Thursday, December 25, 2008
Robert L. Sansom Mining Company President
Robert L. Sansom, 67, a former EPA official who became president of the mining company Virginia Vermiculite, died Dec. 21 at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. He had leukemia.
In the early 1970s, Dr. Sansom was the Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator for air and water programs.
He later founded energy and environmental consulting firms before helping start Virginia Vermiculite in Louisa, Va., in 1979. He remained company president until his death.
Robert Lewis Sansom was born in Johnson City, Tenn. He was a 1964 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, where he was first in his class, and received a master's degree in economics from Georgetown University in 1965.
In the late 1960s, he earned a doctorate in economics from Oxford University in England and was a White House Fellow with a specialty in national security affairs. He later served under national security adviser Henry Kissinger.
Earlier, he had been a recipient of Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships.
Dr. Sansom had been a resident of Stanardsville, in central Virginia, for more than 25 years. He also had a residence in Arlington County until recently and raised black Angus cattle and soybeans on a farm in Madison County, Va.
His marriage to Sharron Smith Sansom ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Karen Reid Sansom of Stanardsville; a daughter from his first marriage, Sarah Williams of Guilford, Conn.; two sons from his second marriage, Todd Sansom and Tyler Sansom, both of Nashville; three brothers; and three grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Malcom Roy Geologist, Airline Employee
Malcom Roy, 75, a geologist for Phillips Petroleum Co. who became a United Airlines reservations agent, died Dec. 8 at Iliff Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dunn Loring. He had Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Roy spent 22 years with Phillips, which took him from Oklahoma to England. He discovered a number of oil reserves around the world and became the Colorado-based director of Phillips's West Coast offshore drilling.
He moved to the Washington area in 1989, after retiring from Phillips, and worked until 2001 for United Airlines in Sterling. He was a Chantilly resident.
Mr. Roy was born in Baghdad, graduated from Baghdad University and served in the Iraqi army. He worked on oil rigs in Iraq until moving to the United States in 1964. He received a master's degree in geophysics from the University of Kansas in 1966 and became a U.S. citizen in 1973.
He was a member of St. Veronica Catholic Church in Chantilly.
Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Ikhlass Taktak Roy of Chantilly; three daughters, Reema Butler of Oak Hill, Dr. Rita Roy Merril of Great Falls and Rhonda Roy-McKee of Leesburg; two sisters, Beatrice Michael of Wichita, Kan., and Irene Albucher of Carbonne, France; four brothers, Patrick Roy of Englishtown, N.J., Dr. Johnny Roy of Edmond, Okla., Nelson Roy of Great Falls and Jesse Roy of Oklahoma City; and eight grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Harry Wilcox Monroe Broadcaster
Harry Wilcox Monroe, 88, a retired broadcaster with the Voice of America, died Dec. 21 of respiratory failure at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. He was a Fairfax City resident.
Mr. Monroe was born in Herkimer, N.Y., and received an undergraduate degree in 1941 from Syracuse University. During World War II, he served in the Army with the 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One") and participated in combat in North Africa, Sicily and the Normandy invasion.
He became a broadcaster with the Voice of America after his discharge from the Army and worked in Richmond before being transferred to Washington in 1963. He retired in 1985.
His marriage to Jean Shaffer Monroe ended in divorce. His second wife, Katherine Gallant Monroe, died in 2003.
Survivors include a son from his first marriage, Mark E. Monroe of Bealeton; a brother; a sister; and a grandson.
-- Joe Holley
Phyllis B. Marriott Church, Community Leader
Phyllis B. Marriott, 91, an officer in church, community and scouting organizations in the Washington area, died Dec. 13 at her home in Salt Lake City. She had heart and lung ailments.
She moved back to her native Utah from Kensington after suffering a stroke in 2000.
Mrs. Marriott was a former young women's president of Washington area wards and stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was a genealogy consultant for the Mormon church's family history library in Kensington.
She received several top scouting awards as one of the first women to serve on the executive board of the Boy Scouts' National Capital Area Council, which she did from 1954 to 1972. She had also been a den mother.
She was a former president of Kensington Parkwood Elementary School's parent-teacher association. Her other memberships included the League of Republican Women, and she participated in community fund drives for the Cancer Fund of America and the United Givers Fund, among other organizations.
On Mother's Day 1974, the organization American Mothers named her national mother of the year.
Phyllis Brown was born in Ogden, Utah. She and a sister were orphaned in a flu pandemic and raised with their maternal grandmother in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
She received an associate's degree from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah in 1939. That year, she married into the Marriott family, which had started restaurants and later hotels in the Washington area.
In the early 1940s, she was secretary to the personnel director of the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain.
Her husband, Russell S. Marriott, whom she married in 1939, died in 2001.
Survivors include three sons, Russell S. Marriott Jr. of Salt Lake City, Douglas Marriott of Provo, Utah, and Philip Marriott of Mapleton, Utah; a sister; 16 grandchildren; and 32 great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Jacqueline S. Mahan Montgomery County Teacher
Jacqueline S. Mahan, 67, a substitute teacher in Montgomery County public schools for more than 20 years, died Dec. 13 at her home in Rockville. She had breast cancer.
Mrs. Mahan started her substitute teaching in the early 1980s and mostly worked at elementary schools. She also was a second-grade teacher at the Hebrew Day Institute in Montgomery County in the mid-1990s.
Jacqueline Seglin was born in Chicago and raised in Hammond, Ind. She was a 1963 education graduate of Indiana University, where she also received a master's degree in sociology in 1966.
She settled in the Washington area in the early 1970s and had a second home in Lewes, Del.
