Obituaries

Edwin Wilson, BA’50, of New York City, Dec. 2, 2023. A native of Nashville, he was an author, theater critic and theater teacher. He studied at Edinburgh and Yale, where he earned a master’s and doctor of fine arts. From 1972 to1994, he was the theater critic for the Wall Street Journal. He taught at Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center for 30 years. He co-authored with Alan Goldfarb several college theater textbooks that are still widely in use. Ed met and married Catherine “Chic" Stuart in 1967. Their 49-year marriage was one of extraordinary devotion. They lived in Manhattan and spent time in Quogue, N.Y., and Linville, N.C., with many friends and family. Ed was president of the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Theater Development fund, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury, and board member of the Tony Nominating Committee, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the John Golden Fund. He hosted 90 half hour television interviews with many theater artists which appeared on CUNY-TV and PBS stations around the country. He is survived by family and friends.

Claire Lucile Bowen, BA’52, of Savannah, Tenn., Nov. 12, 2023. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Claire traveled around the world by steamship before beginning her career as an educator. She taught elementary school and then high school in Atlanta, sharing her love of English, literature and history, and earned her master’s degree at Georgia State. Several summers she helped teach aerospace classes and traveled with students to aerospace programs around the country. She retired from teaching and returned to her hometown of Savannah, where she helped organize a chapter of PEO, which promotes educational opportunities for women, and was a member of Friends of the Library and Savannah Book Club. She is survived by many friends and cousins.

Dr. Henry Ezell “EZ” Branham Jr., BA’53, of New Prague, Minn., Aug. 17, 2022. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Vanderbilt and was the first in his family to earn a college degree. He served in the U.S. Air Force, then earned his medical degree from Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internship at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. He had a private practice in psychiatry for more than 50 years, first in Stamford, Conn., and then in Winston-Salem, N.C., until retiring in 2010. He was proud to have been part of a medical emergency response team that served areas in need after disaster. One of his favorite places was Yellowstone National Park, where he spent the summers between school during the 1950s driving the park’s iconic yellow tour buses. He is survived by one sister, his three children and four grandchildren.

Betty Gardner Larkins, BA’53, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Sept. 25, 2023. At Vanderbilt, Betty was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was married for 69 years to S.J. Larkins, whom she met at a Vanderbilt football game. Survivors include her husband, Sovern John “S.J.” Larkins, BA’52; her daughter, Lyda Larkins Astrove, BA’80; and two grandchildren.

Margaret Louise Parrish George, BA’54, of Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 25, 2024. She is survived by daughters Laura George Weston and Olivia George Bell, three grandsons, one great-granddaughter, and her sister, Julia Gambill Ledyard, BA’66.

Edward Owen Hunter Jr., BA’54, MA’60, of Birmingham, Ala., Nov. 23, 2023. At Vanderbilt he studied biology and was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. He was a corpsman in the Navy stationed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, now known as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He retired as a clinical microbiologist from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Birmingham in 1992. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Katherine Martin Hunter, MA’62, PhD’68, and twin daughters, Diane Hunter Harvey, BA’92, and Susan Hunter Pilgrim, BA’92.

Elsie May Mason, MAT’54, MAT’54, of Winchester, Va., Dec. 14, 2023. Born and raised in Pitt County, N.C., in a farmhouse 200 years old this year, she originally met her husband, Julian Dewey Mason Jr., MA’54, at a church camp. They reconnected years later at Vanderbilt when, after her graduation from Flora McDonald College with a B.A. in English and biology, she received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to attend Peabody College. Engaged on Christmas Eve, they were married June 9, 1954. Elsie was a social worker in Bristol, Va., an elementary school teacher in Hanau, Germany, and a private kindergarten teacher in Chapel Hill and Charlotte, N.C. Later she worked in the Atkins Library of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and served as a North Carolina textbook commissioner. A lifelong Presbyterian and award-winning quilter, she is survived by her brother, her son and two daughters, four grandchildren and extended family.

Robert H. Threlkel, BA’62, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Nov. 16, 2023. Following in the footsteps of his older brother, James Threlkel, BA’60, MD’63, Bob graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt and earned his M.D. from Duke University. He returned to Vanderbilt for his pediatric residency, where he served as chief resident. At Vanderbilt, Bob met his lifelong friends, Wally and Patty Wood. He served in the U.S. Army in the medical center at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. Following that, he joined Drs. Hugh and Connie Carithers in their Riverside office in Jacksonville, Fla. Anyone who knew Bob loved him. He was an avid traveler, hiker, fisherman and connoisseur of knowledge. He is survived by his wife, Mireille Threlkel, four children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Michael Thomas Hartsfield, BA’64, JD’67, of Germantown, Tenn., Oct. 21, 2023. As an undergraduate, he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the Junior Bar Association. He practiced law in Memphis for more than 50 years, earning the designation of senior counselor. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Apffel Hartsfield, BA’64, two sons, a grandson and a granddaughter.

Dwight Dean Gatwood Jr., MME’66, PhD’70, of Martin, Tenn., July 17, 2023. Dwight earned his B.Mus. degree from Eastern Kentucky State College (now Eastern Kentucky University), then his master’s and doctorate from Peabody College where his parents—Dwight Dean Gatwood Sr., BS’40, MA’41, and Grace Gatwood, BS’39, MA’40—had graduated. His teaching career included LaGrange College, Columbia State Community College, Defiance College and the University of Tennessee at Martin. He retired in 2008. At Columbia State he began the music department and developed the curriculum for the music major that was used at many Tennessee community colleges. At UT Martin he performed as a baritone soloist and as a member of the faculty trombone quartet. He composed the UT Martin Alma Mater and the bicentennial celebration composition, “Forever UTM,” featured daily on the campus carillon. He is survived by his wife, Dianne Normand Gatwood, MMus’69, MME’69, his son, daughter, brother and sister.

