Saturday, December 24, 2005
William H.T. SmithDeputy Police Commissioner
William H.T. Smith, 87, a former deputy police commissioner in New York City and a staff director for the Washington-based Police Foundation, died of multiple strokes Dec. 22 at Friends Nursing Home in Sandy Spring. He was an Olney resident from 1973 to 1997, when he moved to Derwood.
Mr. Smith was born in New York and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1935. He worked briefly as a patrolman with the New York City Police Department before enlisting in the Army Air Forces. During World War II, he was a B-29 navigator with the rank of first lieutenant.
After the war, he rejoined NYPD, where for the next 22 years his duties included foot and radio motor patrol, gambling and vice investigation, civil defense, and personnel character investigation. He rose to the rank of captain.
From 1957 to 1961, he was assigned to the faculty of the New York City Police Academy, serving for two years as head of the recruit training program. In 1961, he organized and directed a staff for the newly created Gambling Enforcement Inspection and Review Board.
In 1963, he left New York to become a deputy police chief in Syracuse, N.Y. He served as chief of the department from 1964 to 1967.
In 1967, he became director of the Inspection Division for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, serving under Secretary Robert C. Weaver. He was responsible for ensuring the integrity of HUD projects and activities and helped develop a special project dealing with organized crime. He also completed a reorganization of the Inspection Division.
He moved back to New York City in 1970 to become first deputy commissioner, a post he held until 1973, when former NYPD Commissioner Patrick V. Murphy invited him to become staff director of the Police Foundation. He retired in 1978.
Mr. Smith received his undergraduate degree in business administration from Pace College in New York in 1960 and his master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University in 1965. He also lectured at various colleges and universities and was a consultant to the U.S. Justice Department. He was a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other professional organizations.
A daughter, Marian S. Mills, died in 1993.
His wife, Veronica M. Smith, died in 1999.
Survivors include a daughter, Julia F. Welsh of Derwood; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
James W. RedfieldFBI AgentJames W. Redfield, 81, an FBI special agent who retired in 1977 as chief of the domestic intelligence section, died of cancer Dec. 22 at Sleepy Hollow Manor in Annandale. He lived in Arlington.
Mr. Redfield had a 25-year career with the FBI, including earlier assignments in the Philadelphia and Washington field offices.
He was a native New Yorker and a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where as a Marine he served in the World War II V-12 program.
He was a law school student in New York after the war when he was recruited by the FBI. A short time later, though, he was recalled to active military duty during the Korean War.
After his honorable discharge as a Marine Corps first lieutenant in 1952, he rejoined the FBI.
He was a member of the Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Franklin & Marshall College Alumni Association and St. John's Catholic Church in McLean.
His wife of 52 years, Elizabeth C. Redfield, died in 2000.
Survivors include two sons, James W. Redfield Jr. of Arlington and Ronald Redfield of Lutz, Fla.; three grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Natalie LamkenMusic, English TeacherNatalie Lamken, 90, a music teacher who also taught English at several embassies in Washington, died Dec. 5 of a stroke at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Mass. She had moved to Northampton six years ago to be near her sister.
Ms. Lamken, who lived in the District for 60 years, taught piano, guitar and accordion from her apartment and at the homes of her students.
She developed a method and an apparatus for blind people to teach themselves how to play the guitar. The apparatus contained a series of instructions in Braille and was produced with the help of the local Prevention of Blindness Society, which also distributed it.
Ms. Lamken was born in Lynn, Mass., and graduated from Radcliffe College. She received her master's degree in English from the University of Michigan in 1938.
She was active in the civil rights movement and was a member of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare. In 1940, she collected petitions to end the poll tax in Washington, among other activities.
She loved the theater and music and was an early, enthusiastic supporter of Arena Stage.
Survivors include her sister Dorothy Elkins of Northampton.
Elizabeth Beuregard HugoArtist, U-Md. SecretaryElizabeth Beuregard Hugo, 85, who was a secretary in the University of Maryland Art Department, died of Alzheimer's disease Nov. 26 at an assisted living facility in Bradenton, Fla. She lived in Anna Maria, Fla.
Mrs. Hugo began working at the University of Maryland in 1965. She retired in 1981 as the secretary to the graduate art history and fine arts advisers.
While working at the university, she graduated s umma cum laude in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts.
She lived in the Washington area for 40 years, most recently in Adelphi. She did volunteer work for the PTA, Adelphi Citizen Organization, small theater and art groups, and Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church.
She moved to Anna Maria in 1982, where she pursued her vocation as an artist. She was a member of the Women Contemporary Artists.
Mrs. Hugo was born in St. Anthony, Idaho. In 1941, she married Quentin Blakely, who was killed during World War II. She married Thomas A. Hugo in 1946. He died in 2000.
Survivors include two children, K. Michele Hugo of Bradenton and Curtis A. Hugo of Olney; and four grandchildren.
Nancy Lynn SharkeyTeacher, HomemakerNancy Lynn Sharkey, 41, who taught kindergarten and first grade at Floris Elementary School in Herndon from 1987 to 1995, died Nov. 25 at Inova Fairfax Hospital from complications related to leukemia. She lived in Fairfax.
She was born Nancy Lynn Bush in Washington and grew up in Alexandria. She graduated from Fort Hunt High School in 1982 and from George Mason University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1987.
After teaching eight years, she was a homemaker and active in her community. She was described by her brother as a "perpetually cheerful person" who was at the center of neighborhood activities. When she married in 1994, her kindergarten class came to her wedding.
She was a member of Fairfax United Methodist Church.
Survivors include her husband, Dan Sharkey, and three children, Luke Sharkey, Reid Sharkey and Sam Sharkey, all of Fairfax; her parents, Stephen E. and Bertha O. Bush of Winchester, Va.; a brother, Stephen F. Bush of Williamsburg, Va.; and a sister, Laura Beth Smith of Herndon.
Eliza C.G. BacasArtistEliza Cunningham Goddard Bacas, 88, a Washington native who in the 1960s helped run the Artists Mart shop on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown, died Dec. 21 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington after a heart attack. She lived in Arlington.
Mrs. Bacas teamed up with other female artists to sell their creations at the market, including her specialty hand-glazed ceramics and watercolor paintings.
She had previously sold perfume as a "Yardley girl" at the Woodward & Lothrop department store in Washington.
Mrs. Bacas was a graduate of Sidwell Friends School and American University.
She lived in California for about six years before returning to the Washington area in the early 1950s.
Her marriage to Donald Weeks ended in divorce.
Survivors include her husband of 53 years, Harry Bacas of Arlington; two daughters from her first marriage, Eliza Wingate of Upper Lake, Calif., and Bridget McCoy of Cotati, Calif.; two children from her second marriage, Alexander Bacas of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Hilary Bacas Vos of Pasadena, Calif.; and four grandchildren.