Rev. Max L. Stackhouse

Reverend Dr. Max L. Stackhouse, former professor at Princeton Seminary died on Saturday, January 30, 2016 at home in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was 80 years old.

After graduating from DePauw University and Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Stackhouse was ordained by the United Church of Christ and went on to be internationally recognized as a theologian in the field of Christian social ethics. After early involvement in the civil rights movement, he pioneered work in public theology, economics, globalization, and ecclesiastical concerns.

Dr. Stackhouse held the Herbert Gezork Professorship at Andover Newton Theological School, where he was on the faculty for nearly 30 years before becoming the Stephen Colwell Professor of Christian Ethics, later the Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1993 to 2006. Dr. Stackhouse held numerous international visiting professorships, with long-term relationships at United Theological College in Bangalore, India, China, and South Korea, and within the former Eastern Block, with additional lecturing, conferences, and teaching in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Fiji, Thailand, South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, Europe, and the United States.

His writings and teachings spanned more than half a century and include approximately 500 articles, book reviews, and book chapters. He authored or edited 25 books, among them On Moral Business; Creeds, Societies & Human Rights; and his last major work, God & Globalization, a four-part series sponsored by the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. A Festschrift, Public Theology for a Global Society: Essays in Honor of Max Stackhouse, was published in 2010, followed by a book of essays, Shaping Public Theology: Selections from the Writings of Max L. Stackhouse in 2014, both by the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Dr. Stackhouse served as president of the American Theological Society, The Society for Christian Ethics, and the James Luther Adams Foundation. He was instrumental in the founding and served as the director of the Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was a founding member of numerous other groups, including The Niebuhr Society, the Covenant Interest Group at the Society of Christian Ethics, and the China Academic Consortium, as well as the Berkshire Institute of Theology and the Arts, which he established with his wife, Jean Stackhouse, and led for 15 years. He was on the editorial boards of several journals, including The Christian Century, Journal of Religious Ethics, Journal of Political Theology, Religion in Eastern Europe, and Faith & International Affairs. He received a Leadership Award from The Center for Public Justice in 2007 and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, DePauw University, in 1994.

Locally, Dr. Stackhouse was an active member of The First Congregational Church of Stockbridge, an avid tennis player, music lover, and beloved spouse, father, brother, and grandfather. He was known for his sense of humor and generosity of spirit. He is survived by his wife, Jean Stackhouse; son Dale Stackhouse and daughter-in-law Robin Olds Stackhouse of Indianapolis, Indiana; son David and daughter-in-law Amy Stackhouse of Edgecomb, Maine; daughter Sara Stackhouse and son-in-law Johan de Besche of Arlington, Massachusetts; grandchildren Molly, Zachary, and Violet; and sister Judy Harris of St. Louis, Missouri.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 13 at 3 p.m. at The First Congregational Church of Stockbridge.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Max Stackhouse to Covenant House New York, Attn: Sandra Latchman, 461 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10001-1810, or online at covenanthouse.org; or The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163 or at michaeljfox.org.

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William Crouse Becker

William C. Becker, a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, died peacefully on February 6, 2016 from natural causes at the age of 89. He has resided in the Princeton area since 1957.

He graduated from Reading High School Class of 1944, served in the U.S. Army during 1945-46, and is a 1951 honors graduate of Rider College. For six years, he was associated with the New York offices of Arthur Andersen & Co. He joined Princeton University Press in 1957, a scholarly book publisher closely affiliated with Princeton University. In 1966, he was promoted to the new position of associate director and controller, retiring in 1990 after 33 years of distinguished service.

Over the years, he was active on a number of Boards and Committees, serving on the statistics committees of the American Book Publishers Council and the Association of American University Presses in the early 60s; as treasurer of the Association of American University Presses in 1968-1970; on the Board of Directors of Centro Interamericos Libros Academios from 1969 to 1975, an organization based in Mexico City, jointly sponsored by the Association of American University Presses and the University of Mexico; on the Board of Directors of the newly formed Princeton chapter of the National Association of Accountants during the late 60s and early 70s; as treasurer of the Princeton Nursery School in the late 70s and early 80s; and as treasurer of the Master Gardeners of Mercer County during the 90s.

