadsworth, who received a PhD from Case Western Reserve University, was a professor of statistics in the industrial and systems engineering department at Georgia Tech for 31 years and taught in China and Turkey. Since retiring in 1991, he had operated his own quality auditing consulting business. He served in the Army during World War II and the Korean War; was a U.S. delegate and subcommittee chair to the International Standards Organization and the American National Standards Institute; authored or co-authored several textbooks; and served as editor of the Journal of Quality Technology. He received numerous awards and honors, including the American Society for Quality’s Distinguished Service Medal, and was an American Statistical Association fellow.
Martin Lewis Wakefield, IM 47, of Anniston, Ala., on Aug. 15. He was chairman of the board and CEO of Wakefield’s Inc., a chain of family clothing stores throughout northern Alabama. Mr. Wakefield returned to his hometown of Anniston after graduating from Tech to work with his father at Wakefield’s, a men’s clothing store, and later expanded it to include women’s and children’s clothing. He opened the first Martin’s Family Clothing store in 1961 and over the years operated nine Martin’s stores in addition to the original Wakefield’s. He served on the board of Regions Bank and as chairman of the retail merchants division of the Anniston Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Wakefield attended Georgia Tech on a football scholarship and was a member of the Sugar Bowl championship team of 1944. He also was a member of ROTC, earning his commission in the Navy in 1944. During World War II, he served in southern France and in the Pacific aboard the USS Raymond during the invasion of Okinawa, achieving the rank of lieutenant junior grade. Memorials in his name may be made to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, Georgia Tech Athletic Association, 150 Bobby Dodd Way N.W., Atlanta, GA 30332-0455 for the Martin L. Wakefield Athletic Scholarship.
Frank Harrison Wallace, IE 47, of Lancaster, S.C., in September. During his career, Mr. Wallace worked at Springs Industries, Springs Mills and M. Lowenstein & Sons. He was an accomplished wood-carver and furniture maker and won several awards at arts shows. He was a member of the St. Andrew’s Society of Columbia and the Rock Hill Elks Club, at which he was a past exalted ruler of the lodge and member of the ritual team. He served as a deacon and an elder at his church.
Joel Quitman “J.Q.” Williams, MS Phys 48, of Marietta, Ga., on Sept. 7. After receiving a PhD in physics from Duke University in 1951, Dr. Williams returned to Tech to teach astronomy, electronics and physics. Following retirement in 1983, he was a volunteer with the Fernbank Museum. He attended Centenary College before serving as an electronics officer in the Army Air Forces during World War II. Memorials in his name may be made to the Georgia Tech Foundation for the J.Q. Williams Memorial Fund.
Ralston Brockinton Woods, IM 47, of Atlanta, on Aug. 29. He served in the Navy during World War II and in the Korean War. After joining the Lockheed Corp., he attended night classes at the Atlanta Law School and received a law degree in 1956.
Michael Cady, Chem 55, of Buford, Ga., on Aug. 26. During his career, Mr. Cady was co-owner and president of Pet Village, Richway Pet World, Precision Builders, Olympic Swimmers, Cady Management and K-D Farms. He helped found the Pet Industry Association of Georgia and served as its president for many years. From 1966 to 1970, he trained and flew the Atlanta Falcons mascot. Mr. Cady served four years as a lieutenant in the Army after graduating from Tech, at which he lettered in track and served as a member of the student council, president of his class and president of Sigma Chi. He was a board member of the Georgia Tech Executive Roundtable from 1995 to ’99.
Isaac Sewell “Ike” Camp, IM 50, a resident of Camden, S.C., on Sept. 6. He began work for E.I. du Pont at the Savannah River Plant and transferred to the May Plant in Camden in 1966. He retired in 1984. A member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Georgia Tech, he served in the Army and was stationed at Aberdeen, Md., Huntsville, Ala., and White Sands Proving Ground, N.M., attaining the rank of first lieutenant. He was a volunteer with the Boy Scouts and Junior Achievement. He read to young schoolchildren and was a mentor to older children. He also served as a docent at the South Carolina State Museum and was a lay leader and Sunday school teacher at his church.
Charles W. Farr, Cls 55, of Chesapeake, Va., on Aug. 26. Mr. Farr retired from IBM in 1989. He was a member of the Great Bridge Senior and Sassy Senior clubs.
