Quick links

Third floor Mrak Hall
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

(530) 752-1930

UC Davis home > UC Davis Magazine > Class Notes Archive

Class Notes Archive 1931-2014

Class Notes are searchable back to our spring 2000 issue. You can browse the notes by decade (click on a decade to view its class notes):

Class notes from the 1950s

Showing 1 to 20 of 150 Next >

1950Charles Mohun Quarré died in June 2004 in Soldotna, Ala., at age 80. He served as a Navy lieutenant during World War II. For 18 years he worked in the banking and real estate business until he returned to sea as an engineer with the Merchant Marines. After his retirement, Mr. Quarré moved to Alaska and spent the last years of his life enjoying the great outdoors and community volunteer work. Survivors include his brother, sister, four children and six grandchildren. (appeared in the Fall 2004 issue) • James Holland Beardsley, M.Ed. ’59, of Stockton died in March 2005 at the age of 80. Mr. Beardsley served in the U.S. Army during WWII and received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his service in Germany. At UC Davis, Mr. Beardsley was active in the AGR fraternity and served as “mayor” of Aggie Villa. He taught agricultural mechanics at San Joaquin Delta College for 33 years and served as president of the San Joaquin Historical Society, helping establish an antique tractor museum. (appeared in the Summer 2005 issue) • After receiving a Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Wisconsin, Ivan Thomason joined the faculty at UC Riverside, teaching in the nematology and plant pathology departments until 1989. Thomason grew up in Davis, saying that he watched Davis and UC Davis grow from humble beginnings to prominence. (appeared in the Summer 2007 issue) • Lloyd Lacy Livingston died in January at his home in Palo Cedro. He was 87. After four years in the Marines during World War II, he attended UC Davis on the GI Bill and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture. He spent the first two years out of college teaching high school agriculture in Blythe. He married Norma Norcross and moved to Redding in 1954 where he taught agriculture at Shasta College. In 1962 he was appointed dean of vocational education. He retired in 1983. In addition to his wife of 56 years, he is survived by sons Mike, Matt, Jim, Pete, John, and Tim; 11 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and his sister, Marjorie Uhrich of Douglas, Wyo. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • CLARE ELLEN ROMINGER ’50 died in Davis in March. She was 81. She married James Rominger, and after graduation she became a full-time homemaker. She was a member of the Pioneer Church and a resident of Winters. She is survived by her daughter, Patty Quigley; sons Thomas Rominger and Doug Rominger; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1999 and by her brother, John Mumma. (appeared in the Summer 2009 issue) • Richard Keene Stearns, who attended UC Davis and played on the football team in the early 1950s, died last October in Cameron Park from pancreatic cancer at age 76. He served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant during the Korean War. After the war, he went into business and eventually became a vice president for a company in the Bay Area. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Janet Katsules, his children, Jeffrey and Lorinda, his grandchildren, Madelyn and Zachary, and his brother, Harry Jr. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • David Fish of Alcove, N.Y., Stanley and Lorraine (Bissant) Henry ’51 of Boise, Idaho, and John Meserve ’51 of Palm Springs met last January in Las Vegas, where they hold their annual reunions. (appeared in the Winter 2011 issue) • William “Bill” Allewelt, a longtime food-processing industry executive and UC Davis supporter, died in October in Davis at age 84. He retired in 1985 as CEO of Tri Valley Growers, which grew under his leadership to become the state’s largest canning company. The San Francisco Business Times named him one of the Bay Area’s 100 most influential business people of the 20th century. He was later named interim CEO of Sun-Diamond Growers of California to lead the financial turnaround of the nut and fruit growers’ cooperative, and served until 2006 on the board of Diamond Walnut Growers. He remained active at UC Davis, building industry support for food science research and serving as a Cal Aggie Alumni Association board member and a UC Davis Foundation trustee. He was a benefactor of the Alumni and Visitors Center, the UC Agricultural Issues Center and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and a charter member of the Chancellor’s Club, a group of donors who give $1,000 or more in unrestricted gifts to the campus each year. He and his wife, Jean, also established scholarships at the Graduate School of Management and School of Medicine in memory of their son, Thomas. In addition to his wife of 61 years, survivors include daughters Susan Allewelt Rosenberg of Sacramento, Melanie Allewelt Hoff of Ann Arbor, Mich., Elizabeth Allewelt Smith ’89 of Davis; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandsons. (appeared in the Winter 2011 issue) • Allan Davis, D.V.M. ’52, a retired El Cajon veterinarian and a member of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s first graduation class, died in April of natural causes at age 90. He was an Air Force veteran and a 50-year member of the El Cajon Rotary Club. Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Genevieve; daughter Julie Murray; and two grandchildren. (appeared in the Summer 2012 issue) • Edward Thiel, Cred., of Chowchilla, died in August at age 82. He was a lifelong farmer, an ordained Southern Baptist deacon and an avid aviator. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, he served on governing boards of the California Corn Growers and other agricultural co-ops. (appeared in the Winter 2013 issue) • John “Jack” Foott, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor whose grape research helped cultivate California’s Central Coast wine industry, died in his San Luis Obispo home in April. He was 89. A World War II veteran, he worked 40 years as a farm advisor in Tulare and San Luis Obispo counties. Beginning in the 1960s, he conducted trials to determine the wine grapes best suited for the region. Survivors include his wife, daughter and son, Scott, Ph.D. ’89. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • James Thomas Jr., D.V.M. ’54, a longtime veterinarian in the San Diego community of La Mesa, died in April at the age of 84. A veteran of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, he opened Parkway Pet Hospital in 1960. After retiring in 1988, he volunteered for Sharp Hospice Care and Stephen Ministries. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Leroy Sharp Jr., of Tulare, died in March at age 85. He was a World War II veteran and retired livestock producer who in the early 1980s developed a cost-effective biogas digester that used manure to generate electricity and heat for his farm. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Paul Thomas—a plant breeder who developed 73 hybrid vegetables, including seven All-America winners—died at a Woodland convalescent hospital in March. A U.S. Army veteran, he was 84. He worked during 1958–93 for Petoseed Co., and was a pioneer in hybrid vegetable seed breeding for disease resistance. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Walter “Whitey” Schlabes, Cred., of Davis, died at age 86 on August 30. A World War II Navy veteran and Korean War Marine Corps veteran, he was a retired agricultural consultant for Yolano Ag Products and Bank of America. (appeared in the Spring 2014 issue) • Irving Eaks, M.S., Ph.D. ’53, age 90, died Feb. 1. World War II Army veteran who witnessed the liberation of the last Dachau concentration camp prisoners, he was a UC Riverside plant physiologist and biochemistry lecturer emeritus and an expert on postharvest storage, transportation and ripening of citrus and avocados. (appeared in the Summer 2014 issue) • Evert Schlinger, Ph.D. ’57, a UC Berkeley entomology professor emeritus and philanthropist, died in October in Lafayette. He was 86. As an undergraduate, he played football, ran track and belonged to Calpha fraternity. He was a charter member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, established an endowed chair in insect systems and received the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ 1999 Award of Distinction. (appeared in the Spring 2015 issue)
1951Paul H. Lehigh '51 died in December at the age of 79. A senior livestock marketing specialist and then a hay and grain marketing specialist, Mr. Lehigh served the California Food and Agriculture Department for 35 years. Survivors include his wife, Millie Ann, and his sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Bob Harris. (appeared in the Spring 2003 issue) • Sonoma County Conservation Action honored Bill Kortum, D.V.M. ’53, in early October for his work as an environmental activist. The SCCA, which Kortum founded in 1991, acknowledged him for selecting the land for Salt Point State Park, keeping Sonoma County’s beaches as public land, acting against a nuclear power plant planned for Bodega Head and other grassroots efforts. (appeared in the Winter 2008 issue) • Hugh Popenoe continues to teach, even after his retirement from the University of Florida. He also has the largest water buffalo herd in the United States and is president of the American Water Buffalo Association. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue)