He was a member of the first graduating class (1994) of the Master Gardener of Mercer County Program, a volunteer organization sponsored by Rutgers University through the Extension Service; and for 15 years sang with the Hopewell Valley Chorus, starting in 1995.

He is survived by Nancy, his wife of 48 years, a son Christopher and his wife Chia-lin, residing in Oakland, California; a daughter Pamela of Pennington, and her husband Robert E. Haberle; two grandchildren, Taylor Haberle and Alexandra Becker. His brother E. Martin Becker of Reading, Pennsylvania predeceased him in 2014.

A memorial service will be held at a future date.

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Martha Lou Stohlman

Martha Lou Lemmon Stohlman, her daughters at her side, passed away in October 2015, shortly before her 102nd birthday, leaving a life rich in experience and accomplishment. A native of Springfield, Missouri, she graduated from Sweet Briar College and received her PhD in psychology from Cornell University. From 1937–1944 she taught at Colorado College before joining the Foreign Service. In Rome, she met W. Frederick Stohlman, on leave from the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. They married a year later, in 1946. He died in 1966.

A woman of great talent and curiosity, she was always active. In Princeton, she was one of the founders of the Princeton Study Center. An elder and, for two years, director of Christian Education, she was always involved in the life of Nassau Presbyterian Church. Serving on the Environmental Commission of the Borough, she was involved with studies on noise, traffic congestion, and excess mail.

Martha Lou was an avid participant as an alumna of Sweet Briar College, serving in many areas including the Board of Overseers as well as receiving many awards for her efforts. She wrote The Story of Sweet Briar College.

The Presbyterian Church commissioned her to write John Witherspoon: Parson, Politician, Patriot on the occasion of the nation’s bicentennial. The Lemmon Tree is her unpublished memoir of growing up in the Ozarks. She also wrote many articles for various publications.

An avid reader, she was never without two or three books, covering a variety of subjects. Beginning with a trip to South America in 1937, her great sense of adventure took her to many places in the world. Always active, she loved the outdoors and visiting her many friends. With a keen eye for art, she made beautiful photographs and was an accomplished pianist. Her final two decades she lived at Pennswood Village in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Martha Lou will be remembered as a remarkable woman in all that she did, with a keen intellect, a generous spirit, and a quick wit.

She is survived by two daughters, Julie Stohlman of Seattle, Washington and Suzanne Stohlman of Kennebunkport, Maine.

Donations in her honor may be made to the Crisis Ministry, 123 East Hanover Street, Trenton, NJ 08608, in memory of Martha Lou Stohlman. This program was dear to Martha Lou’s heart. www.fluehr.com.

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Roger D. Thompson

Roger D. Thompson, of Lancaster, Pa, and formerly of Princeton, died January 3, 2016. He was 90.

He was born March 1, 1925 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised there and in Louisville, Ky. Roger was the son of the late Harold Higgins Thompson and Mildred Liwrey (Rogers) Thompson.

Roger worked at Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and at DuMont Laboratories in Clifton, New Jersey. He then worked for many years for RCA, both in Princeton and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His work included advances in transmission and recording of television signals, coordination of transmission standards, and development of a single beam electron gun and the use of it in a color television cathode ray picture tube. He earned many patents for his work.

Roger built a short-wave radio at the age of 14, became a first class radio operator at the age of 16, and worked at several radio stations. He graduated from Male High School in Louisville, Ky. and enlisted in the Navy during World War II. He was accepted into the V-12 officer training program. As a part of that program, he graduated from the University of Louisville as an officer with a degree in electrical engineering. He then served aboard the U.S.S. Denver until the end of the war. After the war, Roger married, started a family, and earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.

