Jr. (’ 59 MD), 74, of Asheville; July 31, 2009. Morris
was an obstetrician and gynecologist in Asheville for
31 years. He was chief of staff at two area hospitals
and was on the teaching staff at Mountain Area
Health. He also was a pilot and served in the Navy. u
Emmett Garrison Nesbit (’ 57 AB), 80, of Savannah,
Ga.; Aug. 7, 2009. Nesbit retired as a junior high and
high school teacher for the Savannah-Chatham public schools. He served in the Army in the Korean War
as a weapons instructor. u Carl J. Odenkirchen (’ 51
PhD), 88, of Raleigh; July 9, 2009. Odenkirchen was
professor emeritus at State University of New York at
Albany. u William Lindsay Osteen Sr. (’ 56 LLB), 79,
of Greensboro; Aug. 8, 2009. Osteen’s career in law
included private practice and public service. He
retired from private practice with the firm of Osteen
& Adams. Previously, he served two terms in the N.C.
General Assembly as minority leader. He was
appointed U.S. attorney, and later a judge, for the
Middle District of North Carolina. He served in the
Army before attending college. UNC honored him
with the School of Law Distinguished Alumni Award.
He received honors from many legal organizations.
He served eight years on the UNC Board of Visitors.
u Harry S. Pearsall Jr. (’ 54 AB), 77, of Rocky Mount;
Aug. 5, 2009. Pearsall retired as president of
Pearsall Machine Works. He devoted much of his
energy to Boy Scouts, as a Scoutmaster and adviser
to the local Order of the Arrow and serving on the
local Eagle Scout Board of Review. An Eagle Scout,
he received the Silver Beaver Award and the Vigil
Award. He served in the Army in the ’50s. At UNC, he
belonged to Zeta Psi and student government. u
Haskell Smith Rhett Jr. (’ 50), 83, of Wilmington; July
Adventures in I DE AS
The Program in the Humanities
explores important cultural,
historical and social topics
from the perspective of
the humanities. Our spring
2010 semester begins Friday,
Jan. 29, with a wide range of
seminars including a reprise of
Prof. Bart Ehrman’s popular seminar, “Scholars and the New Testament” and
a program featuring a PlayMakers Repertory production of Oscar Wilde’s “The
Importance of Being Earnest.” Please visit our Web site for complete program
topics, dates and fees. Register early for special early-bird discounts.
UPCOMING 2009 SEMINARS
NOV. 20 The Current Economic Crisis in Context: Causes, Course and Outlook
DEC. 4-5 The Victorian World
Featuring a PlayMakers Repertory production of Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby”
adventuresinideas.unc.edu
Sponsored by the UNC Program in the Humanities and Human Values and the UNC General Alumni
Association. GAA members receive a registration discount. First-time participants also receive a
special discount. Full-time K- 12 teachers, librarians and administrators in public and private schools
and community college faculty in North Carolina receive a 50% discount on tuition for all seminars.
General Alumni Association
15, 2009. An avid sailor, Rhett was a marine manager, boat builder and marine surveyor and joinerman.
He also taught vocational education. In WWII, he
joined the Navy and specialized in aviation ordnance
in the bomb-disposal unit. He earned a Battle Star at
Okinawa. At UNC, he belonged to Glee Club and
Sigma Alpha Epsilon. u Elizabeth Emory Rogers
(’ 50 ABEd), 80, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; July 20,
2009. Early in her career, Rogers was an elementary
school teacher. She was active in numerous organizations, especially her church. At UNC, she belonged
to Delta Delta Delta. u Gerald Jerry Roth (’ 57 LLB),
76, of Rye Brook, N. Y.; July 10, 2009. A CPA, Roth
retired as a partner in the international firm Deloitte
and Touche. In retirement, he was a volunteer assistant coach for the Westchester Community College
baseball team for 15 years. He served in the Army in
the Korean War. At UNC, he belonged to Tau Epsilon
Phi and Hillel Foundation. u Joseph Melvin Schafer
(’ 50 BSCOM), 80, of Dillon, S.C.; April 21, 2009.
Schafer founded a petroleum company in Dillon and
was an Amoco distributor until his retirement. At
UNC, he belonged to Zeta Beta Tau. u M. Louise
Leiser Scites (’ 58 CPHN, ’ 64 BSPHN), 91, of Kenova,
W.Va.; Aug. 8, 2009. Scites retired from the
Huntington Veterans Administration Hospital, where
she received the Distinguished Hands and Heart
Award. She served in WWII with the Army Nurse
Corps. After the war, she was the first industrial
nurse at Ashland Oil and Refining Co. u Willis Lee
Scoggins Jr. (’ 56), 88, of Marietta, Ga.; June 28,
2009. Although his last position was as a real estate
developer in Marietta, Scoggins spent much of his
professional life in the military, serving in three
branches. While attending the Merchant Marine
Academy, he and his classmates served aboard
freighters carrying war materials to Europe. He
entered the Navy, serving as an engineering and
deck officer aboard Navy ships. He next served in
the Army and managed its fleet of freighters and
shallow-water landing craft. He retired in 1966; his
awards included the WWII Victory Medal, the Korean
War Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal. u Alston
Burkley Shields (’ 51 MPH, ’ 66 DRPH), 90, of
Alexandria, Va.; Jan. 6, 2009. Shields worked in the
public health field. At UNC, he belonged to Sigma Xi.
u Gwendolyn Pendergraph Sides (’ 59, ’ 62 AB; ’ 68
MSW), 71, of Spartanburg, S.C.; July 19, 2009. Early
in her career, Sides was a public welfare worker in
Cabarrus County. u Tommie Allen Skinner (’ 58
MSSE), 80, of Little Rock, Ark.; Dec. 4, 2008. Skinner
retired as chief engineer with the Arkansas State
Health Department. He was a Navy veteran of WWII.
u Edward Malcolm Sloan Jr. (’ 57 AB), 78, of Virginia
Beach, Va.; July 16, 2009. Sloan worked for the
Association for Research and Enlightenment, arranging educational programming and training in parapsychology. u Jerry Julian Smith (’ 58, ’ 59 BSBA), 73,
of Seattle; June 23, 2009. A 20-year Air Force veteran, he was a pilot and flew transport and cargo aircraft. He served in the Vietnam War. He received the
Air Medal among his honors. At UNC, he belonged to
Glee Club and Delta Sigma Pi. u Ruffin Smith (’ 53
AB), 80, of Georgetown, S.C.; July 7, 2009. Smith
taught junior high school and practiced as a chiropractor. u John Bennett Stephenson (’ 51), 83, of
Garysburg; June 27, 2009. Stephenson, a farmer,
served with the Army in WWII. At UNC, he belonged
to Pi Kappa Alpha. u Donald Gray Surratt (’ 59
BSBA), 77, of Thomasville; Aug. 10, 2009. Surratt
retired as a controller and office manager. He served