Walter Bennett “Ben” Gentry Jr., ME 53, a resident of Richmond, Va., on Aug. 24. A professional engineer, he had a 37-year career with Allied Signal during which he designed and oversaw the installation of textile equipment, working at facilities throughout the United States, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Japan. A member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity while at Tech, he also was a member of the Pershing Rifles and a life member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He served in the Army Reserve for 28 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Jimmy Hill, IE 53, of Greenville, Ga., on Sept. 8. After graduating from Georgia Tech, he began a more than 30-year career with U.S. Steel during which he served as general superintendent of a plant in Birmingham, Ala., and the Homestead Works in Pittsburgh and as vice president of operations. He retired in 1984 as executive vice president. He served in World War II with a tour of duty in the Army of Occupation in Japan in 1945-46. He was a member of the AmSouth Bank Corp. board of directors from 1983 to ’88. In the early 1990s, he acquired controlling interest in Greenville Banking Co. He served as chairman of its board until he became ill. He was a member of American Legion Post 186. He served many years on Meriwether County’s zoning appeals board and was a past trustee of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation Development Fund Inc.
Charles W. Hutchins Jr., CE 54, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on Aug. 2. Mr. Hutchins was an aeronautical engineer with Lockheed for 40 years. He was a member of the Society of Allied Weight Engineers and a deacon and Sunday school teacher at his church. He had attended every Georgia Tech home football game since 1949.
Richard Wayne Jennings, IM 59, of Augusta, Ga., on Sept. 15. He received a master’s degree from Augusta College and was past president of the college’s alumni association. He was past chairman of the administrative board of trustees, finance committee and mission committee at his church; a Paul Harris fellow with the Augusta West Rotary Club; a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity; and grand treasurer of the Order of St. John.
Francis Milton “Milt” Jessup Jr., IE 51, of Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 27. Dr. Jessup had a 32-year career with Southern Natural Gas Co. After retiring from Sonat in 1983, he taught economics at Samford University and then statistics and economics at Wallace State Community College until 1992. Dr. Jessup received an MBA from Samford in 1971 and a PhD in public administration from Nova University in 1979 at the age of 56. Dr. Jessup joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served in the Pacific theater in the 458th Bombardment Squadron until the end of World War II. He enjoyed studying the Bible and just a few months before his death completed a 300-page book, which included his thoughts on the Bible.
Roy Woody Johnson Jr., ME 53, a resident of Greenwood, S.C., on Sept. 9. Upon graduation from Georgia Tech, he reported to Fort Bragg, N.C., where he served as the officer in charge of the dining facility. Mr. Johnson completed his tour of service working with the Army Chemical Corps in Edgewood, Md. He then began a long career with the Trane Co., specializing in sales of heating and air conditioning systems. A member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Tech, Mr. Johnson was an Eagle Scout and a Boy Scout leader. He enjoyed camping, canoeing and bird watching and played softball for the 200s in Kirkwood, Mo., for more than 25 years.
Foy Edmond Johnston Jr., Cls 56, of Bear, Del., formerly of Tucker, Ga., on Sept. 15. Mr. Johnston retired from Simons-Eastern Co. of Atlanta as supervising field engineer on major industrial construction projects. A 58-year master Mason, Mr. Johnston was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 42 of Tucker, Metro-Daylight Masonic Lodge No. 743 of Chamblee and the Knights Templar in the York Rite Atlanta area. He also was a 32-degree Scottish Rite Mason and a noble in the Yaarab Shrine of Atlanta. He was a life member of the National Model Railroad Association and National Rifle Association. Survivors include his son Foy E. “Eddie” Johnston III, ChE 75.
Joseph E. Lavelle Jr., AE 53, of Sudbury, Mass., on Aug. 1. Mr. Lavelle retired from a 36-year career with Textron Systems in 2007 at the age of 76. He served as president of the New England section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics from 1964 to ’66 and was a longtime member of the Air Force Association. He was an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox and Celtics in addition to the Yellow Jackets.
John Venable Linn Jr., Text 56, of Cartersville, Ga., on Sept. 9. He had a 21-year career with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. before teaching textile engineering and related courses at Southern Polytechnic State University and Georgia Tech. He also worked as a quality and productivity consultant. He served as an officer in the Navy and as a deacon and an elder at various churches. He was an Eagle Scout and a licensed pilot.
