Many of these obituaries of departed CAMWS members were written by Ward Briggs, the CAMWS historian.
Andrew Rawson
University of New MexicoDied December 28, 2016
Andrew Rawson, a graduate student in Classics at the University of New Mexico, was killed over the Christmas break at the age of 25 in a road accident while riding his bike near his home in Texas. Andrew was the first UNM Classics undergraduate to deliver a paper at CAMWS, and he also delivered two more as a graduate student.
Here is his obituary: http://www.daltonandson.com/obituaries/Andrew-Rawson/#!/Obituary.
Here is the report in the local paper: http://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/2016/12/29/flower-mound-bicyclist-killed-in-crash-with-vehicle/
An insatiable curiosity about all things human and cosmic drove Thomas D. Worthen's life. In the 1950s he entered the academy at Cal Tech as an avid student of astronomy and physics (he also played on the football team there), and following a circuitous path that included a stint in the US Army he earned his Ph.D. in Classics at the University of Washington. Professor Worthen began teaching in the Department of Classics at the UA in 1965, where his colleagues were Garnet Percy, Donald Ayers, and Richard Jensen. For twenty years he taught extensively in the university's Humanities Program and masterfully handled Greek instruction in the department. When Professor Ayers died in 1969, Thom inherited his course in English words derived from Latin and Greek elements, for which Ayers had published a textbook. Thom taught this course happily for years as the departmental words-maven, and revised the widely used Ayers book for the UA Press in 1989. Thom also cultivated a specialty in myth and in 1991 published The Myth of Replacement: Stars, God, and Order in the Universe, a complex and richly imaginative interpretation of select world myths (and their associated cycles of time) as a response to astronomical precession. By then, in no small part owed to Thom's dedication, the department had grown exponentially and Thom devoted most of his teaching duties—now reduced from five to six courses per semester at the beginning of his career (i.e., before the UA became a Research I institution)—to teaching Greek language and literature.
Over the course of his career Thom translated and discussed virtually all of Plato's works with Classics and Philosophy students at local coffee shops. As higher education in the US was drastically transformed during his career, Thom held to his conviction that students learn best when treated as the individuals they are. He retired from the UA after a distinguished career of thirty-four years in May 1999. Immediately after retirement, generous donations from former students, colleagues and friends led to the establishment of the Thomas D. Worthen Prize, which is awarded annually to an undergraduate Classics major for excellence in Greek.
Thom remained deeply engaged with scholarship. His various publications after retiring include a translation of Aeschylus' Oresteia and a lengthy appendix on the dating of Greek tragedies based on celestial phenomena referred to in the plays. In 2001, regret over not having adequately prepared the second half of Vergil's Aeneid for his Ph.D. oral exams decades before led Thom to ask a colleague to meticulously read and study these books with him each Friday at Gentle Ben's, a project that welcomed several graduate students during the three years it took to complete. Retirement also allowed Thom to further cultivate his longstanding interests in music, painting and singing, where his powerful baritone was welcomed by a number of community choirs. He pursued his intellectual passions to the end of his life, e.g., taking several chemistry classes at the university and even working as a research assistant in that field.
Professor Thomas Worthen died on September 20, 2016. He inspired students, many of whom stayed in touch with him long after they left the university. Those who knew him cherish his genial disposition, genuine and booming laughter, and sharp wit; some warmly remember him as "The Laughing Philosopher", as one of his heroes, the atomic thinker Democritus, was known in antiquity. Dis Manibus. κούφα σοι χθὼν ἐπάνωθε πέσοι ("May the earth fall lightly on you", unless you're enjoying a catasterism!).
Rudolph Masciantonio, 75, of Center City, former director of foreign language education for the Philadelphia School District, died of heart disease Thursday, Sept. 22, at his home.
Dr. Masciantonio was found lying facedown in his indoor swimming pool about 9 p.m. by a neighbor who checked on him at the home at 20th and Lombard Streets, after noticing his cat outside and an accumulation of mail against his door, police said. Medics pronounced him dead at 10:50 p.m.
Jeff Moran, spokesman for the city Health Department, which includes the medical examiner, said the cause of death was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and the manner - or general category - was natural.
We were devastated to learn that R. Elaine Fantham, a giant in the field of classical scholarship and generous friend and mentor to generations of students and colleagues, died yesterday in Toronto at the age of 83. A member of the Classics department at Trinity College, in the University of Toronto, from 1968 to 1986, and again from 2000 to 2008 after her retirement from Princeton, Elaine was predeceased by her husband Peter, and is survived by her daughter Julia (grandchildren Peter, Alice, and Clare) and her son Roy (wife Jen and granddaughter Marley).
Born in Liverpool U.K. in May 1933, Elaine received her B.A. (first class in Literae Humaniores) and first graduate degree at Oxford University before returning to her home city as Leverhulme Research Fellow to earn her Ph.D. in 1965 with a dissertation on Plautus' comedy Curculio, "The Boll-Weevil" (examined by R.G. Austin and O. Skutsch). Early training in the ways of roguery naturally equipped her for a meteoric rise in her chosen profession, and she held teaching posts all over the Anglo-American academy. She taught briefly at St Andrews University, as a fellow of St. Salvator's College (1965-1966), before moving with her mathematician husband Peter to Indiana University in Bloomington. There she taught in the Department of Classics as a Visiting Lecturer (1966-1968), before moving again, in 1968, with their Scottish daughter Julia and American son Roy, to Toronto and Trinity College. There she taught for eighteen years (Assistant to Associate Professor 1968-1978, Professor 1978-86), in a college department celebrated for its collegiality and scholarship. She was welcomed right from the start by Mary White, as well as by the other members of the Classics contingent of that congenial college, including John Cole, Desmond Conacher, Alexander Dalzell, and George Grube. In retirement she returned to the college and was elected a Senior Fellow of Trinity College in September 2012.
During her professional years in Toronto, Elaine served on the editorial committee of Phoenix from 1976 to 1979; gave a series of papers across Canada on both the Atlantic and Western lecture tours sponsored by the Classical Association of Canada; and served as Vice-President of the Association from 1982-84, during which period she also served as Vice-President and then President of the Canadian Society for the History of Rhetoric (1983-1986). In 1996, she delivered the keynote lecture at the annual meeting of the CAC in St. Catharines, Ontario.
In addition to her valuable service to the Canadian academic community, Elaine was very active across North America, especially after moving to Princeton University in 1986, when she was appointed Giger Professor of Latin in the Department of Classics there. She enjoyed spells as a Visiting Professor of Classics at Ohio State University in Columbus OH (1983) and as Langford Visiting Professor at Florida State University in 2001; and in 1999-2000 she lectured for Phi Beta Kappa across the United States. She also contributed signal service to the American Philological Association, the largest professional classics association in the world, where she was an outstanding advocate for classical scholars and classics departments. She served as member, then chair, of the Goodwin Award Committee (1997-2000), and then, after her retirement from Princeton and return to Toronto in 2000, as President-Elect (2003) and President (2004) of the APA. In January 2009, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Philological Association in recognition of her superlative service to the profession.
After retiring from Princeton University in 2000, Elaine made her primary residence in Toronto, where her grown-up family lives, and she continued to make significant contributions to the research and teaching mission of the graduate department of Classics at the University of Toronto, where she had established her career. In the early years of the new millennium, she took on supplementary graduate teaching for the Toronto department in a wide range of M.A. and Ph.D. courses. In addition, and much more importantly, she was closely involved from the start of her retirement in mentoring across the country and around the world – not only senior graduate and undergraduate students but also friends and colleagues. She offered us all a model of the very highest standard of professional activity and collegiality. Her commitment to the Department, her colleagues and students – not only nationally and internationally, but also locally and provincially – was particularly valuable in this period, when she also served as the Honorary President of the Classical Association of Canada from 2001 to 2006. In May 2015 Elaine was honoured with the CAC Award of Merit.