She was a docent at the National Museum of Natural History and did volunteer work at the Jewish Social Services Agency and So Others Might Eat. She was a school board member at Temple Emanuel in Kensington.
Mrs. Mahan studied ballet much of her life, traveled from Australia to Argentina with her husband and enjoyed attending stage productions in the area and shopping at local farmers markets.
Survivors include her husband of 45 years, David L. Mahan of Rockville; three children, Wendy Putnam of North Potomac, Amy Kim of Bethesda and Joshua Mahan of Washington; a sister; and four grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Mary Jane O'Donnell Foote Homemaker, Volunteer
Mary Jane Foote, 91, a homemaker, volunteer and third-generation Washingtonian, died Dec. 23 of pneumonia at her home in the District.
Born Mary Jane O'Donnell, Mrs. Foote graduated from Georgetown Visitation High School and Georgetown Visitation Junior College.
After her marriage to William D. Foote, a Washington ophthalmologist, she became a homemaker and a volunteer with a number of organizations. She was a member of the Christ Child Society and was active with the Society for the Prevention of Blindness, Children's National Medical Center, Georgetown Hospital and the Ladies Board of Georgetown Hospital.
Mrs. Foote's husband died in 2002.
Survivors include four children, William D. Foote Jr. and Mary Foote Rupp, both of Kensington, and John A. Foote and Lois Foote Maloney, both of Bethesda; a sister; and 11 grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Elaine Howard Flood Church Leader
Elaine Ora Howard Flood, 92, the first lady of Southeast Tabernacle Baptist Church in Washington for almost 50 years, died of pneumonia Dec. 12 at Sibley Memorial Hospital.
Mrs. Flood, whose husband was minister of Southeast Tabernacle, was one of the principal leaders of the church's building fund and prepared 100 meals a week, and an equal number of cakes and pies, to raise money for the fund.
She also founded the annual Women's Day program at the church and volunteered with the Washington Baptist Ministries Wives' Association.
She was born in Warren County, N.C., and grew up working in her family's store, sawmill and farm. Baptized into Olive Grove Baptist Church in Littleton, N.C., she was active there until moving to Washington in 1935.
Mrs. Flood worked at Episcopal Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, now part of Washington Hospital Center. She married and, while still working at the hospital, also operated a family fruit stand at a farmers market.
Her family later owned and operated several supermarkets in the Washington area. She worked at some and retired from Federal Supermarket in Mount Rainier in 1975.
In 1950, she and her husband were the first African American family to settle on their street in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, where they raised their children and remained the rest of her life.
A son, Joseph Flood, died in infancy in 1943.
Survivors include her husband of 66 years, the Rev. Willie W. Flood of Washington; five children, Willie J. Flood of Washington, Samuel C. Flood of Chevy Chase, Michael J. Flood of Silver Spring, Gloria McCullough of Silver Spring and Daryl Flood of Washington; three sisters, Lucie Thompson of Camp Springs, Cleo Coakley of Washington and Dollie Blue of Silver Spring; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Robert M. Casey Navy Officer, Lawyer
Robert M. Casey, 86, a retired Navy commander who later practiced law in Fairfax County, died Dec. 18 of congestive heart failure at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.
Cmdr. Casey was born in Waltham, Mass. Immediately after receiving his undergraduate degree from Boston College in 1943, he joined the Navy, where he served in the Amphibious Forces. He participated in the D-Day landing at Normandy and received the Navy Commendation Medal for his ingenuity and effort to clear Utah Beach after disastrous storms hit the area shortly after D-Day. He later served in the Pacific theater and participated in landings in the Philippines and Borneo.
After the war, he received his law degree from Boston College and practiced law in Boston until being recalled to active duty as a Navy intelligence officer during the Korean War. He remained in the Navy until his retirement in 1967. His assignments included various operations duties in Washington with the Atlantic Fleet Anti-Submarine Force, the Caribbean Sea Frontier and the 2nd Fleet. He also served as the assistant naval attache at U.S. embassies in Argentina and Paraguay.
Following his military career, Cmdr. Casey worked for Special Warfare Labs, a Navy contractor, and practiced law in Fairfax County until retiring a second time in 1982. He was a trustee of several private trust funds and was active as an instructor and a speaker with the National Association of Investment Clubs. He also served as director, president and chair adviser of the group's Washington chapter.
He was a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Silver Spring, serving as lector, eucharistic minister and parish council member.
His marriage to Elizabeth Leahy Casey ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 25 years, Eleanor Yuhas Burnham Casey of Silver Spring; five children from his first marriage, Catherine Casey-Flavin of Eliot, Maine, Robert Casey of Glen Allen, Va., Christopher Casey of Atlantic Beach, Fla., James Casey of Crofton and Edmund Casey of Springfield; three stepchildren from his second marriage, Barbara Barton of Los Angeles, Janice Lafey of Columbia and David Burnham of Herndon; four brothers; 16 grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
-- Joe Holley
David Newcomb Back Accountant
David Newcomb Back, 88, a retired accountant, died of prostate cancer Dec. 15 at Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring. He was a former Bethesda resident.
Mr. Back was born in the District and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1938. He received his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1942 and served as an Army officer in Italy, France and Austria during World War II.
After the war, he worked for 25 years as an accountant in Bloomfield, Conn., until returning to the Washington area, where he continued his work as an accountant.
He was a member and officer in the Knights of Columbus and attended St. Jane Francis de Chantal Catholic Church in Bethesda and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Silver Spring. He also was a member of the Archaeological Society of Maryland.
Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Martha Howard Back of Sandy Spring; two children, Marianne Russell Chrystalbridge of Sevierville, Tenn., and Julia Valentine Back of Key West, Fla.; a brother; and three grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley