WWII. At UNC, he belonged to Sigma Nu and Gorgon’s
Head Lodge. Heman Robinson Clark (’ 40 LLB),
93, of Raleigh; Dec. 5, 2008. Clark served as a
judge, a county attorney and in state government
relations. His early career was interrupted by WWII,
and he later was assistant solicitor in Cumberland
County Superior Court, was a Superior Court judge
and then Cumberland County attorney, being named
N.C. Outstanding County Attorney by the N.C.
Association of County Attorneys. He was in the N.C.
Bar Association’s Legal Hall of Fame for General
Practice and received the Order of the Long Leaf
Pine, the state’s highest civilian honor. In the early
’80s, he became secretary of the Department of
Crime Control and Public Safety and later joined a
Raleigh law firm. He served in the Army in WWII as
post judge advocate. At UNC, he was president of his
law school class. Mabel Hall Collins (’ 48 BSPHN),
88, of Charlotte; Dec. 7, 2008. Collins retired as a
nurse at Presbyterian Hospital. In WWII, she served
in England with the Army Nurse Corps. Dr. Frank
Lamar Creel (’ 46), 83, of Pensacola, Fla.; Oct. 25,
2008. Creel was a doctor who shared his love of gardening as a practicing psychiatrist and director of
psychiatry at West Florida Regional Medical Center,
where he created a landscaped pond. He was director emeritus of Lakeview Center and was founder
and first director of The Pavillion at West Florida. He
established gardens near his church that were named
in his honor, and he was named a master gardener
in Florida. In the Korean War, he was a flight surgeon.
At UNC, he was in the Glee Club. Charles Walker
Davis Jr. (’ 45), 85, of Raleigh; Nov. 5, 2008. Davis
was an architect who practiced in Raleigh, then
joined UNC as a staff architect and was administrative architect for the Dean E. Smith Center, among
other projects. In WWII, he was a Navy pilot. While an
undergraduate at UNC, he was president of the sophomore class. Francis McIlwaine Degges (’ 44 MA),
87, of St. James, La.; Dec. 12, 2008. Degges retired
as a chemist with Exxon. He was active with his
church and the Boy Scouts. At UNC, he belonged to
Alpha Chi Sigma. Mary Trustdorf Egli (’ 46 MSPH),
85, of Pinehurst; Oct. 18, 2008. Egli retired as a public health educator, moving to Pinehurst in 1993.
Willard Lee “Bill” Fitzgerald Jr. (’ 49), 81, of Black
Mountain; Dec. 11, 2008. Until moving to Black
Mountain in 1995, Fitzgerald lived in Miami, where
he was vice president of a wholesale automotive parts
company and taught Sunday school. He served in
the Korean War. He belonged to Chi Psi at UNC.
Bettie Kendrick Gant (’ 47 AB), 83, of Burlington;
Nov. 2, 2008. Gant was past president of the
Burlington Council of Garden Clubs and active in
Burlington Service League. At UNC, she belonged to
Pi Beta Phi. Allen McCain Garrett (’ 47 AB, ’ 49 MA,
’ 52 PhD), 84, of Greenville; Dec. 7, 2008. Garrett
was assistant dean of the College of Music at Temple
University, later serving as acting dean. He was an
officer in musical organizations and was a founder
and first president of the North Carolina chapter of
the American Musicological Society. In retirement, he
played clarinet as a member of the Symphonic Band
of Rocky Mount. In WWII, he was in the Navy, commanding a mine-sweeping vessel. At UNC, he was in
the Marching Band, Chi Phi and Phi Mu Alpha.
Catherine Smart Grier (’ 48 MA), 84, of Charlotte;
Nov. 15, 2008. After earning her master’s degree in
American history, Grier taught history at Charlotte
College. She was an early advocate of health and
nutrition. Thomas Whitmell Griffin (’ 41), 90, of
Lewiston and Woodville; Dec. 7, 2008. Griffin managed
a farm and worked with Woodville Supply Co. He
served on county agricultural boards and was senior
warden of his church vestry. At UNC, he belonged to
Kappa Alpha Order. Thomas Chandler Hardwick
(’ 41 BSCOM), 89, of Greensboro; Nov. 23, 2008.
Hardwick lived much of his life in Charlotte, where he
founded Hardwick Chemical Associates. Previously, he
worked for PPG Industries. In WWII, he served in the
Navy. At UNC, he was on the track and field team.
JOHN B. TURNER 1922–2009
Dean Built Up Social Work — and Built It a Home
Those who knew John B. Turner say he million home for the school collected its vari- level. He was just remarkable,”
not only was good at coming up with big ous offices in one place and was dedicated as Richman said.
ideas, he had the drive and grasp of details to the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building. Hopkins said: “He had a mind that could
make them a reality. As dean of the School of A native of Georgia, Turner attended grasp how to implement ideas, then he was
Social Work, he raised the school’s programs to Morehouse College in Atlanta and planned to ready to do it. He had tremendous energy. He
national prominence and was key in getting become an engineer. was a doer who didn’t waste time
the school a home of its own. In his senior year, he — that’s how he did so much. He
Turner, who retired in 1992 after 10 years was drafted for WWII had a real passion for his work.”
as dean, died Jan. 30 in Chapel Hill. He was 86. and was selected for an He was honored in 2007 with
Turner came to UNC in 1974 as the all-black unit, the the naming of a new professor-
William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of social Tuskegee Airmen. ship at the school — the Sandra
work. He had been dean of the School of When he returned to Reeves Spears and John B. Turner
Applied Sciences at Case Western Reserve Morehouse after the Distinguished Professorship.
University in Ohio, where he earned his mas- war, his goals had been Turner’s reputation extended
ter’s and doctorate in social work. When he changed from engi- nationally and internationally. In
became dean at UNC, he was the first black neering to social work. 1965, he received a Fulbright
dean in University history. His daughter, Marian Scholarship to work in Egypt,
He led the school to national prominence, Turner Hopkins, who serving the U.S. Department of
COURTESY UNC SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
in part by establishing a graduate program and teaches dance in Health, Education and Welfare as
The conditions he saw while traveling to
its first development office. The school now UNC’s Department of director of a social-welfare train-
military bases across the country in World
regularly ranks in the top 10 among social Exercise and Sport ing project in Cairo. He was pres-
War II convinced John Turner to switch
from studying engineering to social work.
work programs in the country. Science, explained her ident of the National Conference
Turner was concerned about improving father’s about-face: “In the war, as he went on Social Welfare in the ’70s and
conditions in the state and providing social from base to base, he saw recurring social chair of the nominating committee of the
work programs throughout the state. He felt needs, and there were no systems in place to national association of deans and directors of
strongly as he worked to establish the school’s address them. It made such a deep impact on schools of social work. He was editor in chief
reputation that it needed a home of its own. him that he wanted to do something about it.” of the 17th edition of the Encyclopedia of Social
With support and help from two alumni — Jack Richman, current dean of the school, Work. He received awards for excellence in
broadcaster Charles Kuralt ’ 55 and John Tate said Turner came to the school at a time when social work education from the National
Jr. ’ 38, a Charlotte businessman — he began it was primarily a teaching facility. “He had the Association of Social Workers and the Council
taking the school’s story to the state and to the vision to set in motion all those things that on Social Work Education.
N.C. General Assembly. In 1995, the new $10 were needed to move the school to a national
in
memoriam
