Saturday, August 11, 2007
Donald C. RubottomArmy Colonel
Donald Clark Rubottom, 87, a retired Army colonel who served on the executive staff of Army Emergency Relief, a nonprofit financial assistance organization, died Aug. 1 at Ridgecrest Healthcare Center, a nursing home in Ridgecrest, Calif. He had lung cancer.
Col. Rubottom served in the Army from 1941 to 1972. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and the Chosin Reservoir campaign during the Korean War.
His final active-duty assignment was at U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was chief of the plans division, in the plans and policy directorate.
His military decorations included the Silver Star (in part for taking out an enemy gun nest in Korea), three awards of the Legion of Merit, three awards of the Bronze Star, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.
He was born in Gering, Neb., and attended the University of Nebraska, where was a member of the football team that played in the 1941 Rose Bowl and lost to Stanford University.
He received a bachelor's degree from George Washington University in 1966.
He settled in the Washington area after retirement and spent a decade with Army Emergency Relief, during which he helped start a scholarship. He was member of Army Navy Country Club.
In 2001, he moved to Ridgecrest from Springfield.
His wife, Vera Harvey Rubottom, whom he married in 1942, died in 1998.
Survivors include two daughters, Donna Scharf and Ann Roseman, both of Ridgecrest; and three grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Allan Morton OstrowGuidance Counselor
Allan Morton Ostrow, 76, a former guidance counselor in the Montgomery County schools, died Aug. 2 of heart disease at his home in Rockville.
Mr. Ostrow began his education career as a history teacher at Rockville's old Broome Junior High School in the 1950s. He later became a guidance counselor at Montgomery Hills Junior High School in Silver Spring and then spent many years as a counselor at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, from which he retired in 1984.
He also spent more than 20 years organizing and managing a club for teens supervised by the city of Rockville.
Mr. Ostrow was born in San Francisco and came to Washington when he was 10. He was a graduate of the old Central High School and the former Wilson Teachers College. He received a master's degree in education from the University of Maryland in 1956. He served in the Army from 1953 to 1955.
He was a member of the Twinbrook Citizens' Association. He enjoyed boating, and he was a licensed pilot who owned a vintage airplane.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Margaret Ostrow of Rockville; four children, Linda Lichtenberg of Asheville, N.C., Sharon Kenneweg of Poolesville, Robin Tilford of Sykesville, Md., and Gary Ostrow of Mount Airy; 10 grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
-- Matt Schudel
Ruth S. PriceSenate Staff Aide
Ruth S. Price, 86, a former Senate staff aide, died of the autoimmune disease Sjoegren's syndrome Aug. 4 at her Alexandria home.
Mrs. Price, who came to Washington in 1951, worked for the permanent investigations subcommittee of the Government Operations Committee and took dictation from investigators and from chief counsel Robert F. Kennedy.
She transferred to the staff of Sen. Samuel J. Ervin Jr. (D-N.C.), where she worked closely with him during the Watergate investigations and during his tenure on the Labor Rackets Committee. After Ervin's retirement at the end of 1974, she worked for Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Miss.) on the Committee on Armed Forces until her retirement in 1977.
She was born in Greensboro, N.C., and attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She graduated from Kings Business College in 1941.
Mrs. Price was a member of the Yacht Haven Garden Club for more than 25 years. She was also a member of the White House Historical Association, the Capital Historical Society and the National Presbyterian Church.
Her husband, David Ray Price, died in 1980.
Survivors include a brother.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Joseph J. KisnerWoodbridge Teacher
Joseph John Kisner, 53, who had taught ancient world history at Woodbridge Middle School in Prince William County for the past decade, died July 17 at Capital Hospice in Arlington. He had cancer.
Mr. Kisner was an ordained Ukrainian Catholic priest in Pennsylvania and Ohio before settling in the Washington area in 1985, initially to work in finance. He became an assistant vice president of the old Trustbank Savings in Washington.
He was a native of McKeesport, Pa., and a 1976 history and philosophy graduate of St. Basil College Seminary in Stamford, Conn.
At Catholic University, he received a master's degree in theology in 1980 and a master's in canon law in 1983. He also received a master's degree in education from Virginia Tech in 1999.
He was a member of Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Annandale.
Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Kathleen Borota Kisner of Lorton.
-- Adam Bernstein
Janice J. CramNSA Cryptolinguist
Janice Jayne Cram, 87, a cryptolinguist for the National Security Agency and its forerunners, died Aug. 3 at Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine. She had congestive heart failure.
Mrs. Cram was essentially a code breaker and relied heavily on analytic skill and on her knowledge of Russian.
She spent much of her career on a Cold War project code-named "Venona," for which U.S. intelligence cryptolinguists deciphered Soviet espionage messages. Their work, said to have ended in 1980, showed how the Soviets for decades had recruited dozens of agents throughout the U.S. government.
In 1995, the release of some information about the Venona project made the public far more aware of the contributions of Mrs. Cram and her colleagues.
She was a native of Bridgeport, Conn., and a 1942 graduate of New York University. Soon after, she began working at the Army Signal Security Service. She retired in 1980.
Her husband of 56 years, Charles D. Cram, died in 2006. That year, she moved to Scarborough, Maine, from Cheverly.
She had no immediate survivors.
-- Adam Bernstein
Gertrude Tucker WekerPsychologist
Gertrude Tucker Weker, 89, a retired psychologist who worked for the CIA from its early years, died of heart disease July 25 at Bedford Court assisted living community in Silver Spring. She was a longtime resident of Bethesda until 2004.
Mrs. Weker was born in Chelsea, Mass., and grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1939 and received a master's degree in psychology from New York University in 1947.
During World War II, she spent three years in Sri Lanka with the Office of Strategic Services on a British-American mission headed by Lord Louis Mountbatten. She moved to Washington in 1946 and subsequently worked for the new CIA with a group that assessed personnel for classified assignments.
After leaving the agency in 1973, she worked for a private firm that was a consultant to the Drug Enforcement Administration. She retired in 1983.
Mrs. Weker was a former secretary of Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County in Bethesda and was twice president of the Sisterhood of Congregation Beth El. She was also a life member of Hadassah and the Technion Society.
Her husband, Simon Weker, whom she married in 1952, died in 2003.
Survivors include three children, Laurie Weker Lipton of Rockville, Jonathan Lloyd Weker of Montpelier, Vt., and Robert Baylor Weker of Wynnewood, Pa.; and four grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Maryrose T. AthenasiadesComputer Specialist
Maryrose Thompson Athenasiades, 59, a computer specialist who grew up in Alexandria, died July 14 of cirrhosis of the liver at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva, N.C. She lived in Cullowhee, N.C.
Ms. Athenasiades was born in South Bend, Ind., and spent most of her youth in Alexandria, where she was known as Maryrose Thompson. She graduated from Edison High School in 1966.
She was an excellent oboist in high school and performed in various bands and orchestras. She also gave oboe lessons.
She attended James Madison University, where she played oboe in many musical groups.
She later studied at a computer school in Arlington and worked in Washington area computer companies for several years. She later moved to Texas, Orange County, Calif., and Phoenix before settling last year in North Carolina.
About 25 years ago, Ms. Athenasiades legally took the surname of her paternal grandfather, a Greek immigrant.
Her marriages to William Cox, Ron Parker and Michael Brunick ended in divorce.
Survivors include her parents, William G. and Eleanor V. Thompson of Alexandria; and four brothers, Paul J. Thompson of Alexandria, Martin W. Thompson of Sylva, Lawrence M. Thompson of Hartwood, Va., and James F. Thompson of Fort Worth.
-- Matt Schudel