Saturday, August 2, 2008
William R. 'Obie' O'BrienBartender, Patent Editor
William R. "Obie" O'Brien, 73, a bartender who once co-owned the popular watering hole Tammany Hall and who spent the past 19 years as a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent editor, died July 18 at his home in Arlington County after a heart attack.
Mr. O'Brien was a Washington area bartender from the 1950s to late 1980s, and his employers included the Georgetown establishments Clyde's and Nathan's.
In the early 1970s, he was an owner of Tammany Hall on Pennsylvania Avenue several blocks from the White House. The bar gained a reputation as a favorite hangout of what The Washington Post called "reporters, federal agents, street freaks, students and professional bar stars."
In the last category fell singer and composer Bill Danoff and his then-partner, Taffy Nivert, who performed under the name Fat City and later became part of the Starland Vocal Band.
William Robert O'Brien was born in Astoria, N.Y., and served in the Marine Corps in the Mediterranean during the Korean War.
He began his bartending career in New York and developed an effective technique for handling incoherent heavy drinkers who entered the bar.
"When a guy came into my joint looking like he was carrying a heavy load, I would give him double talk, and eventually he would agree with the gibberish I was pouring out and leave," he told The Washington Post.
His marriage to Gabriele Borm O'Brien ended in divorce.
Survivors include three daughters, Molly O'Brien of Baltimore, Victoria Scott of Bethesda and Kate O'Brien of Takoma Park; two sisters; and two grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Jerome FooterDentist, Golfer
Jerome Footer, 87, a dentist who practiced in Washington for 55 years and was a locally known amateur golfer, died July 17 at his home in Rockville. He had spinal stenosis and Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Footer's practice on California Street included many ambassadors and government officials. He was a working dentist until just five years ago.
He was born in Baltimore and raised in Washington, where he graduated from Wilson High School. He graduated from Georgetown University's dental school and served in the Navy's Dental Corps during World War II.
He was a member of Washington Hebrew Congregation, a Reform synagogue. At Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, he was the club golf champion from 1951 to 1954. He regained the title in 1956 and also won golf titles in team competitions.
He was chairman of the Woodmont Golf Committee for many years and served on the club's board. He was also a former president of the District Golf Association and the Maryland Golf Association.
Survivors include his wife, Beverly L. Footer of Rockville; three children, Ellen Winston of Rockville, Dr. Robert Footer of Potomac and Jimmy Footer of Davie, Fla.; a brother; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Richard Christopher ProtoNSA Analyst
Richard Christopher Proto, 68, a retired National Security Agency analyst, died July 27 of lung cancer at his home in Columbia.
Mr. Proto joined the NSA in 1964. Before his retirement in 1999, he received the Exceptional Civilian Service Award, National Intelligence Medal of Honor and Presidential Rank Award.
He continued to consult with the Defense Department and intelligence agencies until 2007.
Mr. Proto was born in New Haven, Conn., and was a graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut. He received a master's degree in mathematics from Boston College in 1964.
He sometimes performed in classical and folk music concerts on guitar. He also enjoyed walking in the mountains and had a vacation home in Mercersburg, Pa.
He lived in Laurel for many years and was a founder of the Antonio Gatto Lodge of the Sons of Italy in Laurel. He also served on a planning committee of the intercounty connector.
His marriage to Jeanne Rosner Proto ended in divorce.
Survivors include his companion of 18 years, Ellen Rabe of Columbia; three children from his marriage, Elissa Proto Carter of Catonsville, Md., Christopher Proto of Washington and Vanessa Proto of Baltimore; a brother, Neil Proto of Washington; and a sister, Diana Avino of Clinton, Conn.
-- Matt Schudel
Allan M. BiggarEngineer, Inventor
Allan M. Biggar, 90, an engineer and inventor at what's now known as the Adelphi Laboratory Center, died of respiratory failure July 4 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County.
Mr. Biggar worked at what was then called the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories from 1958 until 1981, when he retired.
He came to Washington in 1942 to be a project engineer on fuzes for munitions in the Army's Office of the Chief of Ordnance. That proximity fuze group was among the first to move into the Pentagon as soon as the building's first wing was completed.
Mr. Biggar was born in Tampa and graduated from the University of Florida. He initially worked as a chemist for the Florida highway department.
After World War II, he continued to work for the Army on proximity fuzes until joining the Diamond lab. He became known for his ability to invent on demand, and he received a cash patent award from the Army in 1959, according to The Washington Post.
Mr. Biggar worked on such diverse matters as materials used in guided missile fuzing and the development of a thin-film battery for the National Weather Service's high-altitude balloon. That battery was later used by Polaroid in its film packs and by the U.S. Postal Service to power a thin-film radio transmitter used to monitor the flow of mail in large postal facilities to prevent pilferage.
He worked with a team on designing miniature shortwave radio receivers for the Army's use and for which he invented the miniature tuning mechanism. The receivers were displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.
Mr. Biggar and a co-inventor created the inflating device for a large metallic balloon, Echo II, used as an early communications satellite. He formulated and hand-mixed the adhesive used when the balloon was launched to keep it from inflating prematurely. Echo II remained in orbit for more than two years and was the subject of a postage stamp.
Mr. Biggar and his colleague received letters of commendation from NASA for their solution to the problem of inflating the balloon without exploding it. He received many other government honors for work related to fuzes.
He served regularly as a judge in Northern Virginia science fairs. In his 80s, he learned to use a computer and digital camera and created digital photo shows to present to groups.
