Obituaries 2010

 

 

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Henry Grosshans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emile St. Pierre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William E. Wilson

 

 

 

 

 

Oscar Garcia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex (Sandor) Fabian

 

Alex Sandor Fabian, who worked at WSU for 28 years as an electrician, went to be with the Lord on May 28, 2010. He died at his home in Spokane, Wash. 

 

Fabian was born October 23, 1925 in Baja, Hungry. He immigrated to the United States with his wife and daughters in 1957 and settled in Pullman, Wash.

 

He worked at WSU as an electrician from 1963 to 1991, when he retired. Fabian and his wife moved to Spokane in 1990 to be closer to his daughters and grandchildren.

 

He is survived by Margaret Fabian, his wife of 63 years; his daughters Margit Harrsch, Eva Noll and Mary Couch; six grandchildren Chuck Harrsch, Angela Harrsch, Jesse Noll, Avica Aldendorf, Nicole Kendrick and May Chopot; nine great grandchildren Amanda, Rebecca and Ben Jesser, Alex, Zachary and Molly Harrsch, Marcus Noll, Aiden and Abriam Aldendorf; and his brother George Fabian.

Fabian enjoyed fishing,soccer,boxing and football. He was a much loved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, a teacher of life and dear friend. 

 

A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Sunday, June 20, at St. Paschal Church, 2523 N. Park Rd., Spokane.

 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Spokane, P.O. Box 2215, Spokane, Wash., 99202

 

 

 

 

Sieg Vogt, former head of the social sciences collection development at WSU Libraries, passed away June 5 at his home in Potlatch, Idaho, ending a three-year battle with cancer.  Vogt was 71.

 

Born Jan. 8, 1939, in Bavaria, Vogt was blinded at age 4 in his left eye when he accidentally cut himself with a pocket knife. That eye would later develop a rare eye cancer that took his life after a courageous three-year battle.

 

In youth he attended Augustiner seminary school, studying humanities, Latin and Greek. He left Germany by steamship from Hamburg in 1956, inspired by his brother, who had attended high school for one year in Mossy Rock, Wash., as one of Germany's first post World War II exchange students. He landed in Halifax and then New York, where his sponsor was waiting. On their remote ranch near Saulkum, Wash., he immediately learned hunting and outdoor skills. Soon after, he began attending Centralia Junior College. In May 1957, he joined a hot-shot fire crew, and in the fall, enrolled at Oregon State University and majored in forestry and social science, graduating four years later.

 

From 1957 to 1961, he worked as a U.S. Forest Service timber cruiser at Naches Ranger Station near Yakima, Wash., where he also once played an extra in the Gary Cooper movie "The Hanging Tree," filmed nearby. He then surveyed for the Department of Agriculture out of Pasco, Wash., and later moved to Colfax to survey land along the steep Snake River breaks.

 

In August 1962, he met Mabel Lovel, a University of Idaho student from Moscow. A year later, the two went abroad, and on Sept. 28, 1963, were married in Vogt's hometown in Bavaria. They then moved to Vienna, where he studied international relations at the University of Vienna, earning his diploma in 1964.

 

The couple returned to Idaho in 1964, where he pursued a master's degree in political science, which he completed 1965. In 1967, he began pursuing his doctorate in political science, taught comparative and European politics at WSU and was active in the local antiwar and civil rights movements.

 

In 1968, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World, founded a local chapter and remained a member for many years. He later compiled an extensive bibliography on the IWW and was credited for assistance on the documentary film "The Wobblies," which won the New York Film Festival in 1981.

 

In 1970, the couple bought property north of Potlatch, Idaho, and worked two summers as fire lookouts on Frost Peak out of the Kingston Ranger Station. Their daughters were born in 1971 and 1977, respectively. In 1972 he began working as professor and librarian at WSU, eventually becoming a tenured full professor.

 

Over his 30-year career he defended library budgets, fought censorship and oversaw the purchase of more than 600,000 volumes for Holland Library, greatly helping expand book holdings, particularly in the social sciences, where he was head of collection development from 1972 to 1991. He was credited with strengthening collections in sociology, American history, modern European history and the labor movement, among other topics. He also secured a number of important gift collections.

 

In 1988, he was honored by the College and Research Libraries academic journal. In the nomination letter, one professor recalled his determination to get to the bottom of a particularly difficult research question that no one could resolve. He eventually contacted the professor with the answer, six years after the original request.

