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1938 Irene Lee Quill January 28, 2011 Fifty-eight years after she graduated, Irene Lee Quill attended a small reunion of sorts: Her grandson, Ward Quill ’88, invited a number of his classmates to his wedding. She was a psychiatric social worker, having earned her M.S.W. from Carnegie Mellon Univ. in 1941. She also studied at Yale, but worked primarily in Pennsylvania, and was the assistant director at Norristown State Hospital. When she came to Bates, she had already completed two years of study at Brooklyn College, says her grandson, but was required to register as a “provisional” first-year student. However, she advanced so quickly that she graduated in two years. She and her husband, Edward Yee Quill, became members of Southampton Friends Meeting, an interfaith and interracial community in Connecticut, after retirement, and built their home there. She was also active in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Gray Panthers, and considered working for peace one of her main occupations. Survivors include her children, Melodie Rothwell, Eliot, Carolyn and Edward Quill; 10 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. John Joseph Smith January 26, 2012 Jack Smith won debating awards in high school and college, then had a long and successful career in publishing as an editor at Encyclopedia Americana and Grolier. That career forced him, a New Hampshire farm boy, and his wife, Ann Woodward Smith, to live in an apartment in New York City, but they managed to keep their love for nature in full bloom with seven window boxes, an apple tree and a water lily tub on their third-floor terrace. He also developed a side career as a professional photographer, publishing in many magazines and books. He returned to the family farm after he retired and finally, just months before his death, his book, Wildflowers of New England, was published. An Army veteran of World War II, he was a member of the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Audubon Society and a Smithsonian Institution National Associate. His wife died in 1996.
1939 Albert Basil Jerard March 6, 2012 Jerry Jerard left Bates after one year to attend the Univ. of Vermont. He was an underwriter for New York Life Insurance Co. Survivors include his wife, Lucille Clara Bristol; children Albert III, Robert, Stephen, 82
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Carolyn Jerard, Mary Kenny and Deborah Jerard; 12 grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Son Paul predeceased him. Gilman McDonald June 28, 2011 A Phi Beta Kappa graduate in mathematics, Gilman McDonald joined the Navy after earning a master’s in sociology from Harvard and went on to become a commander. He spent part of World War II sequestered in a room in Ohio trying to build “the bomb” — that is, reproduce parts of the Nazi’s top-secret Enigma machine, the famed message encryption device. He received the NSA’s meritorious civilian service award in 1976. He owned a sumptuous collection of Middle Eastern rugs and hangings that were coveted for showings by galleries in the Washington, D.C., area, where he lived. His wife, Jane Merow McDonald, died in 1991. His son, Douglas, is among his survivors, along with three grandchildren. Donald Rawlings Purinton February 6, 2012 Don Purinton caught the flying bug during World War II while serving with Gen. Patton as a radioman. He was inspired by Charles Lindbergh, got a private license and flew all over Nevada, thrilling his young sons. He worked as a vocational counselor for the Veterans Administration and for Social Security. He sang with the Brunswick Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America and was active in the Merriconeag Grange in Harpswell before moving west. He was divorced from his first wife, Jean Davis Purinton ’40, at the time of her death in 1994. Her mother was Margaret Dickson Davis 1913. Among survivors are his wife Vera Cheel Purinton; sons Russell and Donald Jr.; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Son Richard predeceased him. His father was Carl Purinton 1909.
