Necrology, 2020

Even before Janice Martin Benario began her heroic work for classics, she was already a decorated hero of World War II.

A native of Baltimore, Janice graduated in 1943 Phi Beta Kappa from Goucher College, one of the seven women's colleges chosen by the War Department to help in decrypting the German U-boat code that was transmitted on a machine called Enigma. Pultitzer-Prize winning English professor Ola Elizabeth Winslow was gathering ten English and Classics majors for the project. The women learned the basics in a top-secret blacked-out location and in two months Janice was officially an ensign in the Women's navy unit (WAVES). Janice was assigned to a unit so ultra-top-secret that it was called ULTRA. By the time Janice arrived, British and American experts had solved the code, and Janice would read the decoded messages and route them appropriately. Sworn to secrecy under penalty of treason, Janice told no one about her service until, unbeknownst to her, the information was declassified in 1990 and written up in a book, which as a bonus contained a photo of her unit. When Herb gave her the book and she saw the photo, she gave forth a shout of joyful surprise and was finally able to tell her family, friends, and students of her wartime experiences.

In 1946 Janice returned to Baltimore where she received the M.A. and in 1952 the Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. In 1957 she gained both a husband and a Fulbright and took both to the American Academy in Rome. She and Herb moved to Atlanta in 1960, where she began the Classics program at Georgia State University and sustained it for 30 years with important hires and excellent teaching. For the latter she received the APA's National Teaching Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics. After retiring from Georgia State, she taught both at Emory and Agnes Scott. A list of her services to CAMWS and papers given would exceed all reasonable length. Suffice it to notice that she received an Ovatio in 1986 and in 2010 the Benarios were awarded CAMWS's Special Service Award for their long devotion to classical studies. Thanks to their generosity the Janice and Herbert Benario Award funds summer travel and research.

Janice died December 2, 2020 at the age of 97.

Stewart Gilman Flory was, with his late first wife, Marleen Boudreau Flory, a regular and welcome presence at CAMWS meetings. Born in New York in 1941, he received both his A.B and Ph.D. degrees from Yale. His dissertation, "The Archaic Smile of Herodotus: His Personality Revealed in Anecdotes," was excerpted in Arion in 1969 later to be revised and published as a monograph in 1987. His publications, largely in AJP and TAPA dealt with Herodotus (8 articles) and Thucydides, but I can recommend his cultural and historical study of Medea's ominous handshake in the 1978 volume of TAPA. After a stint teaching at Amherst College, he and Marleen were called in 1978 to found a classics department at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he taught for over 30 years. He embodied the refined and debonair values of the liberal arts education and the liberal arts educator as evidenced by the Friday afternoon Faculty Shop Talk series, begun by him, in which faculty from all disciplines present their research, answer questions, and then enjoy convivial refreshments and conversation. He received two NEH Summer Grants for study abroad and in 2010, he and the other half of his department, Will and Patricia Freiert, were honored with the establishment of the Flory-Freiert Fellowship that would support travel and study for Gustavus Adolphus students. A ready wit, a sophisticated traveler to Greece & Italy, a voracious reader in multiple fields, and an expert cook, Stewart embodied the refinements of classical study in shaping and maintaining a useful life.

Stewart died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease on November 27, 2020, in Minneapolis.

Colleagues at LSU and the University of California at Davis recall Stephen Rex Stem as an efficient and collegial director of the Classics Program and historians know his influential book, The Political Biographies of Cornelius Nepos in which he shows the republican values inherent in Nepos's anti-autocratic animus. Students remember a helpful director of the post-baccalaureate program and a kind and humorous teacher who took a "quiet, steady joy" in his work. Members of CAMWS remember his loyalty to our association after he had left LSU for California, not only attending numerous meetings himself but also sending his own students. Rex did his undergraduate work at Harvard and his graduate work at Michigan where he studied under David Potter and Ruth Scodel and following their model became a mentor to many students both in Baton Rouge and Davis. One former student, Damian Harmony, invited Rex to be a guest on his podcast, "A Geek History of Time" in which they made up reasons why Caesar invaded Gaul. For a delightful couple of hours, just Google "The Secret Gallic Wars."

Rex Stem died far too early at the age of 51 on October 21, 2020 in Sacramento.

Judith Ann "Judy" Streid, 79, of Pekin, passed away at 8:32 am., Saturday, August 29, 2020 at UnityPoint Health - Methodist in Peoria.