Roger was a private pilot, owning his own small plane. He enjoyed traveling, and flew his family to every continental state, Canada, and the Bahamas. He also enjoyed contra and square dancing with several local groups as well as national groups. He often attended dancing workshops at various colleges and universities. He always was appreciative of all that he was able to have and to do with his life, and quietly gave back of his time and resources as the need would arise. He was a wonderful example to his family of the virtues in life of honesty, perseverance, good humor, loyalty, and many more.

In addition to his parents, Roger is predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Mary Alice (McDermott) Thompson in 2011 and his brother-in-law, Robert (Bob) Yantz in 2013. Surviving is a sister Laura Jane (Jen) Yantz of Kingsport, Tenn. Also surviving is a daughter Ann (Thompson) Caton and her husband Mark, of Uniontown, Pa.; a son Bruce Thompson of East Petersburg, Pa.; and a nephew who was raised as a son, Ted Adams, of Philadelphia, Pa. He has three grandchildren, Seth and his wife Amy, Matthew, and Marilyn, all of Uniontown, Pa. And he has three great-grandchildren, Seth II, Casey, and Jacob, also of Uniontown, Pa. Also surviving are many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Services will be private.

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Gordon Dix Griffin

Gordon Dix Griffin, age 96, died on January 29, 2016 in Skillman. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he was a long time resident of the Trenton and Princeton areas.

After graduating from Trenton High School and Princeton University, class of 1940, Gordon served as a forward observer in the U.S. Army’s 119th Field Artillery during World War II. He participated in five campaigns in the European Theatre of Operations, including Normandy, The Rhineland, and The Ardennes. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Bronze Star.

Following the war, Gordon attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania on the GI bill. A practicing attorney, he co-founded along with the late Ralph Mason, the Princeton law firm of Mason, Griffin & Pierson. Gordon’s long association with Ralph Mason began when they met at a YMCA camp on the Delaware River where Mason was a counselor and Gordon a camper. Years later, in 1948, they began their lasting professional relationship when Gordon became an associate of Montgomery & Mason. In 1955, the partnership of Mason & Griffin was formed and from then on the firm developed and grew, taking on partners and changing its name, to become the leading firm in the region it is today.

Gordon served for many years as the municipal attorney for the Township of Princeton and the Borough of Princeton. He was past president of the Mercer County Legal Aid Society, the Princeton Bar Association, the Mercer County Bar Association, and the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys. He was a trustee of the Mercer County Bar Foundation.

Inspired by and sometimes in concert with his wife of 57 years, the late Sallie Fell Griffin who died in 1999, Gordon volunteered in many community organizations and institutions. He was president of the Social Service Bureau of Princeton, the Princeton Lions Club, the New Jersey Unit of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and the Rockingham Association. He was a past trustee of the Nassau Club, the Westminster Choir College, and the Princeton Senior Resource Center. One of the original residents of Stonebridge at Montgomery, where he lived for the last 12 years, Gordon was active at its opening, serving as the first president of its residents’ association.

Gordon was an avid reader of history, and also shared a love of travel with his wife. Together they wrote and produced dozens of travel journals of their many trips, full of history, wit, and insight, which his children treasure today. Throughout his life Gordon delighted family and friends with his masterful skill on the harmonica, and without these performances no family party was complete. He had a beautiful singing voice and loved to entertain with the old standards. He remained an enthusiastic and highly competitive crossword puzzler until the end of his life.

Gordon is survived by a daughter, Sallie van Merkensteijn of Philadelphia; two sons and daughters-in-law, Gordon and Jenifer Griffin of Princeton and Henry Griffin and Pamela Wintle of Washington D.C.; a daughter and son-in-law, Margaret Griffin and Scott Sillars of Princeton; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Interment will be with his wife at All Saints’ Cemetery in Princeton. The family is planning a memorial celebration to take place in June around the time of his birthday.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Princeton Senior Resource Center, 45 Stockton Steet, Princeton NJ 08540 or The D&R Greenway Land Trust, 1 Preservation Place, Princeton NJ 08540.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home,
Princeton.

