and helped establish the school’s dental hygiene
program. At UNC, he served in student government
and belonged to Psi Omega. ◆ E. Bruce Sigmon Jr.
(’ 56, ’ 72 AB; ’ 74 MBA; ’ 85 PhD), 86, of Durham;
Dec. 28, 2011. Sigmon had a long career in the
Marine Corps, beginning in WWII until 1970. He
received many medals. In retirement, he was UNC
General Administration’s vice president for planning
until 1993. He was a senior consultant to the governor for N.C.’s 1992 Progress Report on Education
and received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine with
the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary.
’ 57 James Tully Beatty (’ 57 AB) of Char- lotte, the first man to run a sub-four- minute mile indoors, was honored on
the 50th anniversary of the run in a feature article
in The Charlotte Observer on Feb. 5, 2012. ◆ James
Gooden Exum Jr. (’ 57 AB) of Greensboro has been
certified by the board of legal specialization of the
N.C. State Bar as an appellate practice specialist.
He also was appointed to serve on the first N.C.
appellate practice specialization committee. Exum, a
former chief justice on the N.C. Supreme Court,
leads the appellate practice group at Smith Moore
Leatherwood LLP. Exum has served on the GAA
Board of Directors (1965-70, 1986-89), including as
board president (1987-88) and board counsel
(1998-2001).
■ obituaries
Jane Methvin Downing (’ 57 ABEd), 75, of Fayetteville;
Jan. 14, 2012. Downing, a licensed professional
counselor, served as dean of women at Methodist
College. She also taught in Cumberland County
schools. ◆ Shirley Coggins Mason (’ 57 BSN), 76, of
Chapel Hill; Jan. 18, 2012. Mason taught as an
associate professor in the UNC School of Nursing
from 1971 until her retirement in 2007. Earlier, she
was a nurse instructor with Virginia Regional Medical
Program in Richmond. ◆ Robert Malcolm Morris
(’ 57 AB, ’ 60 MA), 79, of Beaufort; Dec. 1, 2011.
Morris was a composer, pianist, poet and founder of
the Robert Morris Academy in Carteret County, where
he taught piano for 45 years. His books of poetry
include Hurricane and Other Poems, published by
Old Well Press in Chapel Hill, and An Idyl of Core Bank
Station. His poems have appeared in The Yale Literary
Magazine and The Carolina Quarterly. ◆ Elaine Hill
Norcross (’ 57 MA), 77, of Roswell, Ga.; Jan. 24,
2012. Norcross served in the Navy and attained the
rank of lieutenant. Later, she worked in retail sales
with Sears. She retired in 2004. She was a life master with the American Contract Bridge League. ◆
Lonnie George Stephenson (’ 57 BSBA), 80, of
Charlottesville, Va.; Dec. 1, 2011. Stephenson retired
as assistant controller with Commonwealth Oil
Refining Co., where he worked for 17 years in Puerto
Rico. In retirement, he worked part time for H&R
Block. He served in the Army. ◆ Louise Combs Wall
(’ 57 MEd), 92, of Raleigh; Jan. 11, 2012. Wall was
an educator who retired in 1981 after 40 years with
the Wake County schools. She opened Longview
Garden Elementary School as principal and in 1968
opened Helen Y. Stough Elementary School, which
named its media center for her. She was a member
of the N.C. Education Association and the Raleigh
Woman’s Club. ◆ Robert Sloane Ward Jr. (’ 57 MEd),
81, of Charlotte; Nov. 27, 2011. Ward was a
patent examiner in the U.S. Patent Office for 30
years. He served in the Army during the Korean War.
◆ Gwen Watson Wray (’ 57), 79, of Alameda, Calif.;
May 15, 2011. Wray retired as an order processor
with Schlage Lock Co.
’ 58 ■ obituaries Loy Franklin Arney (’ 58), 76, of Virginia Beach, Va.; Jan. 24, 2012. Arney retired from a
career in insurance. He was an Army veteran. ◆
Lemuel Showell Blades III (’ 58 LLB), 78, of Elizabeth City; June 14, 2011. Blades was a lawyer, first
with his father in their law firm Blades & Blades and
later as general counsel of Norfolk & Carolina Telephone & Telegraph Co., of which he became president. He also was a director and officer for several
other companies and community organizations. He
was serving as a director of Friends of the Museum
of the Albemarle at his death, and the museum dedicated the Lem and Nancy Blades Collection to commemorate his and his late wife’s volunteer work in
researching the history of North Carolina. He was
active in the Presbyterian Church and Rotary Club. At
UNC, he was chief justice of the Law School Court
and member of Phi Alpha Delta. ◆ John Chester
Bullock Jr. (’ 58 BSPHR), 80, of Wilmington; Dec. 29,
2011. Bullock was a pharmacist who founded Professional Pharmacy and later worked for the Hanover
County Health Department. He also developed real
estate and helped preserve historic properties in
downtown Wilmington, including Chandler’s Wharf
and the Cotton Exchange. He served on the board of
trustees of N.C. Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount.