1950Charles Mohun Quarré died in June 2004 in Soldotna, Ala., at age 80. He served as a Navy lieutenant during World War II. For 18 years he worked in the banking and real estate business until he returned to sea as an engineer with the Merchant Marines. After his retirement, Mr. Quarré moved to Alaska and spent the last years of his life enjoying the great outdoors and community volunteer work. Survivors include his brother, sister, four children and six grandchildren. (appeared in the Fall 2004 issue) • James Holland Beardsley, M.Ed. ’59, of Stockton died in March 2005 at the age of 80. Mr. Beardsley served in the U.S. Army during WWII and received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his service in Germany. At UC Davis, Mr. Beardsley was active in the AGR fraternity and served as “mayor” of Aggie Villa. He taught agricultural mechanics at San Joaquin Delta College for 33 years and served as president of the San Joaquin Historical Society, helping establish an antique tractor museum. (appeared in the Summer 2005 issue) • After receiving a Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Wisconsin, Ivan Thomason joined the faculty at UC Riverside, teaching in the nematology and plant pathology departments until 1989. Thomason grew up in Davis, saying that he watched Davis and UC Davis grow from humble beginnings to prominence. (appeared in the Summer 2007 issue) • Lloyd Lacy Livingston died in January at his home in Palo Cedro. He was 87. After four years in the Marines during World War II, he attended UC Davis on the GI Bill and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture. He spent the first two years out of college teaching high school agriculture in Blythe. He married Norma Norcross and moved to Redding in 1954 where he taught agriculture at Shasta College. In 1962 he was appointed dean of vocational education. He retired in 1983. In addition to his wife of 56 years, he is survived by sons Mike, Matt, Jim, Pete, John, and Tim; 11 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and his sister, Marjorie Uhrich of Douglas, Wyo. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • CLARE ELLEN ROMINGER ’50 died in Davis in March. She was 81. She married James Rominger, and after graduation she became a full-time homemaker. She was a member of the Pioneer Church and a resident of Winters. She is survived by her daughter, Patty Quigley; sons Thomas Rominger and Doug Rominger; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1999 and by her brother, John Mumma. (appeared in the Summer 2009 issue) • Richard Keene Stearns, who attended UC Davis and played on the football team in the early 1950s, died last October in Cameron Park from pancreatic cancer at age 76. He served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant during the Korean War. After the war, he went into business and eventually became a vice president for a company in the Bay Area. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Janet Katsules, his children, Jeffrey and Lorinda, his grandchildren, Madelyn and Zachary, and his brother, Harry Jr. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • David Fish of Alcove, N.Y., Stanley and Lorraine (Bissant) Henry ’51 of Boise, Idaho, and John Meserve ’51 of Palm Springs met last January in Las Vegas, where they hold their annual reunions. (appeared in the Winter 2011 issue) • William “Bill” Allewelt, a longtime food-processing industry executive and UC Davis supporter, died in October in Davis at age 84. He retired in 1985 as CEO of Tri Valley Growers, which grew under his leadership to become the state’s largest canning company. The San Francisco Business Times named him one of the Bay Area’s 100 most influential business people of the 20th century. He was later named interim CEO of Sun-Diamond Growers of California to lead the financial turnaround of the nut and fruit growers’ cooperative, and served until 2006 on the board of Diamond Walnut Growers. He remained active at UC Davis, building industry support for food science research and serving as a Cal Aggie Alumni Association board member and a UC Davis Foundation trustee. He was a benefactor of the Alumni and Visitors Center, the UC Agricultural Issues Center and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and a charter member of the Chancellor’s Club, a group of donors who give $1,000 or more in unrestricted gifts to the campus each year. He and his wife, Jean, also established scholarships at the Graduate School of Management and School of Medicine in memory of their son, Thomas. In addition to his wife of 61 years, survivors include daughters Susan Allewelt Rosenberg of Sacramento, Melanie Allewelt Hoff of Ann Arbor, Mich., Elizabeth Allewelt Smith ’89 of Davis; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandsons. (appeared in the Winter 2011 issue) • Allan Davis, D.V.M. ’52, a retired El Cajon veterinarian and a member of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s first graduation class, died in April of natural causes at age 90. He was an Air Force veteran and a 50-year member of the El Cajon Rotary Club. Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Genevieve; daughter Julie Murray; and two grandchildren. (appeared in the Summer 2012 issue) • Edward Thiel, Cred., of Chowchilla, died in August at age 82. He was a lifelong farmer, an ordained Southern Baptist deacon and an avid aviator. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, he served on governing boards of the California Corn Growers and other agricultural co-ops. (appeared in the Winter 2013 issue) • John “Jack” Foott, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor whose grape research helped cultivate California’s Central Coast wine industry, died in his San Luis Obispo home in April. He was 89. A World War II veteran, he worked 40 years as a farm advisor in Tulare and San Luis Obispo counties. Beginning in the 1960s, he conducted trials to determine the wine grapes best suited for the region. Survivors include his wife, daughter and son, Scott, Ph.D. ’89. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • James Thomas Jr., D.V.M. ’54, a longtime veterinarian in the San Diego community of La Mesa, died in April at the age of 84. A veteran of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, he opened Parkway Pet Hospital in 1960. After retiring in 1988, he volunteered for Sharp Hospice Care and Stephen Ministries. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Leroy Sharp Jr., of Tulare, died in March at age 85. He was a World War II veteran and retired livestock producer who in the early 1980s developed a cost-effective biogas digester that used manure to generate electricity and heat for his farm. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Paul Thomas—a plant breeder who developed 73 hybrid vegetables, including seven All-America winners—died at a Woodland convalescent hospital in March. A U.S. Army veteran, he was 84. He worked during 1958–93 for Petoseed Co., and was a pioneer in hybrid vegetable seed breeding for disease resistance. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue) • Walter “Whitey” Schlabes, Cred., of Davis, died at age 86 on August 30. A World War II Navy veteran and Korean War Marine Corps veteran, he was a retired agricultural consultant for Yolano Ag Products and Bank of America. (appeared in the Spring 2014 issue) • Irving Eaks, M.S., Ph.D. ’53, age 90, died Feb. 1. World War II Army veteran who witnessed the liberation of the last Dachau concentration camp prisoners, he was a UC Riverside plant physiologist and biochemistry lecturer emeritus and an expert on postharvest storage, transportation and ripening of citrus and avocados. (appeared in the Summer 2014 issue) • Evert Schlinger, Ph.D. ’57, a UC Berkeley entomology professor emeritus and philanthropist, died in October in Lafayette. He was 86. As an undergraduate, he played football, ran track and belonged to Calpha fraternity. He was a charter member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, established an endowed chair in insect systems and received the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ 1999 Award of Distinction. (appeared in the Spring 2015 issue)

1951Paul H. Lehigh '51 died in December at the age of 79. A senior livestock marketing specialist and then a hay and grain marketing specialist, Mr. Lehigh served the California Food and Agriculture Department for 35 years. Survivors include his wife, Millie Ann, and his sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Bob Harris. (appeared in the Spring 2003 issue) • Sonoma County Conservation Action honored Bill Kortum, D.V.M. ’53, in early October for his work as an environmental activist. The SCCA, which Kortum founded in 1991, acknowledged him for selecting the land for Salt Point State Park, keeping Sonoma County’s beaches as public land, acting against a nuclear power plant planned for Bodega Head and other grassroots efforts. (appeared in the Winter 2008 issue) • Hugh Popenoe continues to teach, even after his retirement from the University of Florida. He also has the largest water buffalo herd in the United States and is president of the American Water Buffalo Association. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue)

Showing 1 to 20 of 150 Next >