Monday, May 5, 2008
Edward H. WilcoxArchitect
Edward H. Wilcox, 85, an architect and engineer who helped design many buildings in the Washington area, died April 28 at his home in Arlington County. He had leukemia.
Mr. Wilcox was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Arlington as a teenager. He graduated from Washington-Lee High School. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1944, he served as an Army officer in the Pacific during World War II and later was among the U.S. occupying forces in Japan.
In 1946, he joined the architectural firm of Milton J. Prassas Associates in Bethesda and worked on houses, churches and commercial buildings. Among the buildings he helped design were Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Bethesda, Del Ray United Methodist Church in Alexandria and Trinity Lutheran Church in North Bethesda.
Mr. Wilcox retired in 1975 but continued to take on part-time architectural jobs until 1990. He lived in Chevy Chase for many years before settling in Arlington. His interests included reading and the stock market.
His wife of 24 years, Eleanor Worden Wilcox, died in 1970.
Survivors include a son, Frederick Wilcox of Gaithersburg, and a grandson.
-- Matt Schudel
Lucia G. WhittemoreD.C. Social Worker
Lucia G. Whittemore, 101, a social worker who became chief of adoptions in the D.C. Department of Public Welfare, died April 20 at Goodwin House Baileys Crossroads retirement community in Falls Church. She had coronary artery disease.
Mrs. Whittemore worked for the Department of Public Welfare's child welfare division from 1955 to 1970.
She was credited with developing new procedures that encouraged cooperation among the staff and helped prevent children from being "lost" in the caseloads of adoption workers.
According to one of her professional reviews, she also was instrumental in recruiting black families to participate in the adoption program.
Lucia Gardner was a native of Springfield, Ill., and a 1929 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received a master's degree in social work from Columbia University in 1946.
Early in her career, she did social work in Illinois, Hawaii, New Mexico and Washington state.
During World War II, Mrs. Whittemore worked for the American Red Cross in Europe and became assistant field director of a unit assigned to the Army's 21st General Hospital in Mirecourt, France.
Her superiors, in one citation, noted her "tireless work without thought for her own convenience or rest, her resourcefulness and whole-hearted interest in patients and personnel" that raised morale despite meager staffing and accommodations.
She settled in the Washington area in 1951 and was a member of Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale. Her hobbies included swimming daily at the Dunn Loring YMCA until her early 90s and playing bridge.
She was a Vienna resident until moving to Goodwin House in 1995.
Survivors include her husband of 57 years, Howard E. Whittemore of Falls Church.
-- Adam Bernstein
Bruce SypkensSystems Analyst
Bruce Sypkens, 77, a retired programmer and systems analyst with federal agencies, died May 2 of complications from prostate cancer at his home in Davidsonville.
Mr. Sypkens was born in San Francisco and was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He was an Army officer in the Korean War.
He came to the Washington region in 1959 to work as a programmer with the National Security Agency. He later worked at the National Institutes of Health before spending more than 20 years as a systems analyst with the Department of Health and Human Services. He retired in 1992.
Mr. Sypkens received a diagnosis of terminal cancer in 1990 but, through various treatments, he survived for 18 years, traveling with his wife throughout the United States and spending time with his grandsons.
He lived in Bowie before moving to Davidsonville 30 years ago.
Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Joanna Sypkens of Davidsonville; two daughters, Cathi Sypkens and Cari Frazier, both of Davidsonville; and four grandsons.
-- Matt Schudel
Ruth L. SteermanPediatrician
Ruth L. Steerman, 65, a pediatrician who had a private practice in College Park from 1989 to 2000, died of coronary and pulmonary failure May 2 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. She had lived in Ashburn since 2002.
Dr. Steerman, who also had an office in her University Park home, readily responded to the needs of her patients no matter the time of day, her daughter said.
"She really was the most caring person," said Sarah Breen of Alexandria. "They called her in the middle of the night, and she would see them."
Dr. Steerman served as director of pediatrics at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly from 1972 to 1989 and as assistant medical director at the Hospital for Sick Children in Washington in 1996 and 1997.
She was an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at George Washington University from 1999 to 2008.
Dr. Steerman was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and attended Pennsylvania State University before receiving a medical degree from GWU in 1967.
She completed a pediatric residency at Children's National Medical Center in Washington from 1967 to 1969 and then did a fellowship in pediatric hematology there. She had a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Boston from 1971 to 1972.
She was a Washington area resident for 45 years and lived in University Park before moving in 1998 to the Ashburn area.
She was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and served on the board of directors of the George Washington Alumni Association.