Born January 1, 1941 in Bloomington, she was the daughter of Alvin A. and Viola (Sommer) Streid. Her parents preceded her in death as did her stepfather, Russell Hensley; one sister, Joan Adelman and one great nephew, Jamie Martin.

Surviving are one stepbrother, Norman (Diane) Hensley of Opelika, Alabama; eight nieces and nephews, Chris (Judy) Adelman of Bloomington, Cate (Shirley) Adelman of Decatur, Susan Martin, Beth (Ray) Adams, Amy (Deb) Adelman, all of Bloomington, Steve Adelman of Pekin, Ellen (Joe) Saunders of Parker, Colorado, Sara Koskella of Boise, Idaho, former sister-in-law, Linda Tomlinson-Hensley of Boise, Idaho and thirteen great nieces and nephews, and five great-great nieces and nephews.

She received her bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in 1963 and earned her master's degree in Secondary Education in Latin in 1969, also from I.S.U.

A Pekin resident since 1963, Judy was a beloved teacher at Pekin Community High School District 303, where she taught Latin and English in the Cultural Studies and English Department for over 30 years including time chairing that department. She enjoyed interacting with students in various activities outside the classroom such as student council and leading students on numerous trips to Italy and Greece. She was named PCHS Outstanding Contributor of the Year in 1990. At the 2011 Illinois Classical Conference, she received of a lifetime achievement award for decades of inspiring her Latin students. Following retirement from full-time teaching, she continued to serve as a substitute teacher and volunteer until last year.

Beyond teaching, Judy spent a lifetime of involvement and contribution to her community. Her memberships and activities included: the Altrusa Club of Pekin, the Tazewell County Retired Teachers' Association, Alpha Lambda Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, the Pekin Y.W.C.A. Y Reserves, Pekin Friends of the Library, Chapter LM of P.E.O. Sisterhood, the Pekin Civic Chorus "Showtime" productions and many others. She was selected as Grand Marshal of the 2016 Pekin Marigold Festival in honor of her community spirit and involvement.

Age 84, passed away on August 14, 2020. He was born to the late Robert and Constance Nethercut in Rockford, Illinois on January 11, 1936. At the time of his death, William was Professor of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, a position he held since 1975. Before coming to UT, he taught at Columbia University as Instructor, then Assistant Professor of Classics from 1961-1967 and at the University of Georgia as Associate Professor of Classics from 1967-1972, then Professor of Classics from 1972-1975. William earned his AB magna cum laude in Greek from Harvard in 1958 and his PhD from Columbia in 1963, writing a dissertation on the Roman poet Propertius. He served the field of Classics in many capacities, including as president of the Vergilian Society, editor of the journal Helios, and as a member of countless committees across the many professional organizations in the field. Of his contributions, he was proudest of the hundreds of Latin teachers he helped mentor currently working in high schools and middle schools across the country. Upon graduating from Harvard, William embarked on a life founded on his twin passions: music and academics. A voice student at the New England Conservatory of Music, he debuted as Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville, going on to perform such varied roles as Mozart's Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, and Papageno, Bizet's Escamillo, Verdi's Germont, Leoncavallo's Silvio, and Puccini's Marcello; his singing career culminated in a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 1966. As he was actively pursuing his singing career in Manhattan, he returned to graduate school at Columbia University. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, he published extensively on Greco-Roman literature, focusing especially on the Latin poets Vergil and Propertius. Many of his articles, especially from the 1960s, contributed to the formation of the so-called Harvard School of Vergilian scholarship. One of his major contributions to Latin studies was in reinvigorating scholarly interest in the poetry of Propertius. Always alive to the nuanced artistry of this most obscure of Roman poets, his work laid foundations in Propertian studies that are still operative; his articles continue to populate the bibliographies of the most important work on Roman elegy being produced today, almost sixty years later. During the 1980s, he refocused his interests on ancient Egyptian language and culture, in the remainder of his career mentoring over twenty students who would go on to become professional Egyptologists. William twice was recognized with the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award (1990, 1998) the highest award for teaching at the University of Texas; these were only two of many other official recognitions for his teaching. He was a vibrant member of First Baptist Church of Austin, where he was Chair of the Board of Deacons in 2000. William brought his inextinguishable optimism to all areas of his life. He gave freely of himself to all he met and remained committed to teaching, continuing to work up until the end. He found beauty wherever he sought it out. This organic fusion of qualities made even the shortest of encounters with him memorable, and he left an unforgettable impression on the tens of thousands of students who passed through his classrooms over his 59-year career. His was a life unusually full and impossible to capture in its breadth. A conversation with him could easily include a prolonged discourse on the etymology of your given name, would definitely involve him procuring your birth data so he could cast your astrological chart, and regularly would be peppered with surprising mentions of experiences he accumulated on his journeyfrom his work for the CIA doing horoscopes, to his impressive lepidoptery collection or his assortment of quasi-famous ancestors' glass eyes, William's interests fascinated both him and his audience. The greatest impact of his presence was his radiant joy, which was manifest in his vocation, his love of music and his devotion to his family. Indeed, the boundless love he had for his children and grandchildren remains his most profound legacy; the fragments of its embers will burn for decades and, hopefully, centuries to come, a permanent, sustaining benediction for the world made more beautiful, more joyful because of his life. William was preceded in death in 2008 by his grandson Jonathan Robert Wertz and in 2013 by his wife of 35 years, Jane Swann Nethercut. He is survived by four children: Mr. William Andrew Nethercut, Rev. Amanda Wertz (and her husband Mr. Christopher Wertz), Mr. Robert Nethercut (and his wife Mrs. Desirie Nethercut), and Dr. Jason Nethercut (and his wife Dr. Sarah Scullin); and by seven grandchildren: Kane and Rylee Wertz, Robert and Roger Nethercut, and Isaac, Frederick, and Nicholas Nethercut. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made in William's name to the William and Jane Nethercut Excellence Endowment in the Classics Department at UT Austin. Donations may be sent to: College of Liberal Arts, Attn: Blake Turner, 116 Inner Campus Dr., G6300, Austin, TX 78712 (online giving: http://links.utexas.edu/blmahdg). Owing to the COVID pandemic, there will not be a memorial service at this time.

• Obituary: links.utexas.edu

John Kevin Newman of Urbana died on Sunday, July 26, 2020, at the age of 91. Kevin was the only son of Willie and Agnes (Shee) Newman, and brother of Sheila Newman who died in 2018. He is survived by his wife Frances, and his children Alexandra, John (Julie), and Victoria. Kevin was born on August 17, 1928, in the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. His early years were marked by the Great Depression, followed in 1939 by the Second World War. Industrial pollution from the city's woolen mills was exacerbated during the war by factory conversion to production of ammunition. Often off school due to bronchial asthma, Kevin, a voracious learner from an early age, took the opportunity to read ahead in his textbooks. In 1939 he entered St. Bede's Grammar School, Bradford, where Latin was compulsory. Though Greek was no longer taught, when his Latin master spent two weeks introducing the rudiments of the language Kevin realized that his future rested in the study of the Classics. He received permission from his Head Master to replace History with ancient Greek, acting as his own tutor. Post World War II, Kevin was awarded a State Scholarship entitling him to six years of free university tuition. After sitting the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination he was admitted to Exeter College, Oxford, with the title of Senior Scholar. There he studied Literae Humaniores (Latin and Greek literature, Greek and Roman History, and Philosophy) from 1946 to 1950, and subsequently Russian and Old Slavonic (1950–1952). He was always pleased to recall Aristotle's claim that poetry is more serious and philosophical than history. After leaving the University he found a position at Downside School, Somerset, where he remained for fourteen years teaching, with some success, Latin and Greek to what was called Group 1, the Upper Sixth Form. In 1967, still at Downside, he was awarded a PhD from the University of Bristol. What had started out as his dissertation was speedily published under the title of Augustus and the New Poetry (pp. 458), and was welcomed by important critics. But he realized that in order to continue with his researches he needed both time and access to better resources. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, famous for its Library, offered him a position in its Classics Department, and he gratefully took that offer up in September 1969. It was at this time that he first met Frances, and their marriage followed in September 1970. During his tenure of 31 years at Illinois, Professor Newman published a number of substantial works, among them The Classical Epic Tradition (University of Wisconsin Press, 1986, pp. 566), a discussion of narrative fiction from Homer to Thomas Mann. This work was selected as an "outstanding book in its field" by Choice, 1986. Books on Latin poets of the first century B.C., notably on Catullus, Horace, Virgil, and Propertius, were supplemented by scholarly articles on these and other poets of the classical period. His love for the Greek language remained. He published works on Pindar, a Greek poet of the fifth century B.C., and Hellenistic poets including Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius. His familiarity with Koine Greek enabled him to conclude each day by translating at sight, with his wife, a chapter of the Greek New Testament. Major translations from Latin included both a lengthy poem by a sixteenth-century Latin poet (Lelio Guidiccioni), and the Latin lecture notes of the eighteenth-century Swiss geologist de Saussure. The work on de Saussure in collaboration with his colleague, A. V. Carozzi, resulted in two books and a lengthy article. His brilliance in composing Latin verses – poems in hexameters, elegiacs, and intricate Horatian meters – was recognized. Four times (1960, 1963, 1966, and 1998) the Consilium Latinitati Excolendae awarded him silver medals for his original Latin poems: on one such occasion Pope (now Saint) Paul VI presented him with his diploma at the Vatican. By invitation, he also contributed many Latin pieces, both in poetry and prose, to the Vatican periodical Latinitas, as well as to other publications. For five years (1982–86) he successfully edited Illinois Classical Studies, and it was under his aegis that the journal moved to computerized production. Around the same time, for four years he