Obituaries | 1970-1979

The first-born child of Elmo Riley Willard, III and Patricia Ann Willard, Elmo Michael Willard, was born on November 17, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois–his mother’s hometown. As a newborn, Michael moved with his parents to Washington, DC, where his father began law school. His first three years were spent in the nation’s capital.

In 1954, the young family relocated to Beaumont, Texas, and shortly thereafter, Michael began school at Our Mother of Mercy Elementary. In 1965, following completion of the eighth grade, he embarked upon an illustrious four years at Hebert High School. During his time there, Michael participated in numerous activities including debate, junior varsity basketball and his true passion, golf. In his senior year, Michael was co-captain of the varsity golf team. His success at Hebert, however, was not confined solely to extracurricular activities, for he was inducted into the National Honor Society during his junior year. The following year, 1969, Michael was graduated from high school as a National Achievement Scholar.

As a result of his scholastic standing, Michael was recruited by Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut,–a part of what is referred to as the “Little Ivy League”–and was awarded a partial scholarship. His appearance in Connecticut was noteworthy. Michael was part of the newly burgeoning wave of African-American students attending Ivy League colleges for the first time in large numbers in the nation’s history. He helped open the doors of opportunity to African-Americans for generations to come. In 1973, Michael was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University.

Upon graduation, Michael returned to the city of his earliest years by enrolling in Georgetown University Law Center located in Washington, DC. But law was not to be his calling, and soon after Michael returned to his hometown of Beaumont.

After deep reflection, Michael decided that he needed a complete change of direction. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1979. That proved to be both a blessing and a curse. Michael successfully completed basic training and was shipped to Germany for assignment. It was in Germany that his mental disability of schizophrenia was diagnosed. That illness would alter the course of his remaining years. Michael was twenty-eight.

The next several years were fraught with tension and discomfort as he fought to contain and understand the illness that was slowly gaining control of his life. It must be said that Michael fought valiantly. There were deep reserves of courage and strength within him.

In 1997, Michael moved to Houston where he found some measure of comfort and peace. He chose to live in a personal care home which allowed him independence while providing a safe and secure living environment. Michael garnered joy from the love of his family, his church and belief in God, and his newly formed friendships at The Gathering Place. Although his was not a life he would have chosen, he found contentment in his later years. Elmo Michael Willard departed peacefully in his sleep on Friday, January 21, 2005.

The gift of Michael’s life is celebrated by all whose lives he touched. He was preceded in death by his father, Elmo R. Willard, III, Esq. and is mourned by his mother, Patricia A. Willard; his brother, David A. Willard; his aunt, Shirley R. Simeon, PhD; his cousins, Percy Willard, Joyce Willard, Blandon Willard, Joy Willard, Nora Lee Alexander, Quentin C. Simeon, Mark J. Simeon, Lawrence Green, Monica Brown, Stephanie Campbell, Mary Quash, William Quash, Shawn Quash, Vaughn Quash, and many other relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Michael’s memory to the Julie Rogers “Gift of Life” Program, PMB 46, 148 S. Dowlen Rd., Beaumont, TX 77707-9898.

JAN M. WOUTERS, a nuclear physicist who was associated with Los Alamos National Laboratory for much of his career, died Apr. 2, 2010. He was 56. After receiving his degree cum laude and with high honors, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. An accomplished musician, he played a Bach organ fugue at his Wesleyan Commencement. His specialty at Los Alamos was computer data analysis in physics. Survivors include his wife, Laura Moltz Wouters, two children, his mother, his brother, and his sister, Dr. Annemarie V. Wouters ’79.

GEORGE B. von der LIPPE, 61, professor of German at St. Anselm College for 26 years, and chairman of the foreign language department, died Nov. 2, 2009. He received his PhD from Brown University, where he did groundbreaking literary detective work comparing Edgar Allan Poe and E.T.A. Hoffmann. The author of many scholarly articles, as well as a critical study of Martin Luther, he translated Max Schmeling’s autobiography and also an important World War II novel critical of the Nazi regime. Survivors include his son, his mother, and his former wife, Angela von der Lippe.

Dena (Seibert) Thomas of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Chatham, MA died on April 21, 2005 after a valiant battle with leukemia. She was 49. Dena was born in New York City, the daughter of Wilson and Susan Seibert. She was raised in Croton on-Hudson and graduated from Hackley School in Tarrytown in 1973. Dena received a BA in American History from Wesleyan in 1977. She then attended The Fashion Institute of Technology before embarking on a successful career in the fashion and accessories field, which began at Bloomingdales and included a decade with Bally of Switzerland. Mrs. Thomas served as a Trustee of Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining. Dena spent her summers on Cape Cod in Chatham. She will be remembered for her generosity of spirit towards all with whom she came in contact, as well as for her fierce loyalty to her family, especially her two sons. She is survived by her husband of 20 years David B.Thomas ’77, her sons William S. and Spencer W., her mother Susan H. Seibert of Chatham, MA and Naples, FL, sister Sara A. Seibert of Redondo Beach, CA, brother Andrew W. Seibert of New York, NY, sister and brother-in-law Susan S. and John T. Cooney, Jr. of Ossining, one niece and one nephew Sara W. and Jack T. Cooney. Predeceased by her father Wilson A. Seibert, Jr. who died on April 20, 2005.

DOUGLAS B. THOMPSON, 60, a philanthropist and the founder of Jupiter Management Company, a private equity firm that invests in the energy sector, died June 9, 2010. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MBA from Harvard University. While at Wesleyan he attended the Economic Institute in Santiago, Chile, where he developed a lifelong interest in South America and the start of his career in the energy business. He was predeceased by a brother. Among those who survive are his wife, Leslie Bacon Thompson, four children, his parents, three sisters, and a brother.

ANDREW F. TOTH, 1948-2005, passed away in November at his home in Denpasar, Bali after a long battle with lung and brain cancer. A self-actualized individual, he devoted his life to what he loved best: the classical music traditions of Bali and Java, their performance and analysis. He was highly respected in the field of ethnomusicology as a first class musician, researcher, teacher, scholar, recorder and colleague. As American Consular Agent in Bali he was instrumental in helping numerous others – musicians, scholars, students, tourists, politicians, sailors – find the “real” Bali beyond the typical tourist experience. He was a passionate friend and husband who loved fishing, SCUBA, white water rafting, squash and, most of all, punning. He leaves behind a gaping hole, and will be sorely missed by his colleagues and friends. Andy was a local Connecticut boy who attended the public schools in the nearby town of Meriden.

His interest in music began early with the accordion which he played at family and school events. In high school, he played guitar with the most popular rock and roll band in the region, the North Atlantic Invasion Force. A product of the post-Sputnik era, he was fascinated by science and won a Special Summer Study Grant from the National Science Foundation to study astronomy. He was valedictorian of his class at Orville Platt High School and came to Wesleyan as a freshman in the fall of 1966 as one of Hoy’s Boys in the class of 1970. His extraordinary family also sent his younger siblings Patrick (1978) and Mary Ann (1975) to Wesleyan. Andy came to Wesleyan with the intention of being a Chemistry major and quickly became associated with the brilliant Dr. Peter Leermakers. As Leermaker’s research assistant, Andy worked in the photochemistry lab and co-authored papers on photochromism as an undergraduate. Rock and roll remained a force in his life, and he was a member of the dynamic campus band, Uranus and the Five Moons. But this was Wesleyan, and Professor Bob Brown (who passed away within days of Andy) had established a ground-breaking program in ethnomusicology focusing on both performance and scholarship including the cultural traditions of West Africa, North and South India, Japan and Indonesia. Visiting artists from these countries and their students put on compelling concerts of music and dance which riveted the attention of most undergraduates many of whom would try their hand at mastering one or more of these disciplines. Some took up the infectious talking drums of Ghana; others were fascinated by the sinuous rhythms of the tabla and mrdungam; and many fell in love with the ethereal and stately classical tradition of Javanese gamelan. This was one of the things that made (and still makes) the Wesleyan experience so distinctive, unique and exciting.

Andy experimented with several music traditions, but, with Bob Brown as his mentor, committed himself to the musical culture of Java and Bali. He performed regularly with the gamelan orchestra under the supervision of Pak Prawotosaputro and finally made the difficult decision to become a music major. He received a Wesleyan Honors College Fellowship and spent a semester traveling and studying with Bob Brown in India, Java and Bali, his first taste of international travel. He was hooked.

Andy wrote his Honors Thesis on The Gamelan Sekati of Central Java and graduated Cum Laude with High Honors in Music. He was well on his way to becoming a master musician specializing in gender, an elaborating instrument which plays phrasings around the core melody line. After graduation, Andy accompanied Bob Brown to the brand new California Institute of the Arts where Bob was establishing a program in Ethnomusicology. Andy was a graduate student in the MFA program and served as a Teaching Assistant. In 1971, supported by a Foreign Study Grant from Cal Arts, Andy went on the first American Society for Eastern Arts trip to Java and Bali. Coordinated by Bob Brown, this seminal trip included many of the people who would become key figures in the field of Ethnomusicology particularly in the area of Indonesian music. The group included several other Wesleyan students: Alan Feinstein (1970), Michael Flynn (1970) and John Pemberton (1970). Bob arranged for this group to study with many of the top musicians and teachers in Java and Bali.

