Milestones January 2015

Deaths

Corneli—Helen Corneli, 87, on May 9, 2014, in Salt Lake City, Utah, after a brief cascade of illness and injury. Helen was born on June 9, 1926, in Almora, India, to Disciples of Christ missionaries. She grew up in India and after graduating from Woodstock Missionary School in Uttar Pradesh, tutored young maharajahs in English. During World War II, she returned to the United States, not knowing that as she was steaming into Boston Harbor, her future husband, Kip Corneli, was shipping out on a troop transport. She met him later, while studying at Washington University, where she earned a bachelor’s in English and history in 1948. After they married, they lived for two years in a six-by-twelve-foot trailer while she studied at University of Illinois, receiving a master’s in English in 1950. After a treasured year in Paris, they came home and started a family. Helen began teaching English in 1962 at University of Wisconsin–Steven’s Point (UWSP) and received a doctorate in education in 1973. She relished her life as a mother and a professor, driving 30 miles each way for her classes and cooking dinner—complete with dessert—for her family before spending the evening grading papers. On weekends, when the family did farm chores, she regaled them at the lunchtime break with stories of her childhood in India, sending them into fits of laughter and helping to make the long workdays fun. As director of International Programs at UWSP, she forged global connections and fostered understanding and peace by helping a generation of students study abroad. When she and Kip found Madison (Wis.) Meeting, the silence, speaking when led, idea of that of God in every person, un-dogmatic approach, and social activism drew them in. In 1991, she retired, and she and Kip moved to Santa Fe, N.M., continuing to travel across the United States and around the world. She wrote Mice in the Freezer, Owls on the Porch, a biography of the naturalists Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom, who had been her friends and neighbors, winning a Best University Press Books Citation in 2003. She was a vibrant member of Santa Fe Meeting and served as co-clerk with Kip, on the Gardening Committee, and as a frequent host with Kip of committee meetings. She was a founding member of the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace, writing letters to Congress, senators, and the local newspaper. Many people who needed housing for a night or for a while stayed at their house. Helen once traveled across the country to offer bedside support after a Friend’s surgery. Helen loved books, cooking, gardening, and doing good. She researched and indignantly explained injustices from the enclosures of the commons in the thirteenth century to the nurses’ grievances in Santa Fe hospitals. Love was at the core of her existence, and she offered it generously to all. Friends celebrate the passage of a life that leaves a legacy for her children, her family, and her friends. Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Clifford M. (Kip) Corneli, in 2009. She is survived by her children, Howard Corneli, Steven Corneli, Miriam Corneli, and Danelle Lee; eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and two sisters, Win Griffen and Pat Sheafor.

Lane—Victor Hugo Lane III, 80, on June 26, 2014, in Queens, New York City. Victor was born on February 26, 1934, in Winnetka, Ill., to Eunice Younglove Rose and Henry Knowlton Lane. His mother died from complications of his birth, and to look after him, his father employed Lilianne Rambow, whom Victor called Fräulein and regarded as his stepmother. He learned German as a toddler, and beginning in sixth grade, he attended North Shore Country Day School. He developed what became a lifelong passion for old cars, buying his first car at 14. He earned a bachelor’s in psychology at Wesleyan University in 1956 and a master’s in Germanic linguistics at University of Chicago. While there he married elementary school teacher Caroline Warram. Beginning in 1958, they spent a year in Germany for his fellowship at University of Marburg, traveling through much of northern Europe, including a short but pivotal visit to Wales, and becoming lifelong friends with Fräulein’s family in Braunschweig. Beginning in 1960, he studied in Germanic philology at University of Nebraska–Lincoln. While he was in Lincoln he served on the town board and as magistrate and participated in Vietnam War teach-ins and draft counseling. Beginning in 1968, he studied psycholinguistics and