served as Chairman of the Department of the Classics. Over his career he published more than one hundred articles and reviews on Latin, Greek, and Russian authors, as well as other subjects of interest, including comparative literature and art. He was always intrigued by the relationships and evolution of literary traditions bridging centuries and civilizations. Kevin had a clear set of priorities: "Put first things first and everything else will follow." Above all, he was a devout Christian. Shortly after his birth, he had been baptised in St. Peter's Catholic Church, Bradford. He never wavered from this allegiance, and even at the end of his ninth decade he could be seen walking across to St. John's Chapel for the daily noon Mass. His family came next. He was the beloved husband of Frances Stickney Newman for nearly fifty years. He taught his children, Alexandra, John, and Victoria, by example, encouraging them in their studies and emphasizing the value of learning. By always leaving the door to his study open he let them know that he was never too busy to listen to them. Kevin taught for 48 years and remained a scholar to the end. He was excited by his work, he was disciplined, he was creative. He took his researches seriously and, with his wife, frequently traveled to Italy to explore archeological sites and visit and revisit the country's extraordinary museums. He was skeptical of things which "couldn't be done," arguing that researchers should begin by asking about — and then doing — what couldn't be done as a way of clearing the air. He always stressed the importance of reading texts carefully, and before embarking on any new venture he read and reread the author, commiting much to memory. His quest was always to discover what the author was trying to say and why; he was never without a next project or another thesis to interrogate. His last two published works, an article and monograph on Catullus, appeared in 2018, the former in Italy and the latter in Germany. At the time of his death he left an unfinished manuscript of over 350 pages on St. John Chrysostom, a Greek Church Father of the fourth to fifth centuries. Requiescat in pace! A private funeral mass will take place at St. John's Catholic Newman Center and he will be buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Champaign.

Baylor University

Born April 8, 1943

Died June 8, 2020

The Baylor University Department of Classics is saddened to report the recent death of a cherished member of our faculty, Dr. Brent M. Froberg. Born April 8, 1943 in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Froberg retired in December 2020 after 19 years of distinguished teaching as a lecturer and senior lecturer in the Classics Department. He died June 8, 2020.

Though born in Baltimore, Dr. Froberg grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he attended the public schools. His mother was a Latin teacher in Valparaiso. One of his favorite memories was returning the favor of her help with his early Latin studies by aiding her in her study of Greek later in life. He received both his BA and MA in Classics from Indiana University. He completed his PhD in Classics at the Ohio State University in 1971.

• Obituary: whbfamily.com

St. Ignatius College Prep (Chicago, IL)

born May 1, 1927

died April 16, 2020

University of Manitoba

Auguest 6, 1948-April 9, 2020

Obituary:

Mark Golden, born in Winnipeg on August 6, 1948, died in Winnipeg April 9, 2020. Raised in Ottawa, PhD Toronto 1981, teacher, scholar, activist, Professor Emeritus, University of Winnipeg, Honorary President of the Classical Association of Canada. Survived by son Max (Stephanie), newborn grandson Owen Markus; best friend/sweetie Jo-Anne Douglas; mother Molly; nieces Julia (Joe), Darcy (Jordan), their children, and their mom Charlotte Bell. Predeceased by his father David; brother Peter; sister Sari; and infant daughter Katie Rose. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to either the Peter Golden Social Justice Fund c/o Victoria Foundation, #200 - 703 Broughton St, Victoria, BC V8W 1E2 or the Errol Black Chair in Labour Studies, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba, #301 - 583 Ellice Ave, Winnipeg, MB R3B 1Z7. A celebration of Mark's life will be held in the summer when we can hopefully hug each other. (https://alternacremation.ca/tribute/details/158/Mark-Golden/obituary.html)

