Friday, July 27, 2007
Oscar H. Wiygul Sr.Business Owner
Oscar H. Wiygul Sr., 82, who co-owned and operated Wiygul Automotive Clinic in Alexandria, died July 11 of complications of Alzheimer's disease at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. He lived in Fairfax County.
He was born on a farm in Fulton, Miss., and joined the Army. He served as a sergeant in Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army during World War II.
With a high school education, he began a long career in the accounting and business-consulting field as co-owner of Marcoin Management Services in the Washington area.
In 1976, Mr. Wiygul and his wife opened Wiygul Automotive Clinic. They specialized in the new emission-controlled vehicles and allowed customers to watch through a window as their cars were being serviced. The family enterprise expanded to two locations in Alexandria under Mr. Wiygul's watch and grew to include his two sons and a grandson.
Mr. Wiygul enjoyed boating on the Chesapeake Bay and woodworking.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Sue Wiygul of Fairfax; three children, Oscar Wiygul Jr. and William R. Wiygul, both of Fairfax, and Elizabeth W. McLauglin of Dalton, Ga.; a brother; and 10 grandchildren. A daughter, Suzanne Crawley, died in 1999.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
James Patrick Deely Jr.Park Police, Security Officer
James Patrick Deely Jr., 71, a longtime U.S. Park Police officer who later held security positions with the Energy Department and the Smithsonian Institution, died July 17 of complications from lung cancer at Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, N.J. He had homes in Arlington County and Brant Beach, N.J.
Mr. Deely came to Washington when he joined the U.S. Park Police in 1958. After working in the criminal investigations unit, he became one of the Park Police's top homicide investigators. When he retired in 1979, he held the rank of major and was the Park Police's commander of training.
In 1979, Mr. Deely joined the Energy Department and was a member of the security team responsible for guarding the secretary of energy. He moved on to the Smithsonian in 1986 as a criminal investigator and worked there until he retired in 1997.
Mr. Deely was born in Philadelphia and served in the Navy in the mid-1950s.
He recently wrote a book about his experiences as an investigator at the Smithsonian.
Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Eleanor Deely of Arlington and Brant Beach; five children, Eleanor D. Cullen of Virginia Beach, James P. Deely III of Los Angeles, Mary D. Arendt and Bernadette D. Songer, both of Vienna, and Megan D. Stebbins of Brant Beach; four brothers; and six granddaughters.
-- Matt Schudel
William J. Conyngham Sr.Catholic University Professor
William Joseph Conyngham Sr., 82, a Catholic University politics professor and an expert on the Soviet Union, died July 15 at his home at Riderwood Village retirement community in Silver Spring. He had lung disease.
Dr. Conyngham worked at Catholic University from 1965 to 1987 and was associate dean of the university's arts and sciences school from 1977 to 1986.
He wrote two books on industrial management in the Soviet Union. His memberships included the American Political Science Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and served in the Army in Europe as a combat medic during World War II.
He was a 1950 graduate of Catholic University. He received a master's degree in history from the University of Notre Dame in 1952 and a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in 1969.
After an early job as a CIA analyst, he was an assistant professor of politics at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., from 1957 to 1965.
In retirement, he spent five years in Vienna.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Margaret Hennessy Conyngham of Silver Spring; four children, William J. Conyngham Jr. of Potomac, Monica Conyngham of Hingham, Mass., Michael Conyngham of Arlington, Maura Shuck of Raleigh, N.C.; and seven granddaughters.
-- Adam Bernstein
Mary J. FurrHousekeeper
Mary Jenkins Furr, 72, a housekeeper in the Washington area for more than 20 years, died July 23 at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.
She had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Mrs. Furr was born in Winchester, Va., and settled in the Washington area by the late 1950s.
After retiring in the early 1980s, she moved into Holly Hall apartments in Silver Spring and was active in its senior citizens' programs.
Her marriage to Turner Furr ended in divorce.
Three children died, Donald Furr in 1969, and Nancy Furr in 2005 and Mary Hungerford in 2006.
Survivors include five children, Shirley Wetzel of Frederick, James T. Furr of Pedricktown, N.J., David Furr of Bunker Hill, W.Va., Deborah McCall of Saltville, Va., and John Furr of Dickson, Tenn.; three brothers; three sisters; 19 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Alba Burnham MartinAdministrative Law Judge
Alba Burnham Martin, 99, a retired administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board, died of an autoimmune disorder July 10 at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community in Mitchellville.
Mr. Martin worked for the NLRB for 36 years, joining the agency two years after its establishment.
He started as a field lawyer working from NLRB offices in Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and St. Louis. He became a regional lawyer in Cincinnati before being named special assistant to the general counsel in Washington.
He became a trial examiner -- a job whose title later changed to administrative law judge -- and held that position until his 1973 retirement.
Mr. Martin, a native of Geneva, Ohio, graduated from Harvard College in 1930 and studied law at Harvard Law School. He received a law degree in 1934 from what is now the law school at Case Western Reserve University.
Within a year, he moved to Washington to join the New Deal programs. He first investigated AT&T companies for the Federal Communications Commission and did investigative work for the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. He joined the NLRB in 1935.
During World War II, Mr. Martin served in the Army in England and in northern Europe for the 101st Airborne Division and the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime precursor of the CIA.
After retiring from government, he was a consultant to the State Department on personnel issues involving Foreign Service officers and conducting discharge and appeals hearings for special review boards.
Mr. Martin was twice president of the Hollin Hills Tennis Club and played until age 86. He was a hiker who belonged to the Appalachian Mountain Club. He also enjoyed world travel and classical music.
He lived in Hollin Hills in Fairfax County from 1955 until 1994, when he moved to Mitchellville.
Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Elisabeth Puckett Martin of Mitchellville; two children, Burnham Martin of Brunswick, Maine, and Betsy Martin of Newton, Mass.; and two grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Jean Carroll MacdonaldTeacher, Community Leader
Jean Carroll Macdonald, 83, a former teacher in the D.C. public schools, died July 14 of esophageal cancer at Georgetown University Hospital. She lived in Washington.
Mrs. Macdonald taught in several D.C. schools, including Payne and Webb elementary schools, from 1972 until her retirement in 1993. She continued to volunteer at Webb Elementary School (now Webb/Wheatley) for several years after she retired.
After moving to Southwest Washington from Chevy Chase in 1972, Mrs. Macdonald became active in the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly.
She was secretary of the community organization and volunteered with its elections committee. In 1982, she and her husband helped found the Youth Activities Task Force. She chaired the task force at the time of her death.
She developed sailing, rowing and Tae Kwon Do programs for young people in her community and was a leader of the neighborhood King Greenleaf Recreation Center. She was also active in Harbour Square Owners Inc. and was a member of its landscaping committee and Southwest affairs committee. She sometimes wrote for a neighborhood newspaper, the Southwester.
Mrs. Macdonald was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Bronxville, N.Y.
She was a graduate of Simmons College in Boston. She received a master's degree in elementary education from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1971 and a second master's degree, in reading education, from Washington's Trinity University in the mid-1980s.
Between 1947 and 1969, Mrs. Macdonald spent many years abroad with her husband, a Foreign Service officer, living in Korea, Turkey and Switzerland. When based in Washington, she volunteered at the Meridian International Center.
Her husband of 48 years, Donald Macdonald, died in 1993. An infant son died in 1947; another son, James C. Macdonald, died in 1980.
Survivors include a son, Thomson S. Macdonald of Boston; a niece she helped raise, Mary Elizabeth Alpern of St. Petersburg, Fla.; and two grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel