February 2, 2006

OBITUARIES

Antioch graduate Coretta Scott King dies

Coretta Scott King, an Antioch College graduate and the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., died Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Santa Monica Health Institute, a holistic health center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, south of San Diego. She was 78.

King was born April 27, 1927, in Perry County, Ala. Her father ran a country store. To help her family during the Depression, Coretta picked cotton.

Later, she worked as a waitress to earn her way through Antioch College where she studied education and music. She graduated from Antioch in 1951.

Last fall, the college launched the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom as part of the Renewal Plan. The center promotes the college’s historical emphasis on diversity and freedom of thought.

“There is a direct connection between what Horace Mann imagined education should be and the agenda of the Coretta Scott King Center,” Rick Jurasek, who served as the college’s interim president, said at the time. “The center will enable us to live out our mission more faithfully and in a more concentrated form. It’s a big thing for the college.”

After graduating from Antioch, King studied voice at the New England Conservatory of Music and planned a singing career when she met Martin Luther King Jr., a young Baptist minister studying at Boston University. They were married 18 months later.

After her husband was assassinated in 1968, she continued his work, traveling throughout the U.S. and world advocating racial and economic justice, women’s and children’s rights, religious freedom and the needs of the poor and homeless. In 1969, she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.

She received honorary doctorates from more than 40 colleges and universities; wrote three books and a nationally syndicated column; and served on, and helped found, dozens of organizations. She was named by President Carter to serve as part of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations

Her survivors include her children, Dexter, Martin III, Yolanda and Bernice; and a sister, Edythe Scott Bagley of Cheyney, Pa.

Harry Steinhauer

Harry Steinhauer died Thursday, Jan. 12, at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 100.

Born in 1905 in Cracow, Poland, he immigrated to Toronto with his family when he was 8. He received a BA (1927), MA (1928) and Ph.D. (1937) in French and German Literature from the University of Toronto.

In his academic career, he taught in Canada at the Universities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and in the U.S. at Ohio State University, Antioch College and Case Western Reserve University, before moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1964 as professor and chair of foreign languages and literatures. When he retired in 1971, Steinhauer was chair of the department of Germanic and Semitic studies at the UCSB.

He had a distinguished career as a scholar, translator and teacher in the U.S. and Canada. In 1962 he was awarded the Order of Merit, First Class, of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his contributions as a teacher and scholar and for his service to the field of German literature and culture. Among the many books he wrote and cowrote were the widely recognized and distributed four volumes in the Bantam Dual-Language Books series. Generations of undergraduates in the U.S. and Canada were taught using his carefully edited anthologies. One of his favorite and most popular courses at Antioch was “The History of Western Civilization.” He published numerous articles in Canadian and U.S. scholarly journals, and some 6,600 Web sites currently testify to the continued vitality of his translations and interpretive introductions.

Books were his life, and after his retirement, he devoted himself to the study of Hebraic literature and to the German author Heinrich Heine. Recreationally, he conducted a French reading circle in the “Steinhauer Library” at UCSB for several fellow retired colleagues and held daily reading sessions with a close friend and neighbor. One of his fond memories from Yellow Springs was serving as a soldier in MacDuff’s army in the Antioch “Shakespeare Under the Stars” performance of Macbeth. He was an avid gardener and delighted in constructing bookshelves and walking canes in his garage workshop.

Harry was recognized by his peers for his intellectual curiosity, his scholarship, his prodigious memory for literary, historical, cultural and Talmudic references and for his personal and academic integrity. His gentle and erudite humor, coupled with his courtly and charming manner and professional modesty, earned him the friendship and admiration of all who knew him. A lifelong lover of music and collector of fine art, he corresponded with significant scholars and literary figures of his generation, including George Bernard Shaw. Having grown up in poverty in Canada, Harry Steinhauer lived frugally all his days, rarely complaining, and appreciating the simplest of pleasures and comforts, and supporting numerous charities. Fiercely egalitarian socially and politically, during the McCarthy era he stood with his fellow Antioch faculty members in refusing to testify against colleagues. Those whose lives he touched in his 100 years will sorely miss his wisdom, forbearance and wit.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Minnie Singer Steinhauer, M.D., in 1995.

He is survived by his two daughters, Judith Steinhauer and her companion Sheila Paine of Portland, Maine, and Esther Battle and her husband, David Battle, of Yellow Springs; a grandson, Mark Battle, his wife, Kathryn Thorson; and two great-grandchildren, Zoe and Felix Battle of Brunswick, Maine.