 

He served years as the WSU representative to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, a consortium of 700 universities based at the University of Michigan. In 1999, he was awarded the ICPSR William H. Flanigan Award for Distinguished Service. He was passionate about books at work and at home, where he stayed abreast of news on the Internet, read four newspapers a day and a variety of other books and reading material.

 

An avid outdoorsman, he loved geography and maps and enjoyed gardening, hunting mushrooms, wildlife watching and wood gathering on the land around his home. He loved animals, especially cats. He also cherished his bi-weekly "hydrology meetings" with some of his best friends at Rico's in Pullman.

 

Passionate about old-time fiddle and bluegrass music, he often accompanied his wife, family and friends on blues harmonica or accordion. He and Mabel shared a close-knit community of musician friends and attended hundreds of national and regional fiddle contests and festivals. He was proud of Mabel's accomplishments, as well as those of his two daughters, Andrea Vogt, a journalist, and Anna Vowels, an attorney.

A beloved husband, father, uncle, brother-in-law and opa, Sieg is survived by his wife, Mabel; his daughter Andrea Vogt and her husband, Marco Bittelli; and daughter Anna Vowels and her husband, Jacob. Sieg had four grandchildren, Enrico and Cecilia Bittelli, and Jaxon and Elena Vowels. In Germany, he is survived by nephews and nieces Siegfried Vogt, Martin Vogt, Alex Hutzler, Andreas Hutzler; Susanne Gschrey and Diana Kobl and sister-in-law, Rita Vogt, as well as many extended family members. In Idaho, he is also survived by his mother-in-law, Hildur Lovel, in-laws Shirley and Steve Steffen, Deborah Carlson-Lovel and Richard C. Lovel; nieces and nephews Scott and Katie Steffen, Kendra and Atle Carlson and Evan Lovel. He will be remembered as a kind and helpful man by the many close friends, neighbors and community members whose lives he touched. He is preceded in death by his parents and brother and sister.

 

After a private burial service at Freeze Cemetery, his family is holding a celebration of life for all of his friends beginning 3 p.m. Friday, June 11, in Faraday Hall at the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory Event Center in Pullman, WA. The website with directions to the Event Center, is www.seleventcenter.com.

 

In Sieg's honor, his family has set up the Vogt Memorial Arts and Literacy Fund for donations in lieu of flowers.  For more information about the Fund and a biography of Sieg, see http://vmalf.blogspot.com. Memorial donations are suggested to Vogt Memorial Arts and Literacy Fund, U.S. Bank, PO Box 395, Potlatch, Idaho, 83855.

 

 

 

 

James M. Lee
 

Faculty member James Lee, a chemical engineering professor at WSU since 1983, passed away April 20, 2010, from lung cancer.

 

Lee’s research into cancer treatments may have played a role in ultimately extending his own life, said Jim Petersen, director of the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at WSU.

 

Lee, who was a non-smoker, conducted research in using tobacco leaves to produce proteins used in cancer treatment, producing tobacco cell cultures that contained mammalian proteins. The team of researchers chose the tobacco leaf because it was fast-growing and had been extensively studied, not realizing the irony of their choice until later.

 

In particular, the researchers produced proteins used for communication between blood cells and for the production of colonies of white blood cells, both of which are thought to play a role in immune response. They also produced a protein that could be used in diagnostic laboratory tests.

 

Lee hoped that the use of the plant-based protein production would lead to less expensive and more effective cancer treatments.

 

Not only a researcher while at WSU, Lee also enjoyed teaching and maintained a focus on his students. He wrote a well-used textbook on biochemical reaction engineering.

 

“Despite his struggles with cancer, he was engaged in the classroom with students until a few weeks ago,” said Candis Claiborn, dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. “Many students have expressed how much he cared about them and that, from him, they learned the essence of chemical engineering and the importance of the spiritual, intellectual, artistic and interpersonal aspects of a balanced life.”

 

Lee, who was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1946, received his master’s degree there in chemical engineering. With his wife, Inn Soo Sohn, and his daughter, Young Jean, he came to the United States in 1976. He received his doctorate from the University of Kentucky and began teaching at WSU in 1983.

 

In honor of Lee and his many contributions the college has established the James M. Lee Fellowship Fund.

 

"It is our hope to be able to endow this fund within a year," said Don Shearer, assistant directof of advancement for CEA. Anyone interested in contributing can click on the following link, or mail a donation with a note indictating that it is for the James Lee Fellowhip, to Don Shearer, assistant director of advancement, College of Engineering and Architecture, Washington State University, PO Box 642714,
Pullman, WA 99164-2714. 