Survivors, in addition to her daughter, include her husband of 45 years, Charles E. Steerman of Ashburn; another daughter, Catherine R. Grady of Cumming, Ga.; a brother, Allen E. Lebo of Sterling; and two grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Henry Irving Scott Jr.CIA Personnel Officer
Henry Irving Scott Jr., 87, a former personnel officer with the CIA who also owned electronics and office supply businesses, died May 1 at the Washington Home hospice in the District of complications from a stroke. He lived in the Wicomico Shores community in St. Mary's County.
Mr. Scott was born in Washington and was a graduate of Wilson High School and the University of Maryland. He served as a pilot of troop planes in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He later served in the Air Force Reserve.
After World War II, Mr. Scott owned Gordon's Radio & TV shop in Northwest Washington. He was recruited from that job to be a communications officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, which he joined in 1952.
He spent 23 years with the CIA, including tours in Germany and Okinawa, Japan. As a personnel officer, he organized recreational activities and athletic leagues for employees.
After he retired from the CIA in 1975, Mr. Scott opened an office supply store in Kensington, from which he retired in 1981.
Mr. Scott played tennis until his death and often organized informal tournaments among family and friends. He was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Kensington and later belonged to Christ Episcopal Church in Newburg.
He lived in Chevy Chase until 1981, when he moved to St. Mary's.
His wife of 58 years, Vera L. Scott, died in 2001.
Survivors include his wife of four years, Irene Morgan of St. Mary's; six children from his first marriage, Henry I. Scott III of Mobile, Ala., Duane F. Scott of Silver Spring, Shelley L. Scott of Reston, Vera M. Kopach of New Baltimore, Va., Stacy E. Scott of Fort Collins, Colo., and Phillip N. Scott of Silver Spring; a brother; and 10 grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
Lydia Fetler HartsockLanguage Teacher
Lydia Fetler Hartsock, 91, who taught foreign languages at area schools and worked as a translator, died April 22 of pneumonia at Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Sandy Spring. She lived in Ashton.
Mrs. Hartsock was born in New York to Latvian and Russian parents, and the family returned to Europe soon after her birth. She grew up in Riga, Latvia, speaking Latvian, Russian, German and English.
She performed in a family band for several years before moving to the United States in 1939. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor's degree in German and moved to Washington.
She lived in Colombia for several years before returning to the Washington area in 1951. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, she was a translator of German, Russian, Latvian, Swedish and Dutch. In 1958, she became a part-time teacher of Russian and German at Montgomery County elementary and secondary schools.
Mrs. Hartsock received a master's degree in comparative literature from the University of Maryland in 1970. She taught Russian and German at High Point High School and Eleanor Roosevelt High School, both in Prince George's County, from 1968 to 1982, when she retired.
She lived in Silver Spring before settling near Ashton. She enjoyed gardening, painting watercolors, reading and caring for her cats and dogs.
Her husband of 57 years, John Kaus Hartsock, died in 2002.
Survivors include two sons, Peter Hartsock of Laytonsville and John Hartsock of Homer, N.Y.; two sisters, Elisabeth Bregenzer of Kooskia, Idaho, and Mary Miller of Arlington County; seven brothers, David Fetler of Rochester, N.Y., Paul Fetler of St. Petersburg, Fla., Philip Fetler of San Antonio, Andrew Fetler of Amherst, Mass., Peter Malof of Falls Church, James Fetler of Mountain View, Calif., and Joseph Malof of Austin; and a grandson.
-- Matt Schudel
William John Perkins Sr.News Artist
William John Perkins Sr., 85, a retired editorial artist at three Washington newspapers, died April 28 of cancer at his home in Norfolk.
Mr. Perkins began his career in the late 1940s with the old Washington Times-Herald and later worked at the Washington Star and The Washington Post before retiring in 1985. He drew maps and did page layouts, photo retouching and occasional drawings and cartoons.
In addition to his work at the newspapers, he did freelance work for National Geographic and other publications, as well as for a display at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Mr. Perkins was born in Washington, Ind., and moved to the District as a child. He was a graduate of Eastern High School. During World War II, he served in a photo intelligence unit of the Army Air Forces in the Pacific. After the war, he came to Washington and graduated from the Corcoran School of Art.
His received an award from the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington and was a member of the Newspaper Guild.
He was a longtime Arlington County resident and a member of the Dominion Hills Civic Association. From 1985 to 2000, he lived in Duck, N.C.
Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Pat Perkins of Norfolk; three children, Pam Palma of Arlington, William J. Perkins Jr. of Hampton, Va., and Dana Graves of Fairfax County; and four grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel