GS Class of 1969

William V. Lipton ’69 ScM, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dec. 20, from ALS. After Brown, he served in the U.S. Army. Upon leaving the Army in 1970, he returned to school at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, where he earned degrees in environmental protection. He started his career as a radiation protection engineer at Argonne National Lab outside Chicago and earned an MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1981, he was recruited by Detroit Edison to lead the radiation protection team at Fermi nuclear power plant in Michigan. He also taught classes in environmental science at Wayne State University and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He was a member of the American Nuclear Society and created and maintained a website on radiation protection. He retired in 2008. He and his wife were a team in all they were involved in including traveling to Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, China, India, South America, the Galapagos, and sailing through both the Suez and Panama canals. They were both active members of First United Methodist Church, where they served as coordinators for Alpha House outreach program and the Love Thy Neighbor program and organized the holiday giving tree. He is survived by his wife, Beth, and two daughters.

Nalamolu Gopalarao ’69 PhD, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Jul. 27. He was a physics professor at Rockford University for 45 years and served as chair of the physics department from 1969 to 2014. He also worked as a part-time consultant for National Lock in Rockford. He was a founding member and trustee of the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago. He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, four granddaughters, and a son-in-law.

Anne Bratton Bohlke ’69 MAT, of Hastings, Neb.; Sept. 10, of complications after suffering a stroke. She taught high school English in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York. She began teaching at Hastings College in 1983, serving as an English professor until she became associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty in her final six years of service. While teaching full-time, she earned her PhD in English from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. During her tenure at Hastings College she was the recipient of the Distinguished Senior Faculty Award (2004) and the Vondrak Outstanding Advisor Award (2006). She retired from Hastings College in 2012. A week after her massive stroke she was inducted into the College’s prestigious Pro Rege Society and participated in the celebration from her hospital room virtually. She is survived by two daughters, two stepsons, two grandsons, a sister, a brother, and a sister-in-law.

George Dvorak ’69 PhD, of Menands, N.Y., Apr. 23. He was the civil engineering department chair at the University of Utah when he was recruited to be the department chair of civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1984, from which he retired in 2008. He had also served as research/visiting professor at UConn and the University of North Texas. He held many leadership roles, including president of the Society of Engineering Science, and he received numerous awards, including the 1992 ASME Nadai Medal for pioneering research in the mechanics of modern materials; the 1994 SES Prager Medal for outstanding contributions to the mechanics of solids; a 1995 election to the National Academy of Engineering; a 1995 Fulbright fellowship from the Technical University of Denmark; a 1997 doctor honoris causa from the Czech Technical University in Prague; the 1999 Brown Engineering Alumni Medal; and the 2002 ASME Daniel C. Drucker Medal for research achievements in plasticity, material fracture and fatigue, and thermo-mechanics of heterogeneous materials. A special issue of the International Journal of Solids and Structures, Vol. 40, No. 25, was published in his honor in 2003. He is survived by a son, a sister and brother-in-law, a niece, and a nephew.

Deborah Doyle Knowles ’69 AM, of South Dartmouth, Mass.; Jan. 21. She taught high school Spanish in Rhode Island at Moses Brown School, Providence Country Day School, and Bay View Academy. She later joined the Providence Art Club and took up watercolor painting. She enjoyed skiing and traveling, especially trips with her husband and children to Morocco, Ethiopia, and the Middle East. She is survived by her husband, Lawrence; a daughter and son-in-law; two sons; and four grandchildren.

Stephen A. Scott ’69 AM, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mar. 10, from complications of dementia. After serving in the U.S. Army and graduating from the University of Oregon, he earned a master’s degree in music composition from Brown. He then joined the faculty at Colorado College, where he taught courses in jazz, composition, and electronic and experimental music. While there, he founded the Bowed Piano Ensemble, which was composed of 10 musicians, most of them Colorado College students that he directed, and used nylon filament, rosined horsehair and other implements to create an orchestral sound from the inside of a grand piano. The ensemble gained international fame and toured widely over the next several decades, including performances at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera House. In 2004, he was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center on Lake Como, Italy, and in 2008 he was named USA Simon Fellow by United States Artists. He retired in 2014 as professor emeritus of music at Colorado College. He was listed in New Grove’s Dictionary of American Music and Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. His music can be heard on the New Albion, Navona, and Albany labels and at www.bowedpianoensemble.com. He is survived by his wife, Victoria Hansen, who toured with the Bowed Piano Ensemble as a soprano soloist; a daughter; a son; two stepchildren; four grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.

