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UC Davis Magazine

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 1940s

1940Warren Tufts died in August 2003 at age 86. After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Mr. Tufts returned to his father's ranch near Winters and acquired additional properties and began growing apricots and peaches for fresh markets. He went on to market his own fruit, eventually selling it around the world. His father, Warren P. Tufts, was a professor of pomology at UC Davis. (appeared in the Winter 2004 issue)   Marvin “Bing” Taylor died in November 2003 at age 85. He was a Navy veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and became known in his native city of Lodi for his support of veterans and his knowledge of that period. After returning from the war, he became a partner in what eventually became Taylor Packaging and went on to own his own vineyard, at which he worked until his death. Survivors include his wife, Loretta; son, Thomas Crumpley, and his wife, Carolyn; daughter, Karen Holmstrom, and her husband, Gary; and adopted daughter, Lily Chao Carter. (appeared in the Spring 2004 issue)    Warren K. Pope died in June 2004 of injuries sustained in a car accident in Idaho. He was 88 years old. After graduating from UC Davis, he earned his doctorate at UC Berkeley and moved with his family to serve as a professor of agronomy at the University of Idaho. Upon retirement, Dr. Pope operated his own wheat-breeding company. He is survived by one daughter, six sons and 12 grandchildren. (appeared in the Fall 2004 issue)    Frank Wilcox of Walnut Grove died in August 2004 at age 85. He was a pear grower, first in the Santa Clara Valley and later in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta after selling his family homestead in Santa Clara to Intel and Marriott’s Great America. He served on several pear industry boards, the Santa Clara Valley Water Conservation District and the board of the former Jefferson Union School District, and was an elder in his church. A World War II veteran, he served with the Army Signal Corps in both Europe and in the Pacific. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Joan, five sons, a sister, 11 grandchildren and one great-grandson. (appeared in the Winter 2005 issue)    Jack Stone received an Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A lifelong farmer and founder of Stone Land Co. in Stratford, Stone has been an advocate for cotton growers and has sought to protect water supplies through his work with such organizations as the Westlands Water District. (appeared in the Winter 2006 issue)    Janet Lovelace Allen, who attended UC Davis in the early 1940s before the campus closed due to World War II, died in Sutter Creek in February 2008 at age 86. After Mrs. Allen’s first husband was killed in action in France in 1944, she joined the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. After the war, Mrs. Allen was married to John Allen, joining him in his ranching and other businesses. From 1958 to 1960, she served on the Citizen’s Advisory Commission, appointed by the California Legislature to investigate the decline of the public school system. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, her six children and their spouses and 14 grandchildren. (appeared in the Summer 2008 issue)    George Madsen died at his Fremont home in March. An Air Force veteran, he was a Fillmore High School agriculture teacher and principal. After retiring in 1974, he and his wife, Esther, volunteered with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. In addition to his wife of more than 66 years, survivors include their children, Nick, Karen and Linda. (appeared in the Fall 2009 issue)    Guy Leggitt, a Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame member for basketball and baseball, died in July at a Carmichael hospital at age 93. He played semiprofessional baseball in the Pacific Coast and Old Valley leagues, and also was inducted into the Sacramento Area Softball Hall of Fame. He worked more than 35 years for Sacramento’s Golden State Milk Co., which was later bought by Foremost-McKesson. He was an avid fisherman, hunter and horseshoe player. In his later life, he took up shuffleboard, once playing in a tournament in Japan. Preceding him in death were his first wife, Dolores, and their infant son, John Glenn; second wife, Crescent; and two brothers, Ray and Glenn. Survivors include his daughter, Penny Marie Hill; sister, Betty Campbell and her husband, Ed; numerous nieces and nephews; and his ‘’adopted daughter,’’ Amy Levi, and her husband, Larry, of Yuma, Ariz. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue)    Bruce Klein, a retired 3M salesman who attended UC Davis in 1938–40, died in July in Fresno at age 92. He was a U.S. Army veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor who also witnessed the end of World War II, from Lejima, Japan, where Japanese delegates stopped on their way to Manila to negotiate surrender terms with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. After the war, Klein raised cattle and sold animal feed and veterinary medicine for General Mills and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals before joining 3M, where he worked 20 years selling overhead projectors. (appeared in the Winter 2013 issue)    Norman B. Slater Jr., a longtime Clarksburg farmer, died in May at 94. He attended UC Davis in the late 1930s, then farmed with his father, Norman Sr., and his uncle, Colby “Babe” Slater ’17—brothers who were members of the U.S. rugby team that won the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. After World War II, he and a brother grew sugar beets, safflower, alfalfa and other crops. He retired in 1981. (appeared in the Summer 2013 issue)    Betty (Badgley) Barnes of Etna died at a Yreka hospice home in March. She was 92. She and her husband, Glenn, whom she met at UC Davis, ran a ranch in Scott Valley. Glenn died in 1994. Survivors include their sons, Steve, of Castro Valley, and Rick ’73, M.S., ’74, of Callahan; and daughter, Patty Davie ’72, of Susanville. (appeared in the Fall 2013 issue)    Wendell Shipman, of Carmichael, died June 7 at age 98. He worked as an engineer for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. (AT&T) for 40 years.
  (appeared in the Fall 2014 issue)
1941Dave Paxton is retired from his job teaching drafting and engineering in the San Jose Unified School District and writes that he is enjoying living in Alameda, sailing on the San Francisco Bay and traveling in his Airstream trailer. (appeared in the Fall 2003 issue)   Eugenio Pio “Pete” Seghesio died in September 2004 at age 85. He was a pioneer in Northern California’s wine industry, with his career spanning more than 60 years. He joined the family Seghesio Vineyards and Winery in 1941 after studying under renowned UC Davis enologist Maynard Amerine. Mr. Seghesio served three years in the Army during World War II, receiving a Meritorious Service Commendation for combat in Italy. He returned to his family business and was company president from 1965 to 1995. He oversaw the winery’s transformation from bulk producer to a premium Zinfandel estate. Survivors include his wife, Rachel Ann Passalacqua Seghesio; his son, E. Peter Seghesio; daughter, Amy Camille Seghesio; and two grandsons. (appeared in the Winter 2005 issue)    Albert Dolcini died in December 2005 at the age of 86. After his graduation from UC Davis, Mr. Dolcini studied at the Army School of Engineering at Ft. Belvoir, Va., before serving in the Pacific in World War II. Mr. Dolcini later settled in Sacramento, where he worked for 36 years with the state Department of Water Resources. He also conducted water studies for the United Nations and World Bank in India, Ethiopia and Pakistan. Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Nancey, six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. (appeared in the Spring 2006 issue)    John “Jack” Underhill ’41— a longtime farm advisor in San Joaquin County and an Aggie alumni leader—died last December at age 91. A Mayflower descendant and great-grandson of a ’49er, he was born in San Francisco and grew up in Davis. At UC Davis he majored in vegetable crops, was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, Alpha Zeta Agricultural Honor Society and ski team, and was track team captain, Block CA Society president and 1941 Picnic Day chair. He received the Activities Award key and the Lindsey Trophy for activities, athletics and scholarship in 1940. During World War II, he served as a communications officer in the Pacific on the USS Stephen Porter. He spent 33 years as a farm advisor for the UC Agricultural Extension Service, specializing in asparagus and tomatoes and serving 1960–74 as San Joaquin County director. During a 1955 sabbatical, he earned a master’s degree in agricultural science from Cornell University. After retiring from Extension, he became an agricultural consultant locally and abroad. He served as president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association in 1960–61 and helped launch the Cal Aggie Alumni Scholarship Program. He received the Jerry Fiedler Memorial Alumni Award in 1983 and was among the first inductees into the San Joaquin County Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1986. He was also an Eagle Scout and scoutmaster. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Helen, children Julie Underhill Elam ’71 of San Anselmo (husband Jon Elam ’72), Ken Underhill ’91 of Livermore, Liz Underhill-Jue of Elk Grove (husband Jack Jue); and grandchildren Rob and Kristin Elam, Jace Underhill-Proctor, and Robert (wife Kelly), Leah and Jordan Jue; and great-grandchild Jackson Jue. Daughter Barbara and her husband, John McBrian, preceded Mr. Underhill in death. (appeared in the Summer 2010 issue)    George Nuckols, of Camarillo, died at age 95 on November 28. He was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran and retired farmer and founding director of local water districts. Survivors include his son Tom ’66 and daughter-in-law Joanne (Flicker) ’71. 
  (appeared in the Spring 2014 issue)    Glenn Wilkins, of Del Rey, died at age 94 on September 13. He was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran and retired farmer.  (appeared in the Spring 2014 issue)
1942Chester Locke writes this year that his family is celebrating 150 years and five generations of farming. He manages the Locke Ranch in Lockeford, along with Chris Locke, a 1973 UC Berkeley graduate, and Bonnie Locke '71. (appeared in the Spring 2000 issue)   Harry Donald Kinder died in September at age 83 after a brief illness. Mr. Kinder spent many years in the seed industry in positions of increasing responsibility, with C.M. Volkman Co., Caladino Farm Seeds and then as manager of Northrup King's field seed department and as a board member. After retiring, he pursued his lifelong interest in golf. He was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria Stuart; he is survived by sons Stuart and Drew, daughter Ginny and six grandchildren. (appeared in the Spring 2003 issue)