Friday, January 25, 2008
Robert L. Doney Sr.Army Master Sergeant
Robert Lamar Doney Sr., 84, an Army master sergeant who retired in 1964 and spent the next 24 years driving and doing office work for moving and storage companies with military contracts, died Dec. 24 at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg. He had septic shock.
Sgt. Doney, a native of Shamokin, Pa., joined the Army in 1940. As an infantryman in World War II, he saw combat in North Africa, Sicily, Belgium and France before being wounded at St. Lo.
He was later in the Military Police and Army Transportation Corps and served as chauffeur for the quartermaster general in the mid-1950s.
His final active-duty assignment was as senior National Guard adviser to the 29th Infantry Division in Lynchburg.
His decorations included the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
Sgt. Doney had a home in the Washington area since the 1950s and was a longtime Springfield resident. Most recently, he lived with a son in Locust Grove, Va.
He was a member of Springfield United Methodist Church, where he oversaw the coffee fund.
His wife, Louise Owens Doney, whom he married in 1948, died in 2001.
Survivors include five children, Robert L. Doney Jr. of Locust Grove, Rita Bettis of Lawrenceville, Ga., Ronda Doney of Fairfax City, Ruane Langton of Tracys Landing and Lisa Doney of Dallas; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Frederick Grinnell WhiteArmy Colonel
Frederick Grinnell White, 93, a retired Army colonel and World War II veteran who briefly served in China during that country's civil war, died Jan. 8 of cancer at his home in Fairfax City.
Born in Spokane, Wash., Col. White played on an undefeated Gonzaga Preparatory School football team that outscored its 1931-32 opponents 405-0, winning mention in "Ripley's Believe It or Not." After graduating in 1932, shortly after his well-to-do family was devastated by the Depression, he held a number of jobs to help out, including mining gold in Alaska. Joining the Army as an infantry private, he won a competitive appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1936 and graduated in 1940.
During World War II, he served in Panama, as well as in India, Burma, China and Manchuria.
Shortly after World War II, with civil conflict brewing across China between the Communists under Mao Zedong and the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek, Col. White volunteered to serve on one of Gen. George C. Marshall's cease-fire teams. Marshall had been dispatched to China by President Harry S. Truman to broker a coalition government.
Before Marshall's efforts ended in failure in 1947, Col. White served in Shantung province, one of the most dangerous areas in China. After rescuing a Jesuit priest, he was held hostage for about two weeks by the Communists. He wrote about his China adventure in a book, "We Tried to Stop a War" (1949).
Col. White served in Austria and Vietnam in the 1950s and as a brigade commander in Mainz, Germany, in the 1960s. After his retirement in 1967, he worked for 10 years as a researcher and systems analyst for the Department of the Army.
In 1977 he joined Long & Foster Realtors, where he worked as an agent until his retirement in 1994. He was honored as one of the company's top 20 producers.
Col. White was a member of the Army Navy Country Club, where he served as vice president and club historian. He also was vice president and historian for his West Point Class of 1940. He was a member of St. Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church in Fairfax County.
His wife, Eleanor Burke White, died in 2002.
Survivors include five children, James L. White of Belair, Fla., Mary G. Pappalardo of Stamford, Conn., Frederick G. White Jr. of Bradington, Fla., Thomas B. White of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Joseph C. White of Annandale; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Constance S. GordonTeacher
Constance S. Gordon, 73, a retired kindergarten teacher at Garrett Park Elementary School, died Jan. 18 of multiple myeloma at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. She had lived in Potomac for 37 years.
She was born Constance Susan Gelb in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1956. After teaching in New York for 10 years, she became an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County -- at Fallsmead, Travilah and Maryvale before moving to Garrett Park, where she taught for 25 years. She retired in 1998.
She was a member of Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Women in the Arts and the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training.
Survivors include her husband of 53 years, Lawrence J. Gordon of Potomac; three children, Daniel L. Gordon of Potomac, Richard J. Gordon of Memphis and Lili A. Gordon of Eagleville, Pa.; two sisters, Gilda Loeb of Whippany, N.J., and Barbara Katz of Bethesda; and six grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Trudye Hathcote FowlerHomemaker, Volunteer
Trudye Hathcote Fowler, 97, a homemaker and volunteer, died of coronary artery disease Jan. 22 at the Goodwin House in Alexandria.
Mrs. Fowler, an Alexandria resident since 1939, restored several houses and was active with the Historic Alexandria Foundation. She was a member of the Woman's National Democratic Club of Washington and in the 1960s was a member of the National Highway Beautification Task Force, chaired by Lady Bird Johnson.
She was born in Amory, Miss., and survived the Spanish flu epidemic that broke out during her childhood. She worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s, then married and moved to San Francisco for a year until she settled in Alexandria.
She and her husband had an apartment in New York City and a summer house on Cape Cod.
Her husband, Henry H. Fowler, secretary of the Treasury from 1965 to 1968, died in 2000. A son, Henry Hamil Fowler Jr., died in 1955.
Survivors include two daughters, Mary Ann Fowler Smith of Montclair, N.J., and Susan Fowler-Gallagher of Staatsburg, N.Y.; two sisters; four grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Michael John BaxterArmy Lieutenant Colonel
Michael John Baxter, 58, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a sales representative for Sprint, died of lung cancer Jan. 1 at Winchester (Va.) Medical Center. He lived in Front Royal, Va.
Col. Baxter, a native of Seattle and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, served in Vietnam in the early 1970s.
He received a master's degree in engineering from Texas Tech University in 1981 and retired from the military in 1994. Col. Baxter then joined Sprint and sold government telephone and electronic systems until he retired again in 2002.
He moved from Fairfax Station to the Shenandoah Valley and began a career as a volunteer, mentoring through the Warren County Coalition, becoming a deacon and teacher at Marlow Heights Baptist Church in Front Royal and tutoring in math at Randolph-Macon Academy.
Survivors include his wife, Kathryn Baxter of Front Royal; two sons, Adam Baxter of Alexandria and Ryan Baxter of Virginia Beach; his parents, Norma and Art Baxter of Oahu, Hawaii; two sisters; and a brother.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Orris Sidney 'Sparks' HiestandProcurement Lawyer
Orris Sidney "Sparks" Hiestand, 87, a lawyer who worked for the federal government and in private practice as a procurement lawyer, died of a heart attack Jan. 3 at Carriage Hill Rehabilitation Center in Bethesda, where he had lived since 1963.
Mr. Hiestand worked for the old Atomic Energy Commission, first in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and later in Washington. In 1969, he became chief counsel for the first Congressional Commission on Government Procurement; its 1972 report spurred the creation of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and made many recommendations for improving federal law and processes.
In 1973, Mr. Hiestand joined the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, where he continued his work in procurement law and Energy Department issues until his retirement as a partner in 1986.
Mr. Hiestand was born in Tulsa, graduated from Indiana University and served in the European theater of World War II as an Army communications officer. His military awards included a Bronze Star.
He enrolled at Northwestern University's law school after the war, graduating in 1947 at the top of his class and as editor of the law review. He immediately went to work for the AEC.
Mr. Hiestand volunteered for the Procurement Round Table, where he served as a pro bono director emeritus. He published numerous articles in Public Contract Law Journal about federal procurement and acquisition policies and practices.
"Sparks was a man of great dedication and intellectual accomplishment, who applied his skills to one of our government's fundamental and most important functions," said John Daniel, a colleague from Morgan, Lewis and the Procurement Round Table. "His influence on procurement law was substantial, bringing organization, transparency and efficiency to federal procurement practices, and will be felt for a long time to come."
He enjoyed fishing ever since his days in Tennessee.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Frances Emily Hiestand of Bethesda; three children, Emily Lucille Hiestand of Cambridge, Mass., Andrew Sidney Hiestand of King George, Va., and Partap Singh Khalsa of Herndon; three grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Hollis Eugene LeeCarpenter
Hollis Eugene Lee, 64, a carpenter who worked at Fort Myer, died Jan. 18 of lung cancer at Inova Alexandria Hospital.
Mr. Lee had lived in Falls Church since 1980 and worked for Fort Myer's Directorate of Public Works for more than 20 years.
He was born in Unionville, Va., and served as an Air Force medic in the 1960s. He was a member of the Arlington Moose Lodge and the American Legion.
His marriage to Brenda Davis Lee ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Theresa Lee of Falls Church; a son from his first marriage, Christopher Scott Lee of Gordonsville, Va.; two stepdaughters, Anissa Jane White and Christine Marie White, both of Falls Church; a sister, Joyce Napier of Fredericksburg; a granddaughter whom Mr. Lee and his wife raised, Danielle White of Falls Church; and 10 other grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
Charles Francis LombardCongressional Assistant
Charles Francis Lombard, 78, a congressional assistant in the 1960s and 1970s, died Jan. 18 of pneumonia at his home in Jupiter, Fla. He lived in the District until moving to Florida in the mid-1980s.
Mr. Lombard was born in Grenoble, France. His father had been the French military attache in Washington in the 1920s before returning home. Mr. Lombard lived briefly in France and then returned to Washington as a youngster with his family.
He graduated from Staunton Military Academy in 1947 and from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1951. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he received a master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in 1955.
He was an officer with the CIA for two years before becoming an administrative assistant on Capitol Hill, first with Rep. Robert R. Barry (R-N.Y.) and then with Rep. James C. Cleveland (R-N.H.). From the early 1970s until his retirement in 1981, he was the minority staff director for three Senate panels: the Republican Policy Committee, the space and aeronautics committee and the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, commonly known as the Church Committee.
In retirement Mr. Lombard taught a course on transportation at the American University Institute for Learning in Retirement. An avid bridge player, he also enjoyed sailing and singing French cabaret songs. "He could imitate right down to the note Frank Sinatra, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Aznavour and Charles Trenet," a former wife said.
His marriages to Eleanor Little Lombard and Rhina E. Lombard ended in divorce.
Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Laura Grier Lombard of Brooklyn and John Cassin Lombard of Northampton, Mass.; a stepsister; and two grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Ruth LangleySocial Worker
Ruth Langley, 82, who operated a nonprofit group in Rockville that helped people in need with food, furniture and clothing for more than 35 years, died of complications from heart disease Dec. 21 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. She lived in Rockville.
Mrs. Langley, self-taught and determined, was known in Montgomery County as Mrs. Ruth. She was "the one that you could come to for anything, and if she had it, you could get it. And if you needed help, she'd see to it that you got it; all free," said her son, George C. Langley of Rockville.
A retired social worker, Mrs. Langley started an organization called PROP Inc. in 1969 and distributed items to anyone in need in Montgomery County.
She worked with area churches and businesses that made donations. Her food bank was among the first in the area, said her son, and her work helped change the law in Maryland to make larger food banks possible. She operated her organization until 2006.
Annie Ruth Langley was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., and was a cartographer for the Army Map Service for about 20 years. She worked in Montgomery County as a community organizer and as an advocate for low-income housing and social service programs.
Her marriage to Charles A. Langley ended in divorce. A son, Charles Langley, died in 1989.
In addition to her son, survivors include a sister, Charlene Wade of the District.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb