Staff and Faculty Deaths


Richard Hutton Jones
Richard (Dick) Jones, Richard F. Scholz Professor of History, emeritus, died August 19 at age 84. He began teaching at Reed in 1941 and retired in 1982. His specialty was medieval and constitutional history, and his major publication was the Royal Policy of Richard II (Oxford, 1967).

Carl Stevens, professor of economics, emeritus, said that "Professor Richard Jones was in many of his ways a latter-day exemplar of characteristics of the early Reed faculty which were important in launching Reed on what proved an auspicious path. For one important thing, he was a serious intellectual--by which I mean his apparent agenda on this score was just the same as his real agenda."

Jones participated in the organization of the Reed College humanities program in the 1940s and was active in the Ford Foundation gifted child program. During World War II, he served on the War Labor Board, and he was a labor arbitrator after the war. After his retirement, he edited papers and other material for Senator Mark O. Hatfield for inclusion in the Hatfield Library at Willamette University. He received his A.B. and M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado and his Ph.D. from Stanford.

He is survived by his son, Robert Jones; a brother, James Jones; a sister, Ruth Kibler; and a grandchild.

Thomas P. Dennehy
Thomas Dennehy, retired Reed professor of mathematics, populist activist, and co-author of Oregon's controversial Measure 5, died in August at the age of 70. Dennehy taught at Reed from 1962 until 1979. Dennehy relied on his academic specialty--mathematical analysis--in drafting Measure 5 with fellow tax activist Don McIntire. This landmark constitutional amendment, which has become a cornerstone in Oregon's property tax revolt, limited taxes to 1.5 percent of a property's value and forced the state to find billions of dollars in replacement funding for schools. Dennehy continued to be very active in state politics until his death. He received a bachelor's degree from John Carroll University and a master's degree at Notre Dame University. He taught there until moving to Portland to teach at Reed.

Dennehy is survived by a brother, Robert Dennehy; a sister, Theresa Davison; a niece and nephews.

Janet Kingston
Janet Isabel Wood Soderberg Kingston died June 20 at the age of 94. She taught women's physical education at Reed for 12 years and retired in 1980. After her retirement, she moved to Tolovana Park, Oregon. She was born November 12, 1903, in Saginaw, Michigan. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, both in education. Before coming to Reed, Kingston taught at Scripps College and Arizona State University. She is survived by friends David and Cecile Pratt, of Hillsboro, Oregon.

Alice Worden
Alice Worden, longtime faculty secretary for Reed's division of history and social sciences, died in July at age 83. Worden began working in 1956 as a medical stenographer to support her family after her husband's death; she came to Reed in 1959 and worked until her retirement in 1979.

Worden enjoyed her position at Reed and was much beloved by students and faculty members alike. Ed Segel, professor of history, said that she "gave unstintingly of herself for the welfare of faculty and students under her care."

Said Ottomar Rudolf, professor of German and humanities, emeritus, "We, who knew Alice Worden, knew her as an exceptional and loyal person who dedicated her life to two things: to her children, and as a faculty secretary, to her faculty. Alice always did more than was required of her. She loved and respected her faculty, and as the senior secretary for many years, she was respected by her peers."

Worden is survived by her daughters, Nancy A. Lesseg and Susan C. Waters, and five grandchildren.


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