TOWN TOPICS, PRINCETON, N.J., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 • 34
Obituaries
Robert Harold Atkinson Robert Harold Atkinson, age 89, passed from this life into Heaven on Friday, September 11, 2020, at home surrounded by his family. He is now with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is survived by his loving family, his wife of 69 years, Ver na ( Ray mond ) Atkinson; two daughters, Denise Atkinson and Dezra Richmond and son-in-law Cu r t R i ch m on d ; g r a n d daughter Tae RichmondMoll and grandson-in-law Jeff Richmond-Moll; greatgrandson Beck RichmondMoll and great-granddaughter Willa Richmond-Moll; a sister Donna Hieshima; two brothers, Richard Atkinson (Bonnie) and Charlie Atkinson (Sharon) and sister-inlaw Carolyn Tice; and many nieces and nephews. Born in Mt. Holly, NJ, on July 14, 1931, and raised in Vincentown, he served in the United States Army in Korea, where he found his faith in Jesus. He worked in
construction for more than half a century and pursued higher education in related fields at Rutgers (New Brunswick) and Rider College. His career – including as Project Manager for Marriott Corporation and the New York State Thruway – allowed him to travel throughout the United States, from Maine to Hawaii, and many endeavors in between. Bob and Verna built their house in Lumberton together and lived there for 55 years until they moved to Princeton in 2012. Throughout their marriage they enjoyed serving in their local church as long-standing members of Shawnee Baptist and most recently Stone Hill Church of Princeton. His spirit of generosity made him quick to help and support others. Bob was a gentle, humble man, a true “Barnabas,” a son of encouragement and comfort. He greeted everyone he met with the most genuine smile and would almost daily say, “Thank you Lord for everything.” Always the adventurer, he rode motorcycles most of his life, only parting with his Gold Wing bike when he was 80 years old. He picked up downhill skiing in his forties and learned to fly a plane in his seventies. He was loved dearly by his family and friends and will be missed tremendously. His favorite Bible verse was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” A service honoring his life will take place at Stone Hill
Church of Princeton, after the lifting of COVID restrictions. There will be a private ceremony at Princeton Cemetery on Friday, September 18, 2020. In lieu of f lowers, do nations may be made to America’s Keswick (https:// americaskeswick.org/support / ) and /or Princeton Medical Center Hospice Care (https://w w w.princetonhcs.org/care-services/ princeton-homecare/whatwe-do/hospice-program). Arrangements are under the direction of MatherHodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
John Suydam Kuhlthau John S. Kuhlthau, a retired Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, passed away on September 4, 2020. Born in New Brunswick, May 16, 1937 he spent his early life in Milltown in the New Brunswick area. He attended Rutgers Preparatory School, graduated from Princeton University in 1958, and from Rutgers University Law School in 1962. He married Carol
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Collier Kuhlthau and they raised three daughters joyf u l ly to ge t h er i n Nor t h Br unsw ick. Af ter retire ment he and Carol moved to Princeton, NJ, in 1999 and made that community their home. He was a wonderful husband and father with a generous heart and spirit. He was quick with a warm smile and beloved by the many lives that he touched in each community where he lived and served. John earned his J.D. at Rutg er s Un iver s it y L aw School and served as Public Defender and as Middlesex County Prosecutor prior to his appointment in 1976 to the bench as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey sitting in Middlesex County. He retired from the bench in 1997 after many years of public service. He was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, trained at Drew Theological Seminary, and demonstrated his faith in his actions throughout his life. In his retirement he devoted his efforts to numerous charitable causes. He supported community programs at Turning Point United Methodist Church in Trenton. He established scholarships for minority students at the Pennington School. He was a founding member of the Board of the Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program at Princeton University. He founded the John Suydam Kuhlthau Bioethics Conference at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary which has convened annually since 1997 to explore ethical and spiritual issues in medicine especially for end of life. He is survived by Carol, his wife of 62 years, his daughter Eleanor Molloy and her husband Christopher, and their children Emma, Jack, and Owen; his daughter Ann Caspari and her children Elizabeth and Charles; and his daughter Leslie Maniotes and her husband Bill and their daughter Lily; and his brother Kearney Kuhlthau and sister-inlaw Carolyn Kuhlthau. A private funeral was held at The Elmwood Cemetery in North Brunswick. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Quackenboss Funeral Home, New Brunswick. A memorial service will be held in the future. Memorial donations may be made to the John Suydam Kuhlthau Bioethics C onference at t he New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Princeton United Methodist Church, or Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program at Princeton University.
Luise Ella Heiba
Guest Preaching Sunday, September 20, 2020
REV. DR. PAMELA LIGHTSEY Meadville Lombard Theological School
Lu is e E lla Heiba, 92, passed away peacefully on Monday September 7, 2020. She was born and raised in Leipzig, Germany. Prior to coming to the United States, she achieved her Abitur from Leipzig’s Fachshule fur Wirtschaft und Verwaltung. She moved to Princeton in 1963, where along with her husband, El-Ahmadi Heiba, she raised her family. Luise is survived by her three sons, Adel Heiba (Irvine, CA), Karem Heiba ( B r i d g e w ate r, N J ) , a n d Tarek Heiba (Yardley, PA), their wives, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Funeral ser v ices and
interment will be private. Extend condolences and share memor ies at T he KimbleFuneralHome.com.
John Lowell Johnson John Lowell Johnson died peacefully on September 6, 2020. John was born on March 18, 1926 in Butte, Montana. He g raduated from Butte High School in 1943, received a BS in Engineering Physics at Montana State College (now Montana State University) in 1949, an MS in Physics in 1950 and a PhD in Physics in 1954 from Yale University. His college education was interrupted for two years when he served in the United States Navy, becoming an ETM1/c and serving on the Destroyer Minesweeper USS Carmick, DMS 33, as it swept mines in the South China Sea. While in school, John was elected to membership in several honorary societies, the National Honor S ociet y, Ph i Eta Sigma, Order of Collegiate Knights, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi, which he served as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, and President of the Princeton Chapter. John joined the Commercial Atomic Power Department of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1954 and was lent to Princeton University in 1955 to work at Project Matterhorn, the University’s fusion energy program, for one year. His stay was extended annually for the next 30 years, at which time he retired from the Westinghouse Research and Development Center as a Consulting Scientist (the corporation’s highest nonmanagerial title) and joined Princeton University as a Principal Research Physicist in the Theory Division of its Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (the name given to Project Matterhorn when the fusion program was declassified). He retired in 1995 but continued to work for several years as a consultant. W hile at Pr inceton he served as Chairman of the Laboratory Patent Committee, on the Space Committee, and as a member of the Program Committee. His interests centered on magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability studies of toroidal systems with an emphasis on tokamaks and stellarators, on which he published over 100 refereed papers. He collaborated with many physicists internationally, and spent significant periods at the Culham Laboratory in England, Nagoya University,
Kyoto University, and the National Institute for Fusion Studies in Japan, the Australian National University, Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany, Trieste University in Italy, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. John was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and served as SecretaryTreasurer of its Division of Plasma Physics. He chaired the organizing committee for several meetings of the A PS Div ision of Plasma Physics and associated fusion theory conferences, organized two Atomic Energy Agency International Conferences on Plasma Theory and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, and served on the Board of Editors of the journal Plasma Physics. H i s m aj or c om m u n it y contribution was through the Princeton United Methodist Church, where he served as delegate to the Southern New Jersey Annual Conference, financial secretary, and a member of its Board of Trustees. He was very proud of his activity with Boy Scout Troop 88, for which he was Committee Chairman, an Assistant Scoutmaster, Eagle Advisor, and Scoutmaster (for 16 years) as well as a member of the Stony Brook District Advancement Committee. He was honored for this service with the George Washington Council’s Silver Beaver Award. Under his encouragement his son, godson, and grandsons all achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. During their 69 years of marriage, John and Barbara were blessed with the opportunity to travel extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America. He loved spending time hiking in the Rocky Mountains and visiting children and grandchildren. John was pre-deceased by his parents, Lowell Wallace and Esther Thornwall Johnson, his sister, Genevieve Jean Johnson, and his brother, Robert Clifton Johnson. He will be missed by his wife, Barbara Hynds Johnson, and his children, Lowell John Johnson and Michelle Dansereau Johnson of Raleigh, North Carolina, Lesley Johnson-Gelb and Steven Gelb of Oakland, California, and Jennifer Johnson Goodall and David George Goodall of Mill Valley, California, seven grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. The family wishes that any memorials made in his name be directed to the Rocky Mountain Conservancy (rmconservancy.org) or the Princeton United Methodist Church’s Appalachia Service Project (princetonumc. org). Arrangements are under the direction of MatherHodge Funeral Home, Princeton, NJ.
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