John MacPherson, ChE 53, MS ChE 59, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., on Aug. 4, after a seven-year battle with cancer. After retiring from a 37-year career as an engineering consultant and a manufacturing technologist with Monsanto/Solutia, he served as a process control consultant for Don Stuart & Associates. He received a master’s degree in systems analysis from the University of West Florida and served 30 years in the Navy on active duty and in the Reserve, retiring as a captain. During the early 1980s, he served on the founding committee and board of directors of Hospice of Northwest Florida. He was a board member and former treasurer of the Pensacola Council of the Navy League, a member of the Gulf Breeze Rotary Club and a Paul Harris fellow. He enjoyed sailboat racing and in retirement sailed to the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Caribbean Islands, Venezuela and Trinidad. He served two years as commodore of the Pensacola Yacht Club and was a member of the Florida Commodores Association. He also was a member and former officer of the Emerald Coast Georgia Tech Club.
Eugene A. “Gene” Mann, CE 56, of Eastman, Ga., on Aug. 8. Mr. Mann was the former owner and operator of E.A. Mann & Co. Inc. He was named a Paul Harris fellow by the Rotarians and in 2007 received a lifetime achievement award from the Georgia Highway Contractors Association, of which he was a former director and past president. A Navy veteran, he served aboard the USS Bunker Hill during World War II.
John W. Marbut Jr., IM 56, of Macon, Ga., on Sept. 20. Following service in the Navy, he moved to Macon and began working for Marbut and Co., at which he later became president. He served on the boards of directors of the Macon chapter of the American Red Cross, the Georgia Industrial Home and C&S Bank of Atlanta and on the vestry and committees at his church. Mr. Marbut was an Eagle Scout, a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Tech and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. An avid golfer, he belonged to several golf clubs and served on the planning committee of the Walker Cup when it came to Atlanta.
James Marvin “Jim” McCleskey Jr., ME 59, of Leeds, Ala., on Sept. 15. He began working with U.S. Steel as a co-op student at Tech and retired from the company after 45 years of service. He served as a drill sergeant in the Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and Fort Belvoir, Va. He was a deacon at his church and a member of the Sonshine Singers.
Clyde Orr Jr., PhD ChE 53, of Dunwoody, Ga., on Sept. 15. Dr. Orr retired from Georgia Tech in 1979 to dedicate his efforts to the Gwinnett County-based Micromeritics Instrument Corp., a company he co-founded in 1962 with another Tech researcher, Warren P. Hendrix, after the two developed a method and device to determine surface area and pore volume of materials. In the Fall 1999 issue of Georgia Tech’s Research Horizons, the invention was listed by faculty and administrators as one of the “significant contributions made by Georgia Tech researchers in the 20th century.” Dr. Orr served as board chairman of Micromeritics, which now has annual sales topping $50 million and offices in Germany, France, Italy, Japan, China and the United Kingdom, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Dr. Orr received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee and served in the Navy during World War II. After receiving his doctorate, he stayed on at Tech to work in research positions in the Engineering Experiment Station and teach chemical engineering. In 1962 he became a full professor and in 1966 was named a Regents’ professor. Dr. Orr was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame in 1995.
David Elliott Pinkston, IE 57, of Macon, Ga., on Aug. 2. After retiring as general manager of the Macon Water Authority in 1981, he played golf, volunteered with Meals on Wheels and Mercer University’s English Language Institute, traveled with his wife and spent time with his grandchildren. Mr. Pinkston, who served in the Air Force from 1951 to ’55, flew fighter planes on night intruder missions while stationed in South Korea during the Korean War.
Joseph William “Jay” Rabern, ChE 51, of Brigham City, Utah, on Nov. 21, 2007. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and served as an electronic technician’s mate onboard the USS Wasatch during World War II. He worked for Thiokol Chemical Corp. for 27 years, retiring in 1987. He was active in the Brigham City Jeep Patrol for many years. Survivors include his brother Thomas J. Rabern, IM 58.
Glover Hood Robinson Jr., ME 56, of Cocoa, Fla., on Aug. 22. He began working for the Missile Firing Lab of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in 1959 and later worked as a ground operations engineer for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center on the Redstone, Jupiter, Saturn I and IB, Apollo/Saturn V, Skylab and space shuttle programs. He was active in the Boy Scouts growing up and attained the rank of Eagle Scout with gold palm. He received a master’s degree from the University of Central Florida and was stationed at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., while serving in the Army.