Memorial contributions may be made to Visiting Nurses and Hospice Care of Santa Barbara, 222 East Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Doris L. Davis

Doris L. Davis (Doddridge) died Friday, Jan. 27, at Friends Care Community. She was 93. 

She was born Aug. 9, 1912, the youngest daughter of Earl and Neva Doddridge (Dailey) of Milton, Ind. Doris was employed by the Perfect Circle Piston Ring Company of Hagerstown, Ind. She wrote poetry, won a playwriting contest  and wrote articles for the Perfect Circle Retirees magazine. After moving to Sarasota, Fla., in 1979, she began  to play tennis again. From 1988 to ’92, when she was 80, she competed in both singles and doubles USTA championships for seniors.

Doris was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Stanley Davis and Chauncey McNelly; and a daughter, Ruth Ann Davis-Marsh.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Judy (Davis) and James Rose of Yellow Springs; son and daughter-in-law, John and Phyllis Davis of Crossville, Tenn.; son-in-law, Ted Davis-Marsh; grandchildren, Lisa Russell, Diane Zink, Brenda Younker, Laura Russell, Linda Bankston, Scott Davis, Erika Davis-Marsh, Cassandra Davis-Marsh, Marc Davis-Marsh, Jon Davis-Marsh and Ryan Davis-Marsh; and 10 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 29, 4 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Yellow Springs. Her ashes will be buried in the Doddridge Chapel Cemetery in Indiana. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Dayton or the Doddridge Chapel Cemetery, 9465 Chapel Road, Centerville, Ind., 47330.

Nancy C. Benning-Craig

Nancy C. Benning-Craig of Bedford, Ky., and formally of Vandalia, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the Hospice Unit of Baptist Hospital Northeast in La Grange, Ky. She was 71.

Nancy was born on Feb. 4, 1934, in Trimble County, Ky., the daughter of Clarence and Dorothy Mahoney. She was retired from Lucent Technologies. After retiring, she worked for the Vandalia Public Library and at Angelic Devas in Yellow Springs.

Nancy was known as “Mom” in her presence at Angelic Devas from 1995 to 2002. She was a Reiki II practitioner, offering her services to many throughout the years. Her words of encouragement and hope to others were often shared through her stories of defeating cancer for over 16 years. It was through her strong spiritual beliefs, Reiki, crystals/stones, TM, and the music of Steven Halpern, Robert Coxon and others that she found her courage and strength for each day. Both Halpern and Coxon had spent personal time with her discussing the value of their work and her experiences for benefiting others with cancer, other illnesses and stress. She enjoyed, loved and missed the customers and clients of Angelic Devas and people of Yellow Springs, as another love called her elsewhere in 2002.

She was preceded in death by her first husband of 53 years, Harry E. Benning; a son, Mark Thomas; and a daughter, Pamela Sue.

She is survived by her second husband, David B. Craig of Bedford, Ky; a son and daughter-in-law, Dane and Sharon Benning of New Vienna; two daughters, Terri Coleman of Yellow Springs and Cindy Benning of Vandalia; daughter-in-law, Pat Benning-Hall of Miamisburg; a stepson and his wife, Larry and Betty of Milton, Ky; 13 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Morton & Whetstone Funeral Home in Vandalia, with burial at Poplar Hill Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Hospice of La Grange, Ky., or Hospice of Dayton.

James Colgan

James Burnette Colgan of Xenia died Sunday, Jan. 29, at his home. He was 59.

He was born Feb. 13, 1946, in Fleming County, Ky., the son of James and Edith (Stafford) Colgan.

James served in the U.S. Army, and he retired from Vernay Laboratory in Yellow Springs after 31 years. His autobiography, Mountain Memories and Stories from the Wolf Pen Holler, was published in December.

He is preceded in death by his father and a brother-in-law, Landon “L.C.” Mason.

He is survived by his mother; wife, Janice Sue (Parker) Colgan; daughters and sons-in-law, Cathy and Shawn Evans of Cedarville and Kim and Jarrod Matlock of Woodstock, Md.; grandchildren, Shawn Robert Evans II, Zoe Brianne Evans, Madison Darlene Matlock and Samantha Myrtle Matlock; sister, Joann Mason of Flemingsburg, Ky.; and brothers and sisters-in-law, Charles and Patricia Colgan and William and Betty Colgan.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m., at the Boone Nickell Funeral Home in Flemingsburg, Ky., with the burial to follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.