Lawrence L. Dupraz, 87, of Princeton, died December 24 in Massachusetts with his family at his side.
Born in Princeton, the son of the late Laurent and Augusta (Lombard) Dupraz, he was a lifelong Princetonian.
He attended Princeton High School, the Hun School, and Rutgers University before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was a veteran of World War II, serving as a lieutenant with the 100th Bomb Group, 351st Squadron.
Upon returning to the U.S. after the war, he pursued his interest in newspaper production and eventually became the production manager of the Daily Princetonian. His affiliation with the Daily Princetonian spanned six decades and is chronicled in The Making of Princeton University. He was an honorary member of the Princeton University classes of 1971 and 2000.
A passionate volunteer, he was an advisor to the Princeton Historical Society's Recollector, a member of the Republican Committee of Princeton, and a member of various municipal government committees. For more than 50 years he was a member of Mercer Engine Company No. 3, serving as Chief of No. 3 and Fire Chief of the Princeton Fire Department. He also served as a vice president of the New Jersey Fire Fighters Relief Association.
He took great pride in his 59 years of marriage, his military service, the Princeton community, the hundreds of Princeton University students whose lives he touched, and especially his four grandsons.
He was predeceased by two sisters, Louise Dupraz King and Jeanne Dupraz Krug. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Nora (Enright) Dupraz; a daughter, Claudia S. Greely of Rockport, Mass. and Bethel, Maine; four grandsons; and his close friends William Karch and Raymond Wadsworth, both of Princeton, and Robert Mooney of Skillman.
The funeral was at the Kimble Funeral Home on December 29, followed by a funeral Mass at St. Paul's Church. Burial was in St. Paul's Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Health Care Ministry of Princeton, P.O. Box 1517, Princeton 08542.
Margery Richardson Claghorn, 82, a Princeton resident since 1953, died December 30 at Constitution Hill. She was the co-founder and longtime chair of the Bryn Mawr Book Shop of Princeton.
Born in Passaic, she attended Passaic Collegiate School and received her diploma in 1942 from Westtown School in Westtown, Pa. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1946 and soon thereafter married John W. Claghorn Jr. of Philadelphia, whom she had known since childhood in the Poconos where their families both had summer homes.
Mrs. Claghorn worked at Princeton Day School as a receptionist for 20 years. When PDS opened in 1965, there was no bus transportation to the school. She volunteered to organize bus routes for students living in Princeton as well as out of town.
She served on the Borough Zoning Board for six years and was the representative from Princeton Monthly Meeting to the board of Princeton Community Housing. She also served on the founding board of Corner House.
An active alumna of her school and college, she served as the 1942 class representative to Westtown School and as District Councilor of the Alumnae Association of Bryn Mawr College. She was a frequent chair of the annual Bryn Mawr Book Sale, which raised money for area students for scholarships.
A member of Pretty Brook Tennis Club, she was an avid tennis and paddle tennis player as well as a nationally ranked squash player.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by two daughters, Margery C. Robertson of Philadelphia and Susan C. Ferguson of Pennington; two sons, John III of New York City and David of Philadelphia; a sister, Enid R. Woodworth of Princeton; and eight grandchildren.
The service will be this Sunday, January 7 at 3 p.m. at Princeton Monthly Meeting, 470 Quaker Road, Princeton.
Memorial contributions may be made to Princeton Monthly Meeting Preservation Fund, 470 Quaker Road, Princeton 08540.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.
Burton "Burt" Andrews Ford Jr., 84, of Amelia Island, Fla., formerly of Princeton, died December 28 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Born in Washington, D.C., the son of the late Burton Andrews and Dorothy Justice Ford, he spent his childhood in College Park, Md. before moving to Kew Gardens, N.Y. A graduate of St. Paul's School and Princeton University Class of 1944, he received his post-graduate studies at Shrivenham University in England.
He moved with his wife to Amelia Island Plantation in Florida in 1994.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He won his wings as a liaison pilot for field artillery and flew artillery observation and fire adjustment missions over the German front lines in his piper cub "Chipunk" in late 1944 and 1945, until the war ended.
He joined the Yellow Pages Advertising and Marketing Division of the Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation, a subsidiary of Dun and Bradstreet Corp., retiring in 1982.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, the former Carolyn Smith of Baltimore; two sons, Burton of Skillman and Richard of Edmund, Okla.; a daughter-in-law, Patricia Ford of Greenville, Del.; 13 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.
A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. this Saturday, January 6 at Princeton Cemetery.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.
David Okey Johnson, 87, of SkilIman, formerly of Princeton, died December 27 at Stonebridge at Montgomery.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, he lived in Takoma Park, Md. and Rochester, N.Y. before moving to Princeton in 1954. He attended schools in the Washington, D.C. area and the University of Maryland, where he met his future wife.
He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, first as chief engineer of the destroyer U.S.S. Wilkes, serving in the Atlantic, and then the U.S.S. Brush in the Pacific. He retired as a decorated Commander.
He was an avid photographer from the day his mother gave him a Voightlander camera at the age of 13. One of his most famous photographs was of a sister destroyer in a typhoon in the Pacific. It was published in the newspapers in the Washington, D.C. area and hung in the office of Admiral King.
After the war he spent eight years in the advertising department of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, N.Y. before moving to Princeton, where he founded Princeton Polychrome Press. The company specialized in the reproduction of high quality art prints, including those of John James Audubon, for the National Gallery of Art. He became an avid collector of Audubon prints, which led him to limited edition reproductions under the name of Princeton Audubon Limited. These stand alone as the world's only direct-camera, first generation facsimile edition of Audubon's work, and are declared to be second only to the original prints.
Interested in conservation, he served for many years on the Board of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Elizabeth (Libbie); three children, David of New York City, Katherine W. Schmeltzer of Minneapolis, and Elizabeth R. Price of New York City; a brother, Frederick M. Johnson of La Plata, Md.; three grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.
Burial will be private at Sudley Methodist Church in Manassas, Va.
Memorial contributions may be made to Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Bishop Farmstead, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton, N.J. 08088; or to The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation, Graphic Art Technology Foundation, 800 Deer Run Road, Sewickley, Pa. 15143-2000.
Mrs. Lucienne Marchand, 98, of New York, the mother-in-law of Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand, died December 27 at Greenwood House in Ewing.
Born Olga Lucienne Espir in Paris, France, she spent the last 66 years living in New York.
The widow of the late Max Marchand, she is survived by two sons, Lucien Simon Marchand of Princeton and Daniel Marchand of Norwood, Mass.; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Jewish Center, 435 Nassau Street, Princeton 08540; or to The University Medical Center at Princeton, 253 Witherspoon Street, Princeton 08540.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.
Sharon Helen Carol Sabo Bilanin, 59, of Princeton, died December 28 in Princeton.
She was born in Paterson, N.J., the daughter of Helen Irene Sebastian and Edward Steven Sabo.
A teacher to her own children and others, she earned a master's degree in early childhood education from Wheelock College in Boston and taught Grades K-2 in Garfield, N.J. and Beverly, Mass. After moving to Princeton, she became active in the community while raising her three children. She was a substitute teacher for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Schools, worked with D.A.R.E. and Angel Wings in Trenton, co-chaired the Princeton Hospital Fete, and was a board member of the Family Guidance Center, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and The Chapin School.
She was also a certified Master Gardener, and a member of the Junior League of Greater Princeton, The Present Day Club, and The Bay Head Yacht Club.
Active in the Princeton community for the past 30 years, she was elected Committeeperson for Princeton Township from 1993 to 1995, and held positions as Deputy Mayor, Police Commissioner, Fire Commissioner, and member of the Planning Board.
She is survived by her husband of 37 years, Alan; three children, Jared, Jason, and Abby; three grandchildren; and four godchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated today, January 3 at 9:30 a.m. at Saint Paul's Church, 214 Nassau Street.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) 72 Escher Street, Box 872, Trenton 08605.
Brigitte Ostermann Sinding, 91, of Montgomery, died December 27 at Stonebridge at Montgomery.
Born in Berlin, Germany, she learned English as an au pair in England before emigrating to the United States in 1936.
Following her marriage to Steven Sinding in New York in 1939, she lived in northern New Jersey and Massachusetts before moving to Pennington in 1953. She later lived in West Windsor for 10 years and Princeton for nearly 30 years before moving to Stonebridge in 2003.
She was employed for many years by the Gallup Organization, serving as field director of the Gallup Poll. She later retired from Opinion Research Corp.
Known to her friends as Gitti, she was deeply involved in volunteer work. She was a familiar figure on Monday mornings at the information desk of the University Medical Center at Princeton, and a fixture on Tuesdays at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. She also helped form the Caring and Sharing Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, and was active for many years in its Women's Alliance.
She loved classical music and attended concerts regularly at Richardson Auditorium and other area venues. An avid bridge player, she was also an enthusiastic traveler and ardent supporter of progressive causes.
Predeceased by her husband, Steven, and a sister, Gabrielle, she is survived by two sons, Steve of Manchester, Vt., and Rick of Princeton; a sister, Annemarie Maass of Flushing, N.Y.; and two granddaughters.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. this Saturday, January 6 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton on Cherry Hill Road.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Princeton Hospice, 208 Bunn Drive, Princeton 08540; or to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, New Jersey Unit, 69 Mapleton Road, Princeton 08540.
Martha L. Stocking Swanson, 64, of Hopewell, a senior research scientist at Educational Testing Service for 40 years, died December 27 at the Chandler Hall Nursing Home in Newtown, Pa.
Born in Morgantown, W.Va., she was raised in Stillwater, Okla. and Colorado. She moved to the Princeton area in 1967, and to Hopewell in 1978.
She held a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Swarthmore College and a master's degree in statistics from Rutgers University. A world-famous psychometrician, she was a member of the Psychometric Society, the holder of two U.S. patents, and the author of numerous papers on psychometrics and computerized testing. She was awarded the Educational Testing Service Senior Scientist Award for 1992-94. She received an award from the National Council on Measurement in Education in 1993 for applications of educational measurement technology, jointly with her husband.
She enjoyed reading mysteries, playing cards with friends, and spending time with her family. She was particularly fond of Boo, a family cat.
She is survived by her husband of 28 years, Len Swanson; two daughters, Lelivelt, 25, and Nadia, 19; and a sister, Sarah Stocking.
A memorial service was held at ETS on December 30.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, www.nationaltrust.org, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036-2117; or to the American Stroke Foundation, www.americanstroke.org, 5960 Dearborn Avenue, Mission, Kans. 66202.
Arrangements were by the Swartz/Givnish Funeral Home, Newtown, Pa.