R. Keith Thomas, BA’66, JD’69, of Alexandria, Va., Sept. 13, 2023. Keith was an All-SEC guard on Vanderbilt’s 1965 championship basketball team. The 1965 team won the SEC championship and was ranked as high as fourth nationally. Vanderbilt faced powerhouse Michigan in the Mid-East NCAA tournament, and Keith was tasked with guarding All-American Cazzie Russell. Thomas scored 21 points and outplayed Russell, but the Commodores lost, 87–85. Keith would be selected as an All-American for a team that is still considered one of the school’s greatest. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, but elected to enter Vanderbilt Law School. He had a distinguished career in international trade law with the U. S. Customs Service and the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility. In retirement, Keith had senior assignments with the ABA in Eastern Europe and the U. S. Legal Service Corp. A native of Louisville, he was a competitive golfer and tennis player throughout his life. He is survived by his wife, a brother, nephews and a grandniece.

George Winton Apffel, BA’70, of Germantown, Tenn., April 9, 2023. At Vanderbilt, he sang in the choir and was active in the theater. He worked in the family sales business until retirement. George had a lifelong interest in electronics. He is survived by his sister, Dorothy Apffel Hartsfield, BA’64, and brothers Cornelius C. Apffel Jr., BA’66, and Tyler C. Apffel, four nephews, two great-nephews and two great-nieces.

Albert B. Armstrong, BE’70, of Bonita Springs, Fla., Dec. 26, 2023. Born in Washington, D.C., he married Jennie Flippo, BA’70, in 1971. He had a 39-year career in sales and marketing with Caterpillar, Inc., leading to 15 years living overseas in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Kenya and France. Survivors include Jennie, his wife of 52 years, three children and six grandchildren.

R. Breck Denny, BA’70, of New York City, Locust Valley, N.Y., and Big Bay, Mich., Nov. 27, 2023. At Vanderbilt, he earned a degree in history. He was a banker at J.P. Morgan, where he worked for 25 years, before becoming the chief financial officer of two industrial companies in Cleveland, Ohio: Medusa Corp. and LESCO. He served on the boards of New York Marble Cemetery and Cleveland Botanical Garden, among others, always working full-time and making himself useful long after retirement. The ultimate gentleman, he was understated and poignant, thoughtful and unflappable, and always left room for the ideas and words of others. He loved children and made them feel important. He preferred the meaningful conversation of a few to the cacophony of many, and he had a signature, crescendoing layered laugh that has an indelible place in the minds of those lucky enough to have heard it. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, three siblings and five grandchildren.

Anne Elizabeth Wall Christeson, BA’71, ’74, of Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., Oct. 8, 2023. Anne earned her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and was the Founder’s Medalist for the College of Arts and Science in 1971. She was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and a Guggenheim, and for 29 years she taught Latin and French at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville. At age 12 she was made a regular member of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. As principal harpist, she performed all the major harp concertos with the symphony. She is survived by her husband of 47 years, Wayne Christeson, BA’70.

Dianna Elizabeth Hartley, PhD’78, of Lexington, Ky., Jan. 10, 2024. A distinguished clinical psychologist, she completed a post-doctoral program at the Menninger Foundation and then taught at Yale University Medical School. Later she taught and practiced at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. She continued her private practice after moving to Lexington, Ky., in 1990. She was born in Banner Elk, N.C., and never lost her love for coming home to the North Carolina mountains. Linville is her final resting place. Her life will be celebrated on her birthday, April 5, with a graveside service at Tanglewood Cemetery. She is survived by her husband, Todd F. Van Denburg; daughter, Nicole Wills; son-in-law, Zachery Wills, and grandson, Hartley Wills.

Teresa Parrish Smith, BA’84, of Bay Hill, Fla., Nov. 11, 2023. At Vanderbilt she pursued her passion for literature and earned her degree in English. She was a proud member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. Her academic achievements laid the foundation for a life dedicated to service and community. In her professional journey, Teresa made significant contributions as the director of sales at Floral Expositions and the Event Source. Her commitment to excellence and care for others endeared her to colleagues and clients alike. Later in life, Teresa felt a calling to make a difference in the lives of seniors. She pursued a new path, becoming a certified nurse assistant to provide essential care and support to those in need. She devoted 23 years of her life to the Ambassadors Bible Study. She is survived by her husband Douglas, son Andrew, and her brother, W. Scott Parrish, BS’80, and his wife, Linda Dacus Parrish, BA’78, MEd’98.

Gregory Scott Edwards, JD’15, of Atlanta, Jan. 12, 2024. Scott was a brilliant man, graduating from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a B.S. in mathematics before studying law at Vanderbilt. He was a member of the Vanderbilt Law Review’s Order of the Coif before being diagnosed with a brain tumor in his final semester. After graduation in 2015, he moved to Atlanta to work at law firm King & Spalding. Despite an impressive work resume—also working as senior counsel at Southern Company, on the Springboard of the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta and serving on the Board of Trustees for Northside Church—Scott's greatest joy in life was getting to be a father, and his proudest accomplishment was his marriage to Elizabeth. Scott is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their children, Elle (4) and Paul (2.5). Other survivors include his father, Paul Edwards, JD’86, a brother, Michael Hollis Edwards, BA’13, and a large extended family.