During the Korean War, he was in the Navy. ◆
Harold Gates Conger (’ 58 MPH), 101, of Pittsburgh;
Oct. 9, 2011. ◆ Roger Foster Eller (’ 58 BSBA), 81,
of Sneads Ferry; Jan. 19, 2012. Eller was a CPA in
Raleigh until his retirement in 1995. He was an
elder of the Sneads Ferry Presbyterian Church. He
served in the Air Force during the Korean War. At
UNC, he belonged to Delta Sigma Pi. ◆ James
Edwin Gregson Jr. (’ 58, ’ 59 AB), 75, of Danville, Va.;
Jan. 17, 2012. Gregson was a research chemist
with Dan River Inc. and retired from Hickson Dan-Chem Corp. He was a member of the Pittsylvania
Historical Society and a life member of the Danville
Life Saving Crew. He served in the National Guard
for nine years. ◆ Josephine Felts Hendrix (’ 58
MEd), 79, of Hays; Jan. 10, 2012. Hendrix was an
educator whose teaching career spanned 41 years.
In 1965, she was a founding faculty member of Wilkes
Community College, where she taught mathematics
and physical sciences. She served on the executive
board of the N.C. Baptist State Convention and on
the board of directors of the Biblical Recorder
newspaper. ◆ Joseph Edward Jennette Jr. (’ 58 MBA), 79,
of Gaithersburg, Md.; Dec. 14, 2011. Jennette
worked for IBM for 30 years and was marketing
director of its Federal Systems Division, which was
responsible for development of special systems,
computers and programming for government agencies.
He served in the Navy. ◆ Martha Virginia Osborne
(’ 58 ABEd), 78, of Alexandria, Va.; Sept. 19, 2011.
Osborne was an administrative assistant in the
Office of Earth Sciences in the National Academy of
Sciences. ◆ James William Varker (’ 58), 80, of
Chesapeake, Va.; Jan. 7, 2012. Varker was personnel director for Forsyth County in N.C. and the City of
Chesapeake. He served on a number of civic and
professional organizations and was president of the
Virginia Personnel Officers Association. He coached
in the youth basketball leagues of the Chesapeake
60s
Parks and Recreation Department. He served in the
Air Force after high school.
’ 59 ■ obituaries Charles Stephen Canfield Jr. (’ 59), 75,
of Morehead City; Jan. 11, 2012. A hospital administrator, Canfield retired as vice president of Support
Services at Lenoir Memorial Hospital in Kinston in
1998. He served in the Air Force for 23 years and
was a veteran of the Vietnam War. ◆ Dr. Jerry Lee
Jones (’ 59 AB), 75, of Modesto, Calif.; Jan. 11,
2012. Jones was an orthopedic surgeon. He was an
Eagle Scout and served in the Air Force in Vietnam.
At UNC, he was a Morehead (now Morehead-Cain)
Scholar and belonged to Sigma Nu. ◆ Brice
Cochran McLaughlin (’ 59), 82, of Boone; Dec. 30,
2011. McLaughlin won awards as an actor with The
Little Theatre in Charlotte, performed in scores of
plays and musicals and was an extra in several
locally produced movies. He also worked as a photographer’s assistant and a custodian in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. He received medals for his
service in the Army during the Korean War. ◆
William Thompson Sneed (’ 59), 75, of Greenville;
Jan. 19, 2012. Sneed was the first personnel director at the new Burroughs-Wellcome facility in
Greenville. In 1978, he started an executive recruitment firm and later launched a temporary employment agency with his wife. He retired in 2000. ◆
Ronald F. Soviero (’ 59 MEd), 75, of Daytona Beach,
Fla.; Oct. 5, 2011. Soviero retired as an earth science teacher.
’ 60 Claude Shem Sitton (’ 60 AB) of Mor- ganton, retired Superior Court judge, now serves as volunteer executive
director of the History Museum of Burke County. Sitton was the 2010 Morganton Man of the Year.
■ obituaries
Amanda Adams Addington (’ 60 MEd), 79, of
Charleston, S.C.; Jan. 10, 2012. Addington was a
counselor with Duke University. She also volunteered with Hotline and belonged to the League of
Women Voters. ◆ Martha Banks “Suzie” Davis
(’ 60 ABEd), 77, of Ferndale, Wash.; July 21, 2011.
Davis retired as a teacher in California. ◆ Donald
Richard Humphrey (’ 60), 75, of Mooresville; Dec. 6,
2011. Humphrey retired as production manager for
Davidson College laundry. He was an Army veteran
of the Korean War. At UNC, he belonged to Kappa
Psi.
’ 61 ■ obituaries Patricia Brown Crist (’ 61 BSN), 72, of
North Topsail Beach; July 16, 2011. Crist was a
psychiatric nurse at N.C. Memorial Hospital. After
she retired, she ran her own business, Shellabra-tions, leading nature hikes. At UNC, she belonged to
Kappa Delta. ◆ Angus MacLean Duff (’ 61 AB), 72,
of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Jan. 7, 2012. Duff was a
commercial pilot for Trans World Airlines and retired
from TWA after 31 years. He flew C-130 transport
planes for the Air Force during the Vietnam War
and continued with the Air Force Reserve as an
instructor pilot in Kansas City and Colorado Springs.
At UNC, he was a Morehead (now Morehead-Cain)
Scholar, belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon and
Alpha Phi Omega and played on the soccer team. ◆
