June 21, 2007

OBITUARIES

Harold N. Putnam

Harold N. Putnam, a longtime resident of Yellow Springs, died on June 14, at Greene Memorial Hospital in Xenia. He was 87.

Harold was born in New York City on April 11, 1920, the elder child of Mrs. Persis Putnam. As a toddler, he contracted polio in the epidemic of the 1920s. He grew up during the Depression in New York, graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School where he won the citizenship award and other honors. Later he became interested in issues of war and peace, and was associated with the Newark Christian Colony in New Jersey. Several well known pacifists, including Dave Dellinger, Meredith and Willa Dallas, were living there. Harold met Jean Unnewehr while working at the Food Coop in Orange, N.J, and they married in Berea, Ohio, in 1945.

Later that year, Harold and Jean moved to Yellow Springs, where he commuted to Ohio State University and worked at Springfield City Hospital as an accountant. He graduated in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. They lived on a farm outside Yellow Springs and became foster parents for a young boy, Howard Douglas. To this day, Howard considers Harold his dad. Harold always had a knack for numbers and money management, and worked as the finance director of the Antioch College dining halls throughout the 50s and 60s, and raised three children at their West South College Street home.

In 1967, he moved the family to New England, first to Bath, N.H., and then to the Boston area, where he worked as finance officer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In New England he was instrumental in Quaker volunteer activities, and helped to found the North Shore Friends Meeting near Beverly, Mass. After his retirement from Harvard in 1987, he and Jean moved back to Yellow Springs.

Harold and Jean were members of the Yellow Springs Friends Meeting since 1948. He contributed to the meeting in many capacities throughout the years. He served as member and president of the Friends Care Center Board, where he was instrumental in the expansion of the Friends Care Community during the past decade, using his analytical skills to assist in decisions. He was also supportive with wife Jean and Peg Champney for the early development of the Friends Music Camp and was president of its board of directors until his passing. He was an avid bridge player, and enjoyed gardening and crossword puzzles for many years.

Throughout his life, Harold Putnam exhibited the qualities of humor, compassion, common sense, and appreciation for the sufferings of life. He had a practical and patient attitude towards his own foibles and those of others. His bravery with his handicap was an inspiration for his family and others. He loved deeply, was well loved, and will be greatly missed.

Harold is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Jean Putnam; three children, Mark Putnam of Warwick, R.I., Daniel Putnam, of Davis, Calif., and Nancy Putnam of Belchertown, Mass.; four grandchildren, Satch Putnam, Anjali Putnam, Gregory Putnam and Nicholas Putnam; and two daughters-in-law, Panna Putnam and Nancy Lynn Putnam.

A memorial service will be held July 8, at 4 p.m., at the Yellow Springs Friends Meeting, Rockford Chapel on President Street, on the Antioch College campus. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the American Friends Service Committee, 915 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406.

Ewell Julian Reagin

Dr. Ewell Julian Reagin died Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, in Bremerton, Wash., where he had lived the past three years after over 30 years in Yellow Springs. He was 79.

Ewell was born July 7, 1927, in McKenzie, Tenn., to the Reverend Dr. Ewell Kerr Reagin and Julian Rebecca Simpson Reagin. Ewell’s family moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where, after attending Baylor School in Chattanooga, he graduated from Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee (philosophy and psychology) in 1950. At U.T., Ewell met and married his wife, Dolores Manning Reagin, and the couple moved to Nashville for graduate study at Vanderbilt University.

Ewell earned a masters in social ethics and bachelors of divinity in constructive theology from the University of Chicago, a masters in counseling psychology from Wright State University, and a Ph.D. in higher education from Union Graduate School. An ordained Presbyterian USA minister, over his long career, Ewell served as an administrator, faculty member, psychological counselor, and university campus pastor for Cornell University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Missouri at Columbus, Park College, Antioch University in Yellow Springs and Antioch Education Abroad, as dean of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago, and as pastor to Christ Church, Presbyterian at the University of Vermont where he retired in 1993.

Ewell’s lifelong commitment to social justice was evident in his writings and work with the civil rights movements in the south and in Chicago where he worked (and marched) with Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Highlander Folk School, the Penn Center at Frogmore, S.C., and with university student groups from across the country.

In addition to his academic work, Ewell served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, stationed in Germany and Italy. He will be remembered for his deep baritone voice, his love of music, art, poetry, books galore, tennis, basketball and football, hiking in the Smoky Mountains, good conversation — and challenging debates — and his abiding devotion to students, family and friends. Throughout his illness, Ewell maintained his wonderful sense of humor and unforgettable smile. To his final day, Ewell’s eyes lit up at the sight of his wife of 56 years.

Preceded in death by his parents and his beloved daughter, Deborah Kerr Reagin in 1998, Ewell is survived by his wife, Dolores; his sons, Ewell Manning Reagin of Oakland, Calif., Brian Everette Reagin of Raleigh, N.C., John Nelson Reagin, Seattle, Wash.; grandson, Sean Everette Reagin of Raleigh, N.C.; son-in-law Dr. Elliot Stern of Seattle; special grandchildren, Kerby and Sarah Olsen of Walnut Creek, Calif.; sister, Rebekah Reagin Pherson of Port Hueneme, Calif.; several nieces, nephews, cousins, and a host of students, colleagues, parishioners, and friends.

A service celebrating Ewell’s life will be held Sunday afternoon, July 8 at 4 p.m., at the Episcopal Chapel of the Good Shepherd on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, N.Y. Dr. Han van den Blink will conduct the service and a string quartet will play Ewell’s requested music. All friends are warmly encouraged to attend this service. For more information, please contact Dr. Dolores Reagin at drdreagin@aol.com or write to her at 2468 Marine Drive, Bremerton, WA 98312.

Memorial contributions in Ewell’s memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, or to another charitable organization of your choice.

Memorial service to be held for John Schnurer

A memorial service will be held for John H. Schnurer at Rockford Chapel on Friday, June 22 from 2 to 6 p.m. All are invited and welcomed to gather with family. A longtime Yellow Springs resident, Schnurer died suddenly May 30 at the age of 55.