1940 Elizabeth MacGregor Crooker Bates October 21, 2011 If there was ever dirt under Lib MacGregor Crooker Bates’ fingernails, you knew she came by it honestly: She was an inveterate hiker and gardener. Her father was the first manager of the hut system for the Appalachian Trail, so she grew up hiking its trails, starting seriously at 10 and continuing until at least her 92nd year, when she won L.L.Bean’s 2011 Outdoor Hero Award. An English major at Bates, she married classmate Charlie Crooker and went on to Yale Divinity School with him. Rather than becoming a preacher as he did, however, she
became a tax preparer, serving a different master. He passed away in 1994. Four years later, she married Frank Bates, who passed away in 2011. Her skill at organizing was known to her classmates as their president; her community benefited from her skills as business manager of the Sandwich Players, president of the Sandwich Women’s Club, president of the Ladies Aid and a member of the Friends of the Library, the Sandwich Historical Society and the Land Trust Committee. She helped found the Over the Hill Hikers, a group of retired hikers, and served 16 years as its “den mother.” Why, asked The Boston Globe in 1989, did she like to climb? “It’s just… whee!” she answered. Survivors include children Carol Farnsworth, Constance, Catherine and Charles Crooker; three stepchildren; and 11 grandchildren.
Marie Dodge Joy ’40 long remembered the dash from campus to convent for afternoon conversation with the nuns for French class — except on mild days when she tended to loiter. Evelyn Dodge Joy November 29, 2011 A French major, Marie Dodge Joy long remembered the dash from campus to convent for afternoon conversation with the nuns for French class — except on mild days when she tended to loiter. She also remembered how kind geology professor Doc Fisher must have been, since science was not her forte. As class secretary, she enjoyed surrounding herself with notes and letters from classmates. She taught at Cape Elizabeth High School, Portland High School, Bourne High School and Greely Institute, and was a librarian in Portland. She and husband Elwyn “Al” Joy built a home in Falmouth, where they lived for 53 years until his death in 1999. She is survived by several nieces and nephews. Ira Kissag Nahikian April 13, 2012 Nick Nahikian distinguished himself on his second day at Bates by fracturing his wrist while leaping over the high-jump bar during a required “physical efficiency” test. No note taking, no typing, no writing for the first few weeks of class — “such an auspicious beginning!” he wrote. He did go on to enjoy intramural sports, however, and later became a handball player. He served in the Army Air Forces as a radiotelegraph instructor during World War
II and then converted his Bates history degree into an accounting degree at Bentley College, which led to a 34-year career at General Electric in treasury operations, primarily in Schenectady, N.Y. He sang with the Octavo Singers of Schenectady and was a communicant and lector at the Church of St. Clare in Colonie. His wife, Mary O’Clair Nahikian, is among his survivors.
1941 George Elliott Coorssen May 10, 2012 An economics major, George Coorssen spent a year at MIT before hopping the bus north. Good thing he did, because that’s where his college sweetheart, Helen Ulrich ’42, happened to be. They married shortly before he joined the wartime Navy, a choice that made good sense, since his family owned a marine intercommunications systems business. He served in the South Pacific and then entered Harvard to earn a degree in business administration. A career with Henschel Corp., the family company, awaited him, and he worked his way up to president. He retired in 1983, only to start up another company a few years later. Their love of the sea meant that he and Helen never lived nor vacationed far from it. Survivors along with his wife include sons Gary ’78, Mark and George; five grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren. His sisters-inlaw are Ruth Ulrich Coffin ’42, Muriel Ulrich Weeks ’46, Grace Ulrich Harris ’51 and Margaret Bartlett Ulrich ’55; his brotherin-law is W. Arthur Ulrich ’55; his late brothers-in-law were Frank Coffin ’40 and Prescott Harris ’52. Son Craig and daughter Karen predeceased him. Raymond Emerson Ressler November 15, 2010 Raymond Ressler was at Bates for one year. He was a machinist for Sikorsky Aircraft and the Remington Arms Co. He and his late wife, Jeannette Anderson Ressler, were avid square dancers and hikers. Survivors include several nieces and nephews. Alan Reed Sawyer January 31, 2002 Alan Sawyer turned his geology degree into a renowned career in ancient Peruvian art. He continued his education at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Univ. and Harvard, where he received a master’s in art history in 1949. Bates honored him with a doctorate in fine arts in 1969. He held curatorships in Texas and Chicago. He taught at those places and at Columbia, the Smithsonian and the Univ. of British Columbia. He was the director of the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., for many years, and was a consultant to National Geographic for a 1975 article on the ancient geoglyphs