 

Lee's funeral was held 2 p.m. Saturday, April 24, at the Pullman Evangelical Free Church, 1234 S. Grand Ave.

 

 

 

 

Bernette Kathleen Berry
 

Bernette Kathleen Berry, 88, of Pullman died April 26, 2010, following an extended illness. She worked at WSU 1962-1982.

 

She and her twin sister, Bernice, were born on Dec. 27, 1921, in Watrus, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Christina and Charles Thomas. Early in her life her family moved to Edwall, Wash., before settling in Clarkston, where she grew up and attended school. She graduated from Clarkston High School in 1940 where she was an outstanding student and popular leader in many school activities.

 

Following high school she attended Lewiston State Normal School (now LCSC) until recieiving a wartime emergency teaching certificate. She taught from 1943-1945, first at a rural Asotin County one-room school and later at Asotin Elementary School in Asotin, Wash.

 

In April, 1945, she married Stanley L. Berry in Clarkston. Their first home was at Camp Pendleton Marine Base near Oceanside, Calif. They spent the final months of the war at the San Diego Marine Base before returning to Washington after Stan's discharge from active duty.

 

Following return to civilian life, they moved to Pullman where Stan completed his degree at WSC and was hired to teach at Colville High School in 1948. They returned to Pullman in 1955 when Stan was hired at WSC. Bernette spent the next several years raising their three children Richard, Kathleen and Eugene. In 1962 she became an administrative assistant for student teaching in the College of Education at WSU. She retired in 1982.

 

After retirement Bernette remained in Pullman where she was famous among family and friends for her amazing cooking and pie baking. Her greatest interest in life centered around family, especially her children and grandchildren. Later in life she found special joy in babies. She remained active in several social groups and the Simpson Methodist Church.

 

In 2002, after 46 years in the family home, she and Stan moved to Bishop Place where she lived until 2006. She spent the last years of her life in the Glenhaven Adult Homes cared for by the Shampole family.

 

In additon to her husband Stan in Pullman, she is survived by her twin sister and life-long soulmate, Bernice Meier and husband Eddie of Pullman, and a brother William Thomas and wife Arlene of Clarkston. She was preceded in death by a sister, Muirine Lute. She is also survived by her children Richard Berry and Pam of Pullman, Kathy Brown and Kelly of Pullman, and Eugene Berry of Fargo, N.D.;  and seven grandchildren, Sean Berry, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jason Berry and Lacey, Mountain View, Calif.; Andrea Berry, Pullman; Marissa Stine and Kyle, Spokane; Tyler Brown, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Alison Brown, Spokane; and Jillian Therrien and Josh, Portland, Ore.

 

A memorial will held at Bishop Place Social Room on Monday, May 3 at 3:00 p.m.

The family suggests memorial donations to the Stan and Bernette Presidential Scholarship Fund in care of WSU Foundation. The family wishes to thank Family Home Care and Hospice for help in arranging the memorial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clinton Callaway
 

Clinton Callaway, retired from Physical Plant, died April 11. He worked at WSU 1974-1992.

 

 

 

Melvin Ingalls
 
Melvin Ingalls, retired from Physical Plant, died March 14. He worked at WSU 1976-1996.

 

 

 

 

James V. Hogue
 
James V. Hogue, retired from the Ag Research Center, died March 9. He worked at WSU 1979-2002.

 

 

 

 

George Varner
 
George Varner, retired from Crop and Soils, died March 5. He worked at WSU 1956-1981.

 

 

 

 

Charlene Kibbee
 
Charlene Kibbee, retired from Physical Plant, died March 5. She worked at WSU 1983-1998.

 

 

 

 

Irving Field
 
Irving Field, retired from Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, died Feb. 23. He worked at WSU 1966-1998.

 

 

 

 

Dr. William S. 'Bill' Butts
 
William S. Butts, a physician retired from Health and Wellness Services, died Feb. 22 at age 96. He worked at WSU 1965-1984. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 3, at the Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Pullman.

 

 

 

 

Florence Jamison
 
Florence Jamison, retired from engineering extension services, died Feb. 19. She worked at WSU 1955-1977.

 

 

 

 

Donald R. Drader
 
Donald R. Drader, retired from Housing, died Jan. 18. He worked at WSU 1963-1969 and 1970-1984.