He was a member of the Potomac Rose Society and Mount Olivet United Methodist Church in Arlington.
Survivors include his wife, Sarah R. Biggar of Arlington; a daughter, Sallie Ann Biggar of Fairfax Station; and three grandsons.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Gretchen A. OsgoodPublic Health Service Official
Gretchen A. Osgood, 86, who retired in 1986 as deputy director of the U.S. Public Health Service's nursing division, died of cardiopulmonary arrest July 20 at her home in Chevy Chase.
Mrs. Osgood spent 24 years working for the Public Health Service, which became a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She wrote articles on nursing and government management of nursing for professional journals. Among them was a survey of federal nursing priorities for the 1980s.
Among her professional memberships, she was a past president of the District of Columbia League for Nursing and served on its board until her death. She was a recipient of the Public Health Service's Superior Service Award and the American Academy of Nursing's President's Award for deepening understanding of the profession.
Gretchen Anderson was a Minneapolis native, a 1943 graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and a 1946 graduate of Johns Hopkins University's nursing school.
She received a master's degree in supervision in public health nursing from Boston University's nursing school in 1950.
She spent nine years as an associate nursing director at the University of Illinois's research and education hospitals in Chicago before settling in the Washington area in 1962.
In 1946, she married Robert E. Osgood, who became a dean of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. After his death in 1986, she endowed a professorship and a student fellowship, both in her husband's name, and also gave money toward summer internships, all at SAIS.
She had no immediate survivors.
-- Adam Bernstein
Lilia Nielsen HyltoftReal Estate Agent
Lilia Nielsen Hyltoft, 77, a retired real estate agent with Long & Foster for 18 years in Northern Virginia, died July 25 at her home in Churchville, Va. She had lung and pancreatic cancer.
Mrs. Hyltoft was born in Copenhagen and lived in Denmark until 1972, when her husband came to Washington to take a job as a conservator with the Folger Shakespeare Library.
She retired from Long & Foster in 1992 and moved to Churchville.
She was a member of the art committee at the Folger Library and served with the women's auxiliary of Gideons International, the Bible distribution and evangelism group.
She lived in Herndon and Manassas for many years and was a Sunday school teacher at Woodbine Family Worship Center in Manassas.
In retirement, she sang in church choirs and was a member of the Staunton Choral Society. She also traveled throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Johannes Hyltoft of Churchville; two children, Anette Veldhuyzen of Fredericksburg and Kean Hyltoft of Rileyville, Va.; 12 grandchildren; a brother; and two sisters.
-- Matt Schudel
Adelaide M. HawkinsOSS, CIA Analyst
Adelaide Mulheran Hawkins, 94, who was an analyst in the Office of Strategic Services and its successor, the Central Intelligence Agency, died July 10 of renal and congestive heart failure at her son's home in Arlington.
Mrs. Hawkins, who also was an antiques dealer and volunteer, was born in Wheeling, W.Va., and came to Washington with her husband and three children in 1940.
While her husband worked in the temporary munitions building on Constitution Avenue as a cryptanalyst for the Army, Mrs. Hawkins began studying his cryptanalysis lessons. After learning of her studies, her husband's boss offered her a job.
She began working with Gen. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, who was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's coordinator of information, in what became the Office of Strategic Services.
Mrs. Hawkins created the OSS message center and remained its deputy director throughout World War II. She oversaw the reception, processing and distribution of sensitive communications, and she trained agents in communicating from behind enemy lines in occupied Europe.
After the war, she was part of the greatly reduced staff known as the Central Intelligence Group until it was absorbed into the new Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. Mrs. Hawkins spent several years in London in the late 1950s, where she developed an interest in antiques. She retired from the CIA in 1974.
After retiring, Mrs. Hawkins entered the antique business and partnered at different periods with her brother, her daughter, her son and daughter-in-law, and with a CIA colleague.
She bought and restored an antebellum Methodist church in Hillsboro in Loudoun County, where she operated Stone Church Antiques in the 1990s.
From the 1970s to 1990s, she volunteered with the Treasure Trove Thrift Shop at Inova Fairfax Hospital and with the Opportunity Shop at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Washington.
In 1982, Mrs. Hawkins bought and restored a derelict but exotic Mayan-style house in Arlington where she cared for her mother. The extensive garden next to the house, with scores of goldfish in its ponds, became the site of many neighborhood gatherings.
When her mother died in 1992, Mrs. Hawkins moved to the Jefferson retirement condominium community in Arlington.
Her marriage to Edward Hawkins ended in divorce. Two of their children died: Edward J. Hawkins in 1975 and Shelia Van Vliet Beckner in 1990.
Survivors include a son, Don Alexander Hawkins of Arlington; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Sharron T. PriceFairfax County Teacher
Sharron T. Price, 63, who spent 26 years as a first-grade teacher at Ravensworth Elementary School in Springfield, died July 21 at her home in Fairfax Station. She had ovarian cancer.
After retiring in 1992, Ms. Price volunteered at Ravensworth, teaching reading to kindergartners and first-graders.
She also captured an injured bald eagle and turned it over to the Wildlife Rescue League for treatment, rehabilitation and release into the wild. She was honored at the release ceremony at the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
Sharron Taylor Price was born in Washington and raised in Bethesda. She was a 1962 graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and a 1966 cum laude education graduate of Ohio University.
Survivors include a sister, Sandra P. Cihlar of Washington.
-- Adam Bernstein