Robert P. Scott Jr., CE 51, a resident of Signal Mountain, Tenn., on Feb. 16. A Navy veteran and a member of Sigma Chi fraternity at Georgia Tech, Mr. Scott was president of R.P. Scott Contracting Co.
J. Frank Smith Jr., IM 55, of Atlanta, on Oct. 2. Mr. Smith worked in executive sales and management with IBM, receiving numerous One Hundred Percent Club awards during his time with the company. In the early 1970s, he was one of the founders of Computer Management Inc. He later held executive sales positions in information technology with American Software and General Electric. He also co-founded the University Financing Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping universities obtain capital funding for campus development projects. Mr. Smith, who was a member and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity while at Tech, served as president of the National Alumni Association in 1979-80 and as a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation. The College of Management awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Award. He also served as chair of the Georgia Tech Facilities Corp. During the 1970s, Mr. Smith was a board member of the Atlanta Public Schools and Citizens for Better Government, president of the Northside Kiwanis Club, chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta YMCA and director and vice president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Memorials in his name may be made to the Georgia Tech Foundation.
Robert M. Stamps II, IM 53, of Cleveland, Ga., on Aug. 6. He was a retired Navy lieutenant commander.
Richard Bruce Stewart, ME 51, a resident of Niceville, Fla., on Aug. 7. Mr. Stewart was a department manager for design and reliability at Lockheed Aircraft, from which he retired in 1988 after 34 years with the company. He served in the Army Air Corps from 1944 to 1946. In retirement, he volunteered with Gideons International and made several trips to the Caribbean islands to place scriptures in schools and jails.
Edwin Bennett Upchurch, IE 51, of Decatur, Ga., on Sept. 27. He served in the Army during World War II and worked for Lockheed Marietta for more than 36 years. He served as president of the Atlanta chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and was a member of Toastmasters. He was a deacon and Sunday school teacher at his church.
James A. Watkins, CE 55, of Chillicothe, Ohio, on Sept. 4. He was employed by the Ohio Department of Transportation for 42 years, retiring from the District 9 office after serving more than nine years as deputy director. He served as a first lieutenant in the Army. He was a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and Ohio Society of Professional Engineers; the board of directors of the American Red Cross; and several bridge clubs. He was active in the YMCA Indian Guides program and the Boy Scouts, serving at the pack and council levels and as assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 3. He and his wife were active participants in the Belles and Beaus Square Dance Club. Survivors include his son Michael Watkins, M Arch 08.
Carl Arthur Weston Jr., ME 54, a resident of Monett, Mo., on July 14. A member of Kappa Sigma fraternity at Georgia Tech, Mr. Weston earned a master’s degree from MIT and spent his career working as a metallurgical engineer.
James William “Bill” Whitaker Sr., IM 53, of Dawson, Ga., on Aug. 1. A resident of Terrell County since 1952, Mr. Whitaker had served as president of Terrell County Tractor Co., Farmers Gin, Georgia Cotton Co., Standard Oil of Dawson and Georgia Tractor and Implement Co. He served on the boards of the Federal Land Bank, Bank of Terrell, Albany Oil Mill and Chem Nut of Georgia and was a member and past president of the Rotary Club. A member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity while at Tech, he served as a master sergeant in the Army Combat Engineers during the Korean War.
Floyd Eric Williams Jr., MS CE 50, of Pineville, N.C., on Sept. 18. He worked for Monsanto and later for Springs Industries, from which he retired in 1988. He served in the Marine Corps during World War II and graduated from The Citadel.
Leigh Robert Burns Jr., AE 68, of Troy, Ill., on Sept. 1. Mr. Burns began his career at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and spent the past 19 years working as a mechanical engineer for Hunter Engineering in Bridgeton, Mo. He was active with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America.
Louis P. de Give, IM 60, of Saratoga, Calif., on March 25. He retired from Hewlett-Packard.
William “Hoyt” Ford, MS EM 62, of Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 13. He worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. as an engineer and, for a time, was on loan to the Atomic Energy Commission for a special assignment. Following retirement, he taught mathematics at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. A World War II veteran, he graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., and received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from New York University.
