Sunday, March 12, 2006
William 'Mr. Bill' ChristianBroadcaster
William "Mr. Bill" Christian, 64, former news director at Howard University's WHUR radio station and WHUT-TV and an adjunct communications professor, died Feb. 12 of complications of diabetes at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington.
Mr. Christian was born in Akron, Ohio, and served in the Air Force in Vietnam. After his military service, he worked for General Tire Rubber Co. in Ohio before attending Kent State University. He graduated from Kent State, where he worked at the radio and television stations. In his senior year, he became press secretary for Rep. Morris K. Udall (D-Ariz.) during Udall's 1976 presidential campaign.
At the campaign's end, Mr. Christian moved to Washington and began working at WHUR. He worked there until the early 1980s and then freelanced at several other radio and TV stations in the Washington area, including Radio One.
In the past five years, during his many visits to the VA Medical Center, Mr. Christian would discuss the military and politics with fellow veterans and soon became known there as "The Mayor." He attended air shows all over the world and enjoyed other travel. He was a member of the Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Air Force Society.
His marriages to Lillian Christian and Gera Thompson Christian ended in divorce.
Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Diann Marie Christian and Mark Edward Christian, both of Columbus, Ohio; a daughter from his second marriage, Shannon Marie Christian of Forestville; a brother; and three grandchildren.
Bernard A. 'Pete' TwiggProfessor, Food ExpertBernard A. "Pete" Twigg, a food industry expert who was chairman of the University of Maryland's horticulture department until retiring in 1983, died of complications from diabetes Feb. 28 at his home in College Park. He was 79.
Dr. Twigg, who also spent his college years at Maryland, was a food science professor and extension specialist for Maryland's canning industry.
During his retirement, he traveled extensively while consulting with General Foods Corp., Asgrow Seed Co. and others in the food industry. He also was the scientific adviser to the World Food Logistics Organization until last spring.
Dr. Twigg was co-author of the book "Fundamentals of Quality Control for the Food Industry" (1966), which is still used in the industry and in graduate programs around the world.
He was instrumental in developing many of the hybrid tomatoes on the market today, including the famed Maryland tomato.
Dr. Twigg was born and grew up on a farm in Oldtown, Md. After high school, he spent two years in the Army as part of the occupation forces in Japan. He then went to the University of Maryland, where he obtained three degrees and spent his career.
He received a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1952, and a master's in 1954 and a doctorate in 1959, both in food science. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta.
After retiring, he returned to the university as an assistant to the provost and ad hoc adviser to the president. He also served on task forces regarding the future of the university.
Active in his community, Dr. Twigg served on the beautification committee of College Park and was a vestryman and senior warden at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Hyattsville. He also was president of the Nutcracker Point Civic Association.
He enjoyed spending time with his family and doing projects at his homes in College Park and St. Michaels, Md.
Dr. Twigg was a fellow in the Institute of Food Technologists and a member of the honorary fraternity Alpha Zeta Phi.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Jean Bryan Twigg of College Park; four children, Michael Twigg of Hyattsville, Patricia T. Scarcia of Glenwood, Md., Stephen Twigg of San Francisco and Richard Twigg of Salt Lake City; a brother, Wayne Twigg, and a sister, Mabel Millison, both of Cumberland, Md.; and six grandchildren.
Eugene M. IwanciwConsultant, Volunteer
Eugene M. Iwanciw, 53, a former Capitol Hill staff member who worked as a consultant and was active in Ukrainian affairs, died Feb. 25 of heart disease at his home in Arlington.
Mr. Iwanciw (pronounced ee-VAHN-chew) was born in Elizabeth, N.J., and graduated from Georgetown University in 1973. In the 1970s and '80s, he worked on Capitol Hill as a staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and as a legislative assistant to Sen. Harrison Schmitt (R-N.M.) and as staff assistant to Sen. James Buckley (R-N.Y.).
Since then, he had worked as a business development and government relations consultant specializing in central and eastern Europe.
The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Mr. Iwanciw was a co-founder and the first public relations director of the Washington Group, an association of Ukrainian American professionals.
He headed the Ukrainian National Foundation from 1996 to 2000, and the foundation later established a scholarship in his name. He was a member of the Ukrainian Heritage Committee and the Ukrainian Association of Washington. In 1987 and 1988, he chaired the Washington branch of the national committee to commemorate the millennium of Christianity in the Ukraine.
Active in the Ukrainian National Association since the 1970s, Mr. Iwanciw directed the association's Washington office from 1988 to 1995, focusing on obtaining U.S. aid for Ukraine. He was elected second vice president of the association's executive committee in 2002 and headed its Baltimore-Washington-Virginia District Committee.
Mr. Iwanciw was president of the Optimist Club of Arlington in 2003-04, working on initiatives to benefit children. He was prominent in Optimist International's Capital-Virginia District and was the chairman of the conventions and meetings committee. He helped sell Christmas trees at the Optimist Club's tree lot in Arlington to raise money for Arlington Babe Ruth Baseball teams, soccer teams, an oratorical contest, a chess club and scholarship programs.
Mr. Iwanciw was a volunteer tutor at Arlington's Barcroft Elementary School and H.B. Woodlawn Middle School. He was president of Arlington's Inter-Service Club Council in 2004-05, a member of the Leadership Arlington Class of 2005 and a member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the Arlington County Republican Committee.
Survivors include his parents, Michael and Anna Iwanciw of Union, N.J.; and a sister.
Dooley StephanosSupreme Court SecretaryDooley Stephanos, 73, a former secretary to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, died of cancer Feb. 25 at her daughter's home in Laurel.
Ms. Stephanos, a native Washingtonian known in her youth for singing and softball, won the WWDC radio station's talent contest when she was 13 and the next year won a talent-search contest that sent her to New York to audition for the "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" television show. She also sang in the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral choir.
Ms. Stephanos pitched for the Roosevelt High School girls' softball team and could outrun most of the boys in her class, her family said. She graduated in 1950 and went to work as a secretary for the D.C. Municipal Court and for the U.S. Bureau of the Budget.
After her marriage in 1954, she resigned to raise a family in White Oak.
In 1978, Ms. Stephanos returned to federal employment, working part time at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 1980, she worked full time at the Naval Surface Weapons Center and later at the Harry Diamond Laboratories and the Federal Judicial Center.
Ms. Stephanos moved to Ocean Pines, Md., in the late 1980s and accepted a position with SYSCON Corp. on Wallops Island, Va. In 1988, she returned to the Washington area to work at the Federal Judicial Center, followed by an appointment in 1989 as assistant secretary to Blackmun, a position she held until retiring in 1994.
Ms. Stephanos moved back to Ocean Pines to care for her mother. In 1999, she moved to Burtonsville until 2002, when she built a new home in Ocean Pines and returned there.
Ms. Stephanos enjoyed the company of friends and family, playing tennis at the Ocean Pines Tennis Club and bowling in the Ocean Pines Bowling League, where she earned high average, series and game awards at the end of each year. She enjoyed music and needlework.
Her marriage to Chris Peratino ended in divorce.
Survivors include five daughters, Eva Tuck of Riva, Despi Mahaney of Germantown, Christine Rector of Weston, Fla., Elaine Peratino of Silver Spring and Irene Black of Laurel; a sister, Christine Loomis of Ocean Pines; two brothers, Zaphy Stephanos of Bowie and John Stephanos of Ocean Pines; and 10 grandchildren.
Jean Calvert HildrethMuseum CuratorJean Calvert Hildreth, 80, a Washington native who was a curator at the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, died Feb. 17 of cancer at her home in Phoenix.
Miss Hildreth, who grew up in the District's Spring Valley neighborhood, attended National Cathedral School for Girls, Ashley Hall in Charleston and Mount Vernon Seminary. She graduated from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque.
In the 1930s in Spring Valley, she lived near Love Stables and developed an interest in horseback riding. Early on, she also became attracted to art as a field she wanted to pursue.
She was a founder of the Junior Guild of Goodwill Industries.
Miss Hildreth was active in Washington politics, assisting her father, Melvin D. Hildreth, who was Democratic national committeeman for the District and chairman of the Truman Inaugural Committee. She also worked with him on other projects, including reconstruction of Ford's Theatre and completion of construction of Carter Barron Amphitheatre.
She began her career with the National Academy of Sciences and later was an assistant curator in American period costume and design at the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art. She also worked with Catholic University on an art encyclopedia.
In 1963, she was appointed a registrar of art at what was then the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of Early American Art in Williamsburg, where she presented more than 28 exhibitions on Colonial American art.
She joined the Phoenix Art Museum in 1971, becoming curator of the Arizona Costume Institute. She lectured, presented 95 exhibitions and prepared several catalogues and brochures. She was responsible for expanding the Arizona Costume Institute's collection and its reputation in the country. She also worked with the museum's Collections Study Club to produce yearly exhibitions in the Helen Wells Gallery of Decorative Arts. She retired in 1993.
Miss Hildreth was curator emeritus of the Arizona Costume Institute and a national board member of the Costume Society of America. She also belonged to the Fan Association of North America.
Survivors include three brothers, Richard Hildreth of Bethesda, David Hildreth of Atlanta and Robert Hildreth of Denver.
Emily Mason ShawnBallet Dancer, InstructorEmily Mason Shawn, 81, a volunteer, church member and former ballet dancer and teacher, died of respiratory failure March 9 at her home in Herndon.
A native of Wigan, England, Mrs. Shawn performed with the Manchester Ballet Company in her home country in the mid-1940s. She married an American military man and moved to the United States in 1947. While they were posted overseas in the 1950s, she taught ballet in France and Italy.
The family returned to the United States and in 1983 and settled in Herndon, where Mrs. Shawn volunteered for the Democratic Club and attended St. Timothy's Episcopal Church.
Survivors include her husband, retired Air Force Col. Robert A. Shawn of Herndon; three children, William Shawn of Washington, Tracy Shawn of Voorhees, N.J., and Victoria Walker of Culpeper, Va.; and seven grandchildren.
