Obituaries

Walter B. Chambers Jr.Maritime Administration Official

Walter B. Chambers Jr., 89, a retired chief of emergency planning for the U.S. Maritime Administration, died Oct. 24 at his home in Silver Spring of complications from a fall at his home in April.

Mr. Chambers began his federal career in 1936, while still in high school, as a messenger with the U.S. Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corp., which was part of the U.S. Maritime Commission.

He stayed with the agency, which later folded into the Maritime Administration, for 38 years, retiring in 1974.

He was a U.S. delegate to NATO's Planning Board for Ocean Shipping from 1969 to 1974.

Walter Benjamin Chambers was born in Washington and graduated from Western High School in 1940. He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.

He was a member of the Christ Episcopal Church in Kensington and Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring.

His wife of 50 years, Wilda Taylor Chambers, died in 1989.

Survivors include two daughters, Judith L. Braddy of Rockville and Nancy J. Gouge of Ocala, Fla.; five grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

-- Lauren Wiseman

Beth Southern-EubanksPhysical Education Professor

Beth Southern-Eubanks, 56, a former college professor and D.C. Parks and Recreation Department administrator, died Oct. 12 at Capital Hospice in Arlington County from complications from an anoxic brain injury. She was a resident of Upper Marlboro. Dr. Southern-Eubanks was a physical education professor at Howard University from 1975 to 1991 and an associate professor of leisure studies at Grambling (La.) State University from 1999 to 2003. She was head of special programs for senior citizens for the Parks and Recreation Department from 2006 to 2007.