Losses Faculty, Staff, and Friends
Ryan Anthony was a child prodigy whose
brilliant trumpet career started with a two-year stint as an assistant professor at the Conservatory of Music. He emerged as a precocious performer in part by winning the Seventeen magazine/General Motors Concerto Competition at age 16 and went on to earn two degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music before launching his teaching career at Oberlin in 1998. In 2004 he joined the Dallas Symphony, rising to its principal position two years later. He also taught at Southern Methodist University and appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the symphonies of Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Colorado; the New York Philharmonic; and the Cleveland Orchestra. He died June 23, 2020, leaving his wife, Niki, and two children. n Tom Bechtel ’58 was a college administrator who fulfilled numerous roles at Oberlin before becoming dean of undergraduate counseling at Brown University, where he worked from 1973 until 1990. After earning his Oberlin degree, he married Dorie Gilbert ’61 and became a house parent for the men’s dorm Wilder Hall, while also serving as assistant dean of men and assistant to President Robert Carr. He went on to earn a master’s degree in counseling from Harvard University and worked in the schools of Northfield, Mass. He returned to Oberlin in 1968 as associate dean of students, a position he held for five years. Despite holding a largely disciplinary role during a time of civil unrest, Mr. Bechtel is remembered for his kindness, integrity, and decency, and he emphasized the interests of the students in his care at every turn. Upon retiring in 1999, he relocated with his wife to Middlebury, Vt. He died in January 2020, leaving his wife of 59 years, three sons, and four grandchildren.
1939
Beulah Bishop Reeves regaled her children
with stories of her years at Oberlin, which began when she disembarked from a train that delivered her to Ohio from her native Iowa when she was only 16. She espoused diversity and generosity toward those in need—values she cherished throughout her life and which she credited to her education. Ms. Reeves died July 3, 2020, leaving her children.
1941
Theodore Samuel Horvath was a minister of
the United Church of Christ for 40 years, the
OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2021 SPRING
third generation in his family to serve in ministry. During WWII he worked for the Quaker-administered Civilian Public Service. After the war, he married Geneva Irish and resumed his education, earning a degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in 1949 and a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1980. His career began with his ordination into the Hungarian Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. He later served multiple UCC churches in New York and Pennsylvania and also with the Missions Council of the Congregational Christian Church in Boston. Dr. Horvath died December 21, 2020. He leaves his wife of 65 years, two children, a granddaughter, and four great-grandchildren.
1942
Kathryn Hardin Mott cultivated a life of community activism, social justice, and volunteerism and was a dedicated Quaker for many years. She earned two degrees from Oberlin, including a master’s in history, followed by a second master’s in elementary education from Teachers College at Columbia University. She married John Colman Mott, with whom she shared interests in history and civil rights, and they eventually settled in Ridgewood, N.J. She opened an integrated preschool, cofounded a Black-owned housing co-op, and served as president of her local PTA. Ms. Mott died January 22, 2020, leaving four children, including Margaret Mott ’69 and Bethany Mott ’79, plus granddaughter Kathryn Oberg ’06.
1943
Jean Fagan Miske was a certified Braillist who
enjoyed a long career with the Cleveland Sight Center and continued as a volunteer transcriptionist in retirement. She married Jack Chapman Miske in 1945 and moved to Michigan, where they spent six years before returning to Northeast Ohio. In 1962 Ms. Fagan became active in the PEO Sisterhood, an international philanthropic education organization dedicated to furthering educational opportunities for women. She died June 4, 2020. n Margaret Marie Brown Kistler was an English teacher in Pennsylvania for more than 30 years. She married Thomas D. Kistler and had two children. A conservatory graduate, she also completed a master’s in education at Kent State University in 1968 and led the choir of her Congregational Church for many years. Ms.
Kistler died November 15, 2020. She leaves her children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren and was preceded in death by her husband. n Mary Beth Hartson Ryan McCalla was a teacher for many years before rededicating herself to founding a chapter of Planned Parenthood. She earned a business certificate from Radcliffe College and worked at the Red Cross Club in Venice, Italy, where she met her first and second husbands. She married Robert A. Ryan in 1946 and followed his army career to numerous countries and across the U.S. She added a master’s degree in education and taught in eight states and Canadian provinces before feeling the tug of Planned Parenthood. Following a divorce, she remarried Donald McCalla, with whom she enjoyed 24 years. Active throughout her life, Ms. McCalla navigated the family’s wooden sloop from Maryland to Florida with her daughter, and she later swam in the Senior Olympics. She died May 15, 2020. She leaves three children, including Liz Ryan Cole ’68 and Bob Ryan (who did post-graduate studies at Oberlin), as well as seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. n Mary Burmeister Vasseur worked in the Oberlin College Library as well as the library and schools of her hometown of Springfield, Ohio, until her retirement in 1979. She followed her Oberlin education with a degree from Carnegie Library School in 1944, corresponding all the while with Jacques Henri Vasseur, a pen pal who served in the Free French Forces during WWII. They met at the conclusion of the war and were married in Paris in 1950, just three years before Mr. Vasseur’s death. Ms. Vasseur returned to Ohio and began her library career in Springfield. She died November 2, 2020, leaving her son.
1945
Elaine Evans Dee was a longtime curator, first as an assistant at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, then at Harvard University, where she earned a master’s degree in art history and specialized in drawings and Asian art. She worked at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City in 1961, then transitioned in 1968 to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, where she served as curator of drawings and prints until her retirement in 1990. She and her husband, Joe, retired to Truro on Cape Cod, where she volunteered for the local library, historical museum, and Council on Aging. She died August 3, 2020. n Violinist Mary Louise 53