SENIOR WALK
Glen W. Jamison ✪+ BSBA’41, Houston, Texas, July 16. In December 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a gunnery officer in the Pacific. Prior to enlisting in the military, he worked as a manager trainee with Sears Roebuck & Co. in Memphis, Tenn. After the war ended, he moved to Houston in 1946 to work as a personnel manager with Sears, retiring in 1980. Survivors: his wife, Margaret and one son. Jack Spears BSBA’41, Tulsa, Okla., July 16. Serving as executive director of the Tulsa County Medical Society from 194185, he was the longesttenured executive director of any medical society in the United States. A noted film historian, he also wrote two books on classic cinema. Survivors: his wife, Helen Jackson Spears, two sons, one grandchild and one great-grandchild. Dorothy B. McClanahan BSE’42, Hot Springs, June 3. She was an avid bridge and tennis player. She loved to knit, sew, cook, water ski and travel. She learned to snow ski at age 50. Survivors: one daughter, one grandchild and two great grandchildren. Ann Clark Jameson BSE’43, Hot Springs, July 21. Survivors: one daughter, one son and two grandchildren. Mary E. Walter ✪ BSHE’44, San Antonio, Texas, July 15. Walter worked as a Mary Kay beauty consultant. Survivors: one son and one daughter. Dorothy Price Sitton BSHE’46, Little Rock, Aug. 14. She was employed with the U of A Cooperative Extension Service for 33 years until retirement in 1979. As a retired educator and volunteer, she encouraged others to learn and serve. Jane Hamilton BS’47, Little Rock, July 9. Hamilton was a medical technician and worked for many years at the inpatient pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as a quality control technician. Survivors: her husband, Harold, three sons and two grandchildren. Ann Anderson Zorn BA’47, Las Vegas, Nev., April 15. She was an environmentalist, serving on national, state and local commissions in service to the community. She helped secure funding for flood control in Clark County and served on the county air Winter 2012
Spotlight
quality control board for 22 years. Survivors: four daughters and three grandchildren.
Virgil Kersh Meroney III, B.S.E.’67
Bryan M. Bonds ★ BS’48, Osceola, Aug. 15. He served as a radio technician in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1948, he began working as a chemist for Sinclair Oil Co. in Tulsa for a year and a half before returning to Bondsville to farm with his brothers and father. He farmed for 40 years before retiring in 1990. Survivors: his wife, Kathleen, one son, one brother and one grandchild. Marjorie A. Brown BSE’48 MED’58, San Isidro, July 15. She became a teacher at Washington Elementary before opening a private school, Brown’s Kindergarten. Survivors: two sons, three daughters and many grandchildren.
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community. Survivors: one son.
Wanda White Dodson BM’48, Hot Springs, July 1. She taught for several years at the Jones School in Hot Springs and later was active in several other education-oriented organizations. Survivors: one son, two daughters and five grandchildren. Robert E. Peterson ✪+ BSME’48, Camden, June 28. Peterson served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Through all of his achievements, he served as a past president for the Chamber of Commerce in Baytown, Texas, was past president of the Board of Regents Lee College, was a chief engineer of U.S. Steel and was a 60year Mason. Survivors: his wife, Jean K. Peterson ✪+ BSBA’48, three sons, one daughter, 15 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren Harry Vandergriff ★ BSE’48 MS’50, Fayetteville, Aug. 29. Vandergriff enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving in the first daylight heavy bomber missions flown out of England. He was discharged in 1945 and after graduating from the U of A, began working for Fayetteville Public Schools as a teacher. He later became the head football coach at Fayetteville High and superintendent of Fayetteville Schools. Survivors: his wife, Anne Vandergriff ★ BSHE’43, one daughter, one brother, four grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren. Robert M. Wilson ★ BSBA’48, Little Rock, June 28. He was called to active duty and training in 1940 with the 154th Observation Squadron. He served four years as a reconnaissance and mapping pilot in Brazil and Central America ARKANSAS
Virgil Kersh Meroney III passed away in 1969 after his plane crashed along the LaosVietnam border during the Vietnam War. A University of Arkansas student in the mid1960s, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force ROTC on March 21, 1967 and graduated that spring with a Bachelor of Science in education. Through the U.S. Air Force, Meroney was stationed at Webb Air Force Base in Texas. There, he successfully completed F-4 Phantom II Combat Crew Training and F-4 Pilot Systems Operator training, earning his pilot’s wings in 1968. In the midst of the Vietnam War, Meroney was assigned to the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Air Force Base in Thailand. The son of Col. Virgil K. Meroney, a World War II ace and aviator, Meroney flew two combat missions with his father while in the Vietnam theater. On March 1, 1969, three weeks after flying his second combat mission with his father, he flew along the Laos-Vietnam border during a nighttime mission. Preparing to attack a storage area used by North Vietnamese to transport supplies and ammunition along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Meroney and his pilot, Major Wendell R. Keller, were attacked by antiaircraft fire from guns surrounding the storage facility. Destroying the gun positions, their jet crashed and both men were initially listed as missing in action, which was later changed to killed in action. For his heroism, Meroney was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor. In 2010, the first excavation of the crash site occurred, continuing into 2011. During the excavation, ID cards for both Meroney and Keller were found, as well as a religious medallion belonging to Keller. Through forensic examination, the remains of Meroney and Keller were confirmed. Once learning of the confirmation, the family held a funeral service on June 9, 2012, in Fayetteville, 43 years after Meroney’s death. A second service was performed at Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 19 with full military honors. He is survived by one son, Kelly Meroney, one daughter, Kimberly Townsend, one brother, Douglas Meroney, and four grandchildren, Madysen Meroney, Kadie Meroney, Richard Townsend and Charlie Townsend. n
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