Frances Shabica ’66 ScM, ’69 PhD, of Bronx, N.Y.; Apr. 5. A lifelong educator, she taught biology at several institutions, including Wheaton College, Connecticut College, the Lincoln School, and Dartmouth High School, before retiring in 2013. She was a Boston Red Sox fan and enjoyed solving crossword puzzles and reading mystery novels. She is survived by two daughters and their spouses, four grandsons, and two brothers, including Charles ’65.

Burton N. Kendall ’69 PhD, of San Francisco; June 22, from complications of ALS. After graduating, he began teaching at UC Santa Barbara. He left teaching in 1973, having learned a trade through his physics research, and was hired by Systems Control, Inc., a fledgling computer company. He later worked at Measurex and then moved on to Octel Communications. He was a cofounder of LifeMasters (originally HiLife) in South San Francisco, which used cutting edge computer tech to manage the health of patients with chronic illnesses. He joined SnapTrack in 2000 as they were being acquired by Qualcomm and spent the rest of his career at Qualcomm, working on location technology for cell phones. He retired from Qualcomm in 2015. He volunteered with the Exploratorium, was a docent at the California Academy of Sciences, and enjoyed leading walking tours with City Guides. He also traveled extensively. He is survived by his wife, Sally; three children and their spouses; and three grandchildren.

Edward A. Grove ’69 PhD, of Saunderstown, R.I.; Jan. 4, after an illness. He was a faculty member in the University of Rhode Island mathematics department, retiring in 2011 as full professor. During his tenure he published 63 papers and co-authored two textbooks. His areas of research in algebraic topology and finite difference equations have been widely cited. He is survived by two children, including son Edward ’84. 

Richard C. Lessmann ’66 ScM, ’69 PhD, of Narragansett, R.I.; Dec. 22. He was a professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at the University of Rhode Island, where he worked for 39 years before retiring. He enjoyed advising students transitioning into college and in his spare time liked to draw, paint, and do woodworking. He is survived by his wife, Ann; three sons and their spouses; and three grandchildren.

William T. Kiley ’69 PhD, of Fairfax, Va.; Nov. 12. He taught in the department of mathematics at George Mason University. He was completely engaged in the University and assisted in creating recreational activities for faculty that included a duplicate bridge club, a hiking club, a gourmet group, and group vacations. He was a patron of the GMU Center for the Arts and cheered on the GMU athletes. In retirement he took classes, enjoying the opportunity to learn from expert colleagues about topics that had intrigued him over the years. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn.

Stanley I. Grossman ’69 PhD, of Acton, Mass.; Dec. 23. He taught at McGill University in Montreal before joining the University of Montana’s mathematics department faculty in 1972. In 1994 he retired and relocated to London, England, where he was a research associate at University College London for several years. Over the course of his career, he wrote college level mathematics textbooks and served as a director of Rocky Mountain Traders, Ltd, and Bloomsbury Innovations. He is survived by a daughter and two sons.

Linda Mansfield Pointer ’67, ’69 AM, of East Falmouth, Mass., formerly of Lawton, Okla.; May 28, of cancer. She worked for many years with the U.S. Department of Energy and as an economist at McKinsey & Company, traveling extensively to serve clients and address matters of oil and gas supply models. In 2004 she left Oklahoma and moved to East Falmouth, where she was an avid watercolor painter and supporter of the Falmouth Artists Guild. She served as treasurer of the Guild, assisted in marketing efforts, and wrote grant proposals. She enjoyed sailing. She is survived by her husband, Ronald; a sister; a brother; a sister-in-law; and a brother-in-law.