Waterhouse died on June 26, 2016, at Hearthside Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, State College. He was born in Galveston, Texas, on December 31, 1941, to the late William T. Waterhouse and Grace D. Waterhouse, of Denver, Colo. He received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from Harvard University. He began his teaching career in 1968 at Cornell University, and in 1975 joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at Penn State, where he served as professor for more than thirty-five years. He was the author of more than 250 scholarly publications, and was especially proud of having twice won (in 1984 and 1995) the Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America, for excellence in mathematical writing. His interests outside of mathematics were eclectic, including classical Greek and Roman literature, opera, music, world history, Sherlock Holmes, humanism, and science. On October 11, 1980, he married Betty S. Waterhouse (nee Senk), who survives him. She wishes to thank the staffs at Mount Nittany Medical Center and of Hearthside for their compassion and invaluable assistance during her husband's illness. At his request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. In lieu of flowers, friends may direct contributions to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 1901 L Street NW, Suite 400, Washington DC 20036 or au.org. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Online condolences and signing of the guest book may be entered at www.kochfuneralhome. com.
HITT, James James Alfred Michael Hitt, Ph.D., age 88, of Austin, Texas passed away at home on May 11, 2016 after a lengthy illness. He was the widower of Mary Katherine J Hitt of which they shared 46 years of marriage together. James was born in Dallas, Texas on September 3, 1927 to Irving and Winnie Hitt. He graduated from Adamson High School, Dallas, Texas; serviced in the US Army as a Staff Sergeant during WWII; received his Bachelor of Arts from Southern Methodist University and his doctorate from Princeton University. He worked as an Associate Professor (Emeritus) with the Department of Classics at The University of Texas at Austin, Texas. He was a member of Transfiguration of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church and many other various organizations. He enjoyed playing the piano, writing music of which several of them were published; translating Latin, Ancient Greek, various other languages and was working on a Chinese/English dictionary; had a love of etymology, linguistics, comparative literature, mythology, religion, Greek Drama, Greek Philosophy, and Modern Greek; and enjoyed drawing and painting as well. James is survived by his daughter, Laura; his son, David and his wife, Theresa; and son, Jonathan; his grandchildren Nicholas and his companion, Spring; Marshall and wife, Stamatina; Valery and her husband, James; his great-grandchildren Amara, Freyja, Adam, and Emery; as well as his cousins and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Katherine J Hitt, his parents, Irving and Winnie Hitt; and his brother, Michael Hitt. The funeral service will be at 10 am on Saturday, May 14, 2016 at Transfiguration of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church, 414 St Stephens Road, Austin, Texas 78746. Private interment will be held at the Ferris Memorial Park North Cemetery, Ferris, Texas at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to: Hospice Austin's Christopher House, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road, Suite 100, Austin, Texas 78759, (512) 342.4700/(800) 445.3261 www. HospiceAustin.org, Austin Steam Train Association, 401 East Whitestone Blvd, C-100, Cedar Park, Texas 78613 and/or to KMFA Classical 89.5, 3001 North Lamar Blvd, Suite 100, Austin, Texas 78705, (512) 472.2221, http://www.kmfa.org/pages/26- more-ways-to-give. Obituary and memorial guest-book available online at www. wcfish.com Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home (512) 452-8811.
It is with great regret that we report the passing of Harold Evjen, former professor at the University of Colorado and our former Executive Secretary.
"He taught a variety of courses on Greek and Roman authors, Roman law and established two popular courses on Greek mythology and ancient athletics. He published articles on Attic Greek authors, ancient Greek law, Roman law and ancient athletics. He was the editor of the Classical Journal and published numerous book reviews in scholarly periodicals. He codirected archeological excavations in Greece with his wife.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin to Reverend Randolph Evjen and Helma Evjen, he spent his school years in Arizona where he excelled in athletics and music and graduated high school top of his class. He then attended the University of Arizona in Tucson where he was captain of the swim team and graduated Summa Cum Laude in Classics. He was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, received a PhD in Classics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He attained a law degree from Yale University and practiced law as a public defender, but Classics won him over. He began teaching at the University of Washington State, and then in 1962 taught in the Department of Classics at the University of Colorado in Boulder until he retired in 1994. He served as Chairman of the Department of Classics, founded the Hellenic Institute Academic Program in Greece. He was the cofounder of the Friends of the Libraries, and cofounder of the Hellenic American Cultural Association. He served as Executive Secretary for the American Philological Association. He taught a variety of courses on Greek and Roman authors, Roman law and established two popular courses on Greek mythology and ancient athletics. He published articles on Attic Greek authors, ancient Greek law, Roman law and ancient athletics. He was the editor of the Classical Journal and published numerous book reviews in scholarly periodicals. He codirected archeological excavations in Greece with his wife. After retirement he taught at the "College Year at Athens" in Greece. Harold is survived by his wife Hara, his son Adam, and many good friends in the United States and Greece.
Ernst Fredricksmeyer
University of Colorado BoulderDied January 16, 2016
Fredricksmeyer died peacefully in his home of 48 years. He was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, to Friedrich (Fritz) and Selma Friedrichsmeyer. His sister, Ingema Smith, resides in Iver, Bucks, England and his brother, Hardy (wife Sara), in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ernst is survived also by his wife, Gloria, and their three sons, Hardy (wife Stephanie), Stefan (wife Beth), and John, and three grandsons, Ben, Sam and Max. Ernst is survived also by his brother-in-law, John English, and many nieces, nephews, and their families, all of whom will miss him greatly. Ernst spent the first three years of life in North Dakota, where his father was an exchange Lutheran minister from Germany. The family returned to Germany in 1933 and Ernst grew up in the dark years before and during WWII. As a result of heavy allied bombing of Germany, when Ernst was 13 his school (a Classical Gymnasium that stressed Latin and Ancient Greek) was relocated to the Austrian Alps. He did not see his parents for the next two years. Ernst was 15 when the war ended in spring 1945. He was spared the fate of slightly older classmates who upon their 16th birthdays had been deployed against veteran Russian troops on the eastern front. Ernst and his younger-than 16 classmates faced their own hardships when they were released from school in Austria to fend for themselves. Riding trains, hitchhiking, and doing transient farm work, over several months Ernst made his way home through a war-torn landscape. Ernst finished his studies at the Gymnasium 1945-1947 and, at the same time, worked on the German black market selling cigarettes and other goods, along with his lifelong rogue-companion, Wilfried Gruemer. Inspired in part by American swing music (that had been banned by the Nazis as "decadent art") and the dismal German economy, in 1948 and before his 18th birthday, Ernst embarked for the U.S. on an ocean liner out of Bremerhaven, Germany, by himself, with little money, and no knowledge of English. After beginning his studies in Classics at Lakeland College, Wisconsin, and running out of money, Ernst served two years in the U.S. Army, including as a Special Police, a branch of the military police, ironically stationed (back) in Germany. Ernst then resumed college and went on to earn a PhD in Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was in Madison that Ernst met his closest American friend, fellow classicist and poetic soul, Richard Minadeo, and fell head-over-heels in love with his wife, Gloria. "From the day we first met, there was no other girl for me," Ernst said of Gloria. In the following years, Ernst helped Gloria to raise three rowdy sons and generations of pets, and held appointments at numerous colleges, including Cornell College, Dartmouth, Bryn Mawr, the University of Washington at Seattle, and, for the rest of his career, the University of Colorado at Boulder, from which he retired as full professor. Beth Dusinberre, one of Ernst's colleagues and the current chair of Classics at CU-Boulder, summed up Ernst's impact on Classics as follows. "Internationally renowned for his transformative scholarship on Alexander the Great, Ernst was known to many of us for his extraordinary knowledge, passion for scholarship, attention to detail combined with an ability to see the bigger picture, his sparkling humor and keen wit, his supportiveness, and his generosity. He was a legendarily superb teacher, responsible for bringing flocks of students to a love for Classics through his wildly popular (but challenging) Greek Mythology class as well as his exceptionally demanding and rigorous upper-division classes. His 44 publications remain essential contributors to scholarly discourse in a wide array of fields, and his memory a source of joy and inspiration." Special thanks go to son, John, and the wonderful caretakers of Dignity Care and Family Hospice of Boulder for helping Gloria to ensure Ernst the best possible conclusion to a life well lived. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at the Chautauqua Park Community House, 900 Baseline Rd., Boulder, CO 80302, Monday, January 18th, 2016, 12 noon. In accord with Ernst's wishes, memorial contributions can be made to the Boulder Valley Humane Society.