On this trip Andy met Danielle Diffloth, a professional photographer who was resident in Java doing a photo documentary accompanied by her young daughter, Natalie Diffloth ’87). Andy married Danielle in 1974. After receiving his MFA from Cal Arts in 1972, Andy joined the PhD program in Ethnomusicology at UCLA where he was able to work with the legendary Mantle Hood, one of the giants of the field (and who also passed away recently).

As a visiting instructor he taught courses in ethnomusicology and performance at several schools in the LA area. He was also Curator of the Colin McPhee Collection at UCLA. In 1975 he received a Fullbright-Hays Dissertation Abroad Fellowship, and he and Danielle spent a year in Bali doing research and making recordings on tuning systems for Balinese gamelans. Andy became fluent in both Indonesian and Balinese and continued studying with the best musicians in Bali. Andy was very active publishing articles and reviews, assisting on record albums and films, attending and giving papers at the Society for Ethnomusicology and other professional organizations, and giving invited lectures. Of course, he also maintained a satisfying schedule of performances of both Javanese and Balinese music.

After completing the requirements for the PhD at UCLA in 1978, Andy took a position back East as an Assistant Professor at Brown University teaching Ethnomusicology. Using instruments he had brought back from Indonesia, he set up performing groups for both Javanese and Balinese music in Providence. He also performed with the Boston Village Gamelan established in 1979 by Wesleyan graduates Sam Quigley and Alan Robinson. He continued working on his dissertation research and his active program of teaching, publishing, speaking and performing.

In 1983 Andy left Brown and got divorced. After a brief stint working as a computer programmer, he made the decision to follow his heart and return to Bali where he could continue his studies and immerse himself in the culture that he loved. For a number of years he worked with the Ford Foundation and as a Visiting Lecturer at the Indonesian College of Arts (STSI) in Denpasar teaching field research methods and ethnomusicology. He became a mainstay of the expat community in Bali performing gender wayang regularly in local festivals and available to help students and researchers, scholars and film-makers.

In 1989 he became the third American musician proficient in Balinese music to become US Consular Agent. In this position he was in charge of caring for US interests and citizens in Bali. He took care of visa problems, legal problems, illness and accidents, seeing that American citizens received necessary services and aid in returning to the US. He organized visits by dignitaries including Secretaries of State, Presidents and ships full of sailors. And he continued to play a critical role facilitating the visits of students, scholars and tourists and gaining them entry to vast and intriguing cultural life of Bali. Many people dramatically benefited from his knowledge of music and culture and his expertise at negotiating the system to gain access to the most interesting people and events. He was active in the Rotary Club and settled into a productive and satisfying life in Bali.

Andy met Janti Nasution, a Batak from Java, and married her in 1993. She became his soul-mate and played a major role in the rest of his life.

After so many years in the tropics, Andy’s fair skin became a problem. He suffered from a variety of skin cancers that required numerous medical procedures in Australia and Singapore.

In October, 2002, the second of two terrorist bombs exploded outside his office, thankfully with no casualties. Shortly thereafter, Andy resigned as Consular Agent. He took a position in a silver exporting company and continued his life as a well-connected expat. Over time, his illness increasingly compromised his ability to function, and after a long struggle, he finally passed away in November, 2005.

His widow, Janti, intends to donate his extensive collection of books, papers, research notes, recordings and photos to the Wesleyan University Music Library. It is her wish that these materials be available to scholars and interested researchers.

GREGORY P. SPEISER, a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley, died Jan. 27, 2009, at age 52. A member of Eclectic, he received his degree cum laude and received a master’s degree in business administration from New York University. Among those who survive are his wife, Sian Ballen; two sons: Alex, who was accepted, early decision, to the Wesleyan class of ’13, and William; and a sister–in–law, Kate M. Ballen ’75.

BARBARA GIFFEN SWAIN, 57, an attorney who spent most of her professional legal career in the Office of the Maryland Attorney General, most recently serving as Principal Counsel to the State Treasurer’s Office, died Feb. 4, 2011. A religion major, she served as a VISTA volunteer after receiving her degree cum laude, and then received a dual MBA/JD degree in 1981 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also participated in the family business, The Dunes Manor Hotel and Dunes Motel in Ocean City, Md. A community leader, she was active in educational, religious, and professional organizations. Among those who survive are her husband, Fred Demers, two sons, and a large extended family.

TIMOTHY B. SAUM, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine and preventive medicine at Meharry Medical College, died May 9, 2005 at age 53. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia and a master’s degree in public health from Yale University. Among those who survive are his wife, Jean L. Byassee, a daughter, his parents, and a brother.

ROBERT T. SULESKE, a biochemist and musician, died Jan. 17, 2004 at age 52. Among those who survive are his mother, a sister, and a nephew and niece.