Tag Archives: Class of 1939

Robert T. Gabriel ’39

GabrielRobert T. Gabriel passed away on October 21, 2013. Born and raised in New Haven, Conn., he was a former resident of Bedford, Mass. and Lexington, Mass. After graduating from Yale in 1943, he served as an officer in the Navy and took part in D-Day in 1944.

After the war, he joined the Yale Alumni Fund as Secretary of that organization for 13 years. Following that he became Director of Radcliffe College Fund. In subsequent years he worked as a fund raising consultant winding up as Vice President of American Fund Raising Services whose clients consisted of hospitals, colleges and other philanthropic organizations.

He was a member of the Pilgrim Congregational Church of Lexington where he was a member of the governing council for a number of years. After retirement he joined the Peace Corps and went to Botswana where he became loan officer in the National Development Bank.

He was predeceased by his first wife, Margaret Bell (Miller) in 1979, his second wife, Isabel (Maxwell) in 2007, his brother, John C. Gabriel and sister, Susan Cunliffe. He is survived by his one son, Robert T. Gabriel, Jr. and daughter Anne C. Dunn of Long Island. He also leaves three grandchildren: Meghan Durkee, Stacey Gabriel and Heather Dunn.

Paul R. DeGross ’39

DeGrossPaul R. DeGross, 94, of Mill Road, Durham, died Wednesday, June 5, 2013, at his home.

Born April 20, 1919, in Manchester, he was the son of Bernard deGroseilliers and Beatrice (Chagnon) DeGross Robinson and the stepson of the late Lewis
Robinson.

He graduated from Central High School in Manchester in 1937 and from the University of New Hampshire in 1944 with a B.A. and in 1946 with an MBA.

After graduating from college, he taught high school in Dover and Newmarket for a few years. He left teaching to become an entrepreneur. He started his own business, Investment Properties Corporation. He pursued a career as a real estate purchaser and developer until his retirement in 2009.

He leaves behind his wife, Linda (McWhorter) DeGross of Durham; four cousins, Francine Letendre of West Linn, Ore., Susan Morin of Manchester, Cynthia
Ruonala of Nashua and Roy Montembault of Midwest City, Okla; and many longtime and close friends.

Robert Wallace Riedel ’39

Robert Wallace Riedel, 92, passed away on Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, at Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer following a short illness. Born on June 2, 1921, he was the son of the late Wallace Edwin and Marjorie Smith (King) Riedel of Easthampton.

After graduating from Williston Academy, he earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Yale University in 1943.

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Bethia Smith Currie ’39

Dr. Bethia S. Currie died peacefully at the Sharon Health Care Center on July 3, 2013, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was born in Meriden, Conn., in 1922, but had lived in Cornwall since 1955.

She attended Northampton School for Girls and Vassar College, graduating cum laude in 1943 with a degree in English literature. She taught briefly at Pratt Institute in New York City before marrying and starting a family. In the 1960s she attended the New School for Social Research, studying philosophy and political science. She obtained a masters in philosophy in 1970 and her doctorate in 1971 and served as a graduate assistant teacher. She went on to teach philosophy and comparative religion at the University of Connecticut in Torrington as an assistant professor until her retirement in the mid 1980s.

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Robert O. Branch ’39

Robert O. Branch Jr., 92, formerly of Pepperbox Road and currently of Beechwood Drive, died Wednesday, May 1, 2013, at his residence.

Mr. Branch was born on Sept. 28, 1920, in Willimantic, the son of Robert O. Branch Sr. and Ruth (Talcott) Branch. Some of his favorite stories were of his boyhood memories sailing his canoe on Hall’s pond, sledding down Lewiston Avenue, spending summers at the church camp his family helped build, and playing the saxophone in clubs beginning at age 14.

Bob attended Williston Academy and Union College, and served in the U.S. Air Force in Paris during World War II. After the war, he worked at the Howard Johnson’s restaurant on Bank Street in New London, which he managed until retirement 36 years later. Continue reading