Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Audrey B. DavisSmithsonian Curator
Audrey B. Davis, 72, a retired curator of medical history at the Smithsonian Institution, died Aug. 29 of leukemia at her home in Baltimore.
Dr. Davis was born in Hicksville, N.Y., and received an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Adelphi College in 1956. She taught science from 1956 to 1959 at Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, N.Y., and studied at the Harvard School of Education in 1959-60. She received a doctorate in the history of science from Johns Hopkins University in 1969.
She began her 26-year career at the Smithsonian Institution in 1967, becoming a curator of medical sciences at the National Museum of American History.
She planned exhibits for the opening of the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore and founded the Optical Heritage Society, which is devoted to the history of the optical sciences.
She published a number of scholarly books and papers, including "Medicine and Its Technology" (1981), and was co-author of "The American Dentist" (1991), a pictorial history. She also lectured at George Washington University and the University of Maryland.
Dr. Davis retired in 1993. She collected postcards and rare books, especially books about the history of science and medicine, and was active in several Baltimore civic organizations.
Survivors include her husband of 46 years, Miles Davis of Baltimore; two children, Laura Helen Davis Beilstein of Houston and Allan Watson Davis of Columbia; a sister; two brothers; and four grandchildren.
Merrill Mayhall BlevinsU.N. Protocol ChiefMerrill Mayhall Blevins, 90, a Foreign Service officer who for 12 years was chief of protocol with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, died Aug. 27 of congestive heart failure at the Forum at Memorial Woods in Houston. He was a former resident of Alexandria.
Mr. Blevins was born in Somerset, Ky., and grew up in Harlan, Ky. He graduated from the University of Kentucky and received a master's degree in international studies from the University of Chicago.
During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces in Europe and spent five years in the Air Force Reserve. From 1947 to 1968, he was in the Foreign Service.
He retired from the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1980.
Mr. Blevins was a licensed lay reader at Christ Church in Alexandria, and through his church he played an important role in rehabilitating the Mengo Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. He visited the area several times, helped raise money and acquired medicines for the church-sponsored effort that he directed.
In 1992, Mr. Blevins moved from Alexandria to Taos, N.M. He had lived in Houston since March.
His first wife, Esther Blevins, died in 1968.
Survivors include his wife, Susan P. Blevins, whom he married in 1972, of Houston; two daughters from his first marriage, Karen Roden of Douglasville, Ga., and Mary Anne Becker of Houston; and two grandsons.
Philip Ames DuSaultOMB Executive
Philip Ames DuSault, 69, former deputy associate director for international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget, died of cancer Aug. 30 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He was a District resident.
Mr. DuSault was at OMB and its predecessor agency, the Bureau of the Budget, for 37 years and received two Presidential Distinguished Civil Service Rank awards, in 1987 and 1997. He also received OMB Exceptional Service awards in 1974 and 1983 and a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 1986. He retired in 1998.
Born in Spokane, Wash., he was raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. His father was in the military, so the family also lived in the Philippines, St. Louis and the Washington area as he grew up. He graduated from the old George Washington High School in Alexandria and from Harvard University in 1959. He served in the Army Reserve.
Mr. DuSault worked first at the Public Health Service, then on the Washington staff of the Peace Corps in the early 1960s.
He loved reading, especially American history, and enjoyed crossword puzzles, food and travel. He volunteered at his children's schools, Murch Elementary and St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School, both in Washington.
Survivors include his wife of 39 years, Deborah S. DuSault, and two children, Anne S. DuSault and William A. DuSault, all of the District.
Gertrude T. BarnettTeacher, Military SpouseGertrude T. Bassler Barnett, 90, a teacher and military spouse, died of pneumonia Aug. 26 at a daughter's home in Alexandria. She lived at The Fairfax at Fort Belvoir.
Mrs. Barnett taught typing, stenography and business English part time in the late 1950s and early 1960s at what is now Marymount University. She also enjoyed playing bridge and gardening and loved to read fiction and about current events.
Mrs. Barnett was a native of New York City. She graduated from Hunter College in 1937 and received a master's degree in business education from Columbia University Teachers College in 1941.
She accompanied her husband, a Navy captain in the civil engineering corps, to postings around the world. They lived from 1945 to 1947 in the Anacostia section of Washington and from 1955 to 1964 in Arlington. She returned to the area in 1995.
Her husband, Thomas E. Barnett, died in 1986.
Survivors include four children, Thomas J. Barnett of Arlington, Kathleen Barnett of Alexandria, Patricia Todd of Indianapolis and Mary Anne Barnett of Detroit; a brother; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Linda F. BergoldSchool PsychologistLinda Frances Bergold, 54, a psychologist for Prince William County public schools and a mental health consultant for the county's Head Start program, died Aug. 23 at her home in Oakton. She had stomach cancer.
Ms. Bergold was a special education teacher with Fairfax County public schools from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s, when she started working in Prince William.
She helped start a suicide prevention training program for Prince William schools. She was also a founding member of the Prince William County Youth Suicide Prevention Coalition, which includes representatives from many community groups.
Since 1988, she had divided her time between the school system and the Head Start program.
Ms. Bergold was a native of Teaneck, N.J., and a 1973 psychology graduate of Boston University. She received a master's degree in education from Boston College in 1974 and a master's degree in school psychology from George Mason University in 1982.
For the past 17 years, she had been a docent at the National Museum of American History in Washington, where she specialized in tours of the First Ladies exhibit.
She volunteered as an adviser to middle-school students involved in a Fairfax Odyssey of the Mind problem-solving competition.
As a cellist, she played with the Georgetown Chamber Orchestra, Reston Chamber Orchestra and several string quartets, and she also performed at weddings and memorial services. She had an unstuffy attitude toward classical music and jokingly claimed that one of her own ensembles was named the Pathetique Quartet.
Survivors include her husband of 28 years, Noel F. Whittaker, and a son, Alexander Whittaker, both of Oakton; two sisters, Dorothy Bergold of Stoneham, Mass., and Laurel Bergold of Washington; and a brother, Peter Bergold of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Jeffery Arthur TrippCommerce Dept. EngineerJeffery Arthur Tripp, 64, an engineer at the Commerce Department, died Aug. 25 at the University of Maryland Medical Center after a stroke. He lived in Severna Park.
Mr. Tripp had worked for the federal government since 1983. Previously, he was an engineer for General Refractories in Baltimore, Metallurgical Products Co. in West Chester, Pa., and Vesuvius Crucibles in Pittsburgh.
He was born in Salt Lake City and graduated from the University of Utah. He received a master's degree from Ohio State University in 1966.
He enjoyed flying, swimming, reading, cooking and outdoor activities.
Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Patricia Ann Tripp of Severna Park; two children, Christopher Neil Tripp of Edgewater and Kelly Sue Six of Pittsburgh; two sisters; and two grandchildren.
Sandra Leigh Loverin ScirankoWashington Post Ad ExecutiveSandra Leigh Loverin Sciranko, 51, a Washington Post advertising executive and former Washington Redskins cheerleader, died of ovarian cancer Aug. 30 at her home in La Plata.
Mrs. Sciranko, who was known as Sandi, was born in Orlando and graduated from Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf. She was a Maryland baton-twirling champion in high school and received an associate's degree from Charles County Community College.
From 1976 to 1984, she was a Redskins cheerleader, and she helped organized the first Asian tour of National Football League cheerleaders. She designed a Super Bowl ring for the cheerleaders after the Redskins won Super Bowl XVII in 1983. She also worked as a fashion model for several years and was featured in a Vidal Sassoon advertising campaign.
Mrs. Sciranko was an account manager for Waste Management Corp. and Staples Inc. before joining The Post in 2000. She received many awards at The Post, including a President's Club trip in 2004.
Survivors include her husband of 29 years, Robert Sciranko of La Plata; two children, Andrew Lee Sciranko and Ashley Brooke Sciranko, both of La Plata; a stepson, Dale Sciranko of Concord, N.C.; her parents, Roy B. Loverin III of Lothian and Gladys Loverin of Waldorf; two brothers, Michael Loverin of Hughesville and Roy B. Loverin IV of La Plata; and two grandchildren.
Rose Loring HeardHorsewomanRose Loring Heard, 93, who raised horses and rode in fox hunts in Virginia, died Aug. 31 at her home in The Plains. She had Alzheimer's disease.
Mrs. Heard was born in Boston and attended finishing school in Paris. As a young woman, she assisted her mother, Rosamond Bowditch Loring, in bookbinding and making marbled endpapers for books.
She came to Washington during World War II and worked in the intelligence unit of the War Department.
Since 1949, Mrs. Heard and her husband had lived at Grasslands Farm in The Plains while maintaining a second home in Washington. She raised horses, was an accomplished rider and rode with the Orange County Hunt until well into her sixties.
She was a volunteer at the library of the Holton-Arms School and was skilled at needlework.
Her husband of 47 years, retired Army Brig. Gen. R. Townsend Heard, died in 1993.
Survivors include four children, Loring Heard of The Plains, Katharine Hanson of Deering, N.H., Raynham Heard of Burkesville, Ky., and the Rev. Victoria Heard of Dallas; two sisters; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Angelene Price KendrickChurch MemberAngelene Price Kendrick, 98, a charter member of Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean, died Aug. 12 of respiratory failure at Goodwin House West retirement home in Falls Church, where she had lived since 1988. She was a former resident of McLean.
Mrs. Kendrick, who did not use her first name, Naomi, was born in Kitzmiller, Md., and grew up in Buckhannon, W.Va. She was a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College.
She moved to Washington in the early 1930s and worked as a librarian at the old Palais Royal department store for several years. She worked at the Interior Department's Indian craft shop from the late 1960s until her retirement in 1973.
She was a member of the Arc and Dove Society, an organization of descendants of early Maryland settlers; the American Association of University Women; the Rock Springs Garden Club; Ikebana International, an organization devoted to flower arranging; the McLean Women's Club; and Eastern Star.
She was a Sunday school teacher and a member of women's groups at her church.
Her husband of 42 years, James Garrison Kendrick, died in 1974.
Her son, Garrison Price Kendrick, died in 1977.
Survivors include a sister.