H. Richard “Dick” Freeland, EE 64, of Naples, Fla., on Sept. 4. He worked for Digital, Wang Laboratories and the SCM Corp. before serving as president of Computer Preferred Inc. of Schiller Park, Ill., from 1983 to 1985. He then ventured out on his own, becoming a computer support consultant and supplier. In Naples, he was a computer administrator for the New England Insurance Agency and later a licensed sales assistant for Premier Properties. He served in the Air Force with the 442nd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
James Rush Freeman, ME 66, of Phoenix, on Aug. 4. After graduating from Tech, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School and served two years in Vietnam as a second lieutenant in the Army. A residential and multifamily home builder, he was a regional partner of Lincoln Property Co., CEO of Gemini Development and president of Keepsake Homes during his career. He served on boards for the Phoenix Symphony and Harvard Business School alumni in addition to those for Junior Achievement and the Arizona Multihousing Association, both of which he also chaired. He also was active in Habitat for Humanity. A pilot of 38 years, he earned single-engine, IFR and multiengine ratings.
Andrew D. Harris, Phys 61, of Woodbridge, Va., on July 28. A Marine, he served in Okinawa and volunteered for a tour in Vietnam. He played guitar, sang in his church choir and was a certified lay minister and a ham radio operator. An Eagle Scout in his youth, he later served as a Scoutmaster.
Roy T.Y. Liang, MS CE 60, of Norcross, Ga., on May 16. Mr. Liang graduated from the civil engineering department of St. John’s University, Shanghai, in 1943.
Joe McCurdy, IE 67, of Richardson, Texas, on Sept. 21. Mr. McCurdy was an engineer with E-Systems’ Garland Division.
William H. “Bill” Nessmith, IM 65, of Atlanta, on Aug. 10, after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Mr. Nessmith worked for Avon Products before taking over his father’s insurance business, which he ran for 20 years in Bulloch County. He began consulting for Cotton States Insurance in 1987 and consulted on various business projects until his death. Before graduating from Georgia Tech, he served in an intelligence capacity with the Army in Africa, during which time he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
Herbert Judson Pugh Jr., IE 69, of Bumpass, Va., on Sept. 12. He served in the Navy and was a farmer.
Robert Isaac Schwartz, AMath 68, of Marietta, Ga., on Aug. 15. A member of Alpha Epsilon Pi while at Georgia Tech, Mr. Schwartz received a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Georgia in 1971. He worked for 24 years at Kenwin Shops Inc., serving as vice president and assistant treasurer and as president. Mr. Schwartz also served on the company’s board of directors. He retired after working as a network technician for New Energy/Ventyx.
Roger Wheatley Sudbury, EE 60, a resident of Winchester, Mass., on Aug. 22, after living for many years with pancreatic cancer. Also an MIT graduate, he was a longtime employee of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, at which he rose from a technical staff member, researching solid-state devices for modern radars, to executive officer in his 41 years there. From 1976 to 1978, he served as the lab’s associate site manager of the Kwajalein missile range in the Marshall Islands. An asteroid discovered by the lab in 2002 was named for him. In 2004, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers elected him a fellow for his contributions to leadership in gallium-arsenide integrated circuits. He served as president of IEEE’s Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, which this year presented him its distinguished service award. He served in the Army during the Vietnam era, attaining the rank of captain. He also served as chairman of Boy Scout Troop 506, a lighting technician for the Winchester Players and an emeritus board member of the Winchester Committee for a Better Chance.
Ken Rogers, MS ChE 70, PhD ChE 73, of Marietta, Ga., on Sept. 17. Dr. Rogers, who received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, held a professional engineering license for most of his career, during which he worked in both the public and private sectors. He served with the 11th Airborne Infantry Division from 1946 to ’47 during the occupation of Japan.
Robert Malcolm Semmes, MS ICS 77, of Minneapolis, on Sept. 6, after a long battle with cancer. Mr. Semmes, who received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Emory University, moved to San Francisco and worked in computer programming for Bank of America after graduating from Tech. He moved to Minneapolis in 1982 to pursue research at the University of Minnesota and an advanced degree in psychometrics and statistics. His research involved detailed aspects of intelligence testing. He was a member of the American Psychological Association, American Statistical Association and the Psychometric Society.
Brian Bethea Smith, M Arch 79, of Atlanta, and Beaufort, S.C., on Aug. 20, after a nine-month battle with lung cancer. Mr. Smith, who earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson University, worked for Niles Bolton Associates in Atlanta for 10 years as a lead designer and manager for such clients as Post Properties, Selig Enterprises and Julian LeCraw Co. He started his own firm in 1991. He focused on new custom home construction and major renovations and received numerous awards for his designs. His work has been featured on HGTV.