Message from the Department of Classics at the University of Wiinnipeg:

• Obituary: alternacremation.ca
• Obituary: uwinnipeg.ca

University of Virginia

March 19, 1927--April 8, 2020

Tribute by John Miller

Marvin Colker, our emeritus colleague in Classics at the University of Virginia, passed away three nights ago in Charlottesville, just three weeks after his 93rd birthday. Marvin spent his entire long career at UVA (1953–98), and worked nearly every summer in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. His research centered on palaeography and textual criticism in the medieval period. Among Marvin's long list of distinguished publications are a critical edition of Walter of Chatillon's epic Alexandreis; Analecta Dublinensia: Three Medieval Latin Texts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin; and America Rediscovered in the Thirteenth Century. In the course of compiling his magisterial two-volume catalog of the medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at TCD, he rediscovered numerous works. Trinity awarded Marvin an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1987.

C. McKenzie Lewis (University of Waterloo) March 8, 2020

Mac Lewis in Rome

C. McKenzie ("Mac") Lewis of the University of Waterloo, Canada, passed away suddenly on March 8, 2020. Mac, who completed his Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology at Florida State University, was from 2012 the director of the Villa del Vergigno Archaeological Project. He was a much beloved colleague and teacher, who last year won a CAMWS faculty-undergraduate collaborative research grant for digitizing data from the excavations in Montelupo Fiorentino. He was serving on the CAMWS Resolutions Committee at the time of his death.

The CAMWS Executive Committtee has voted to name one of the CAMWS Excavation and Field School Awards in his memory. If you would like to contribute to the fund for this grant in McKenzie's memory, go to https://camws.org/donate and select the McKenzie Lewis Fund.

Follow this link to learn more about the work that was so dear to Mac.

Mac Lewis in Montelupo

• Villa del Vergigno Archaeological Project
• CAMWS Excavation and Field School Awards
• Donate
• link

Professor Emeritus Charles F. Saylor, 83, passed away on Monday, January 20, 2020.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 1 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Columbia. Visitation will be one hour before mass at the church on Saturday. A private interment at Columbia Cemetery will follow the services.

Charles was born in San Pedro, California on April 6, 1936, the son of John A. Saylor and Mary Klotnya Saylor. He grew up in Seattle, Washington. Charles earned his bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1968 Charles received his doctorate in Classics from the University of California, Berkeley. He taught Classical Studies at the University of California, Davis and San Diego State University before moving to Columbia in 1968. Charles taught at the University of Missouri for 42 years until his retirement in 2010. He served as chairman of the Classical Studies Department from 1984 to 1996. His long list of publications reflects his particular interest in Roman comedy and silver Latin literature. He was also interested in classical tradition in Master painters.

Charles, a beloved husband, father and grandfather was always smiling and had a wonderful sense of humor. Charles enjoyed sports, spending time with his family, working around his house and in the yard, and walking his dog at Twin Lakes. Dr. Saylor married his wife of 62 years, the former Gayle Galvin of Los Angeles, California in 1958.

Survivors include his wife Gayle of Columbia; a son, Scott Saylor of St. Paul, Minnesota and his wife Amy and children Charlie, Greta and Amelia; a daughter, Shawn Hastings of St. Louis and her husband Justin and children Hollie and Anna; and sister, Frances Zimmerman of Lompoc, California.

Montclair State University

January 15, 2020

Keely became a Life Member of CAMWS in 2008-09; in that year she also received a Manson Stewart Travel Award to attend the 2009 CAMWS Annual Meeting. She served as CAMWS State Vice-President for Wisconsin in 2004-10 and 2015-17. She received an Ovatio from CAMWS in 2011.

She served as a Member-at-Large on the CAMWS Executive Committee in 2012-15. In 2015-16 she received a Travel Grant for High School Groups (these grants will henceforth be called Keely Lake Grants for School Groups) from the CAMWS Committee for the Promotion of Latin. She served as Chair of the CAMWS Committee for the Promotion of Latin in 2016-19. At the time of her death she was serving on the CAMWS Program Committee in 2019-20, the first year of a two-year term. She was a frequent presenter at CAMWS meetings on AP Literature and Women.

Here is Keely's obituary:

• Obituary: meaningfulfunerals.net
• Obituary: apcentral.collegeboard.org