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Eleanor May

Eleanor May, age 91, died peacefully surrounded by her family on February 2, 2016. Eleanor was born on March 27, 1924. She was preceded in death by her parents, Alois May and Blanche (Miller) May of Portland, Oregon and two sisters, Diane Kragrud and Pauline “Polly” Burke.

Eleanor was a graduate of Reed College in 1945. During the years when her children were young, she edited a local newspaper in the New Brunswick area and was a member of the school board. She was an elementary school teacher and later taught math at Dunellen High School. Eleanor was a passionate political activist supporting the causes she believed in and campaigning tirelessly for her candidates of choice. After receiving her Masters degree in 1967, she was an instructor in mathematics at Douglass College, Rutgers University.

In 1973 Eleanor began a 30-year career as managing and technical editor for the Annals of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University. She devoted herself wholeheartedly to this work and found it genuinely satisfying. She enjoyed collegial relationships with some of the most brilliant minds at Princeton and continued working part time well into her retirement years, cherishing the fulfillment of her work and the association with respected colleagues.

Eleanor was a lifelong competitive tennis and bridge player and loved to travel. She made many dear friends throughout the years with whom she shared her love of life and intellectual pursuits including a deep appreciation for the classics and opera.

For the past several years, Eleanor struggled with a multitude of illnesses, always maintaining her interests, independence, dignity and joie de vivre, as she did her best to live her life to the fullest.

Eleanor is survived by her four children whom she adored: Alan Weisenborn (and his wife Dulce) of Miami, Florida; Lynn Appleby (and her husband Michael) of Charlottesville, Virginia; Eric Weisenborn of Beaverton, Oregon; Robert Weisenborn (and his wife Leigh Anne) of Lambertville, New Jersey; two grandchildren and one great grandchild.

A celebration-of-life gathering will be announced at a later date.

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Richard Wayne Terry

Richard Wayne Terry, 59, of Whispering Pines, N.C. passed away at his home on Saturday, January 16, 2016 after a long illness. Rick was born and raised in Princeton, and had many happy memories of growing up there.

Rick was a man of many talents. He was a master craftsman, woodworker, and carpenter. From a very early age he was fascinated by how things worked. He could fix anything and throughout his life he derived great pleasure from designing and building furniture and ‘gadgets’ to meet a specific function.

Rick loved the outdoors and was a gifted athlete who enjoyed hiking, biking, rock-climbing, canoeing, kite-flying, and tennis. However, basketball was Rick’s favorite sport, and although he was only 5’9’’, he once famously took a certain ex-pro ‘to school’ in a pickup game.

He also had a passion for music and was a talented piano-player, who possessed a natural improvisational ability. While he appreciated a wide variety of musical genres, he had a special love of jazz, classical and funk.

His love of animals, especially dogs, was a deep thread that ran through his life, and his exceptional ability to relate to them brought him much joy over the years.

Rick was a kind, warm, humble, and generous man, with a perceptive mind and an easy way about him. He possessed a great sense of humor and lived his life with a deep sense of personal integrity. Rick was a wonderful friend, and an exceptional husband, brother, son, and uncle, as well as father to his beloved dogs.

Rick lived with cancer for the last eight years of his life and was especially appreciative of the skilled and compassionate care he received at the FirstHealth Cancer Center in Pinehurst, N.C. His many walks at the Southern Pines Reservoir were a source of peace and serenity for him during this time.

He is survived by his wife, Teresa Lynch, his beloved dog Roscoe; his brother, Gregory Maynard Terry; his sister, Joyce Lynn Darling; his brother-in-law, Glen Earl Darling; his nephews, Matthew Maynard Darling and Andrew Lynn Darling; and many extended family members. He was predeceased by his parents Charles Maynard Terry and Bernis Arlene Terry, and his beloved dogs Oscar and Jesse. He will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be held at Mountain Lakes House in Princeton in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The International Myeloma Foundation (myeloma.org) or New Spirit 4 Aussie Rescue (ns4ar.org).

Powell Funeral Home and Crematory in Southern Pines, N.C. is assisting the family.

Condolences: PinesFunerals.com.