Addison Dent Sullivan, Text 70, a resident of Lenoir, N.C., on Feb. 1.
Eugene David Schmitt, MS ME 97, of Hampton, Ga., on Aug. 13. He was active in the Catholic Church and was a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus.
Eric S. Obermann, Cls 04, of Huntsville, Ala., on Aug. 10, after a 10-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Mr. Obermann was diagnosed with the disease during his freshman year at Georgia Tech, where he studied computer science and played in the symphonic band. He helped raise awareness about the disease and funding to help pay for services for patients and research for a cure. He participated in more than 10 Walk to Defeat ALS events in Alabama and traveled to Washington, D.C., every May to meet with congressmen and attend ALS Advocacy Day. He testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on ALS in 2005. He received a commendation from the governor of Alabama for his efforts and honors from the ALS Association for his advocacy work.
Rebecca “Becky” Jacobs Barlow, of Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 19. Mrs. Barlow’s survivors include her husband of 58 years, Charles C. Barlow, BS 52, Arch 53. Her family wrote in an obituary published in the Clarion-Ledger that although Mrs. Barlow was a graduate of Central High in Jackson, “her most cherished academic achievement was an honorary PHT degree,” or a “put hubby through” degree, that she received from Georgia Tech.
James L. Caldwell, 79, of Monroe, La., on Aug. 7. Dr. Caldwell taught finance at Georgia Tech in the 1960s and retired from the University of Louisiana at Monroe as professor emeritus. He participated in many trips through the Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s Travel program.
Hasson Calloway, 93, of Atlanta, on Aug. 9. After retiring from Eastern Air Lines as senior Atlanta captain on the Lockheed 1011 in 1977, he began a 13-year career at the Georgia Tech Engineering Experiment Station, now GTRI, as chief pilot for the Institute’s Airborne Electronics Laboratories. Capt. Calloway, who overcame polio as a child, earned a pilot’s license at 17. A graduate of Oak Ridge Military Academy in North Carolina, he joined Eastern Air Lines and was recruited by the government to fly military air transport in South America during World War II. In 1959, he and three friends founded the Arlington School, now Arlington Christian School, in Fairburn, Ga. He served as the first president of its board of directors. Capt. Calloway was a member of the Retired Eastern Air Lines Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association and Quiet Birdmen. He built two aerobatic airplanes and painted aviation portraits that have been displayed at museums. He continued to fly until age 90, recording more than 35,000 hours of flight time in his logbook.
James Beaupre Dodd, 83, a resident of Atlanta, on Sept. 20. He retired from Georgia Tech in 1997 after 30 years at the Institute. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Southern Illinois University and a master’s in library science from the University of Illinois. He was active in the Special Libraries Association, serving as national president from 1980 to ’81. For many years, he was a volunteer with Public Broadcasting Atlanta in support of WABE National Public Radio.
Jane Gaines, of Braselton, Ga., on Sept. 6. After graduating from Tift College in Forsyth, Ga., in 1949, she taught school in Columbus, where she met her husband of 47 years, Deane Gaines, ME 48. Mrs. Gaines was preceded in death by her husband, who had been a football letterman at Georgia Tech. She became a loyal fan of the Tech athletics program and attended football and basketball games from the late 1950s until her illness in 2009. Survivors include sons Dale Gaines, ME 74, and Jack Gaines, IM 79.
Patricia Murphey Huskisson, 82, of Savannah, Ga., on Aug. 30. She attended the University of Georgia and Harrison-Draughon School of Commerce before working at Georgia Tech as secretary to the dean of students. While at Tech, she was named Valentine Queen by the Technique and met and married John C. Huskisson Jr., IM 51. Mr. Huskisson died May 30.
James H. “Jim” Milsap Jr., 77, of Atlanta, on Aug. 16. He served as a captain and chief of radiology in the Army and received the Army Commendation Medal before going into private practice at DeKalb General and later Piedmont Hospital. In 30 years with Piedmont, Dr. Milsap served as president of Radiology Associates of Atlanta, director of Piedmont Hospital Radiology School and medical director of the radiology department. He became a fellow of the American College of Radiology in 1984. Dr. Milsap was chief radiologist for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and then served as chief radiologist at the Georgia Tech Student Health Center. A musician, he played the upright bass and for many years performed with the Atlanta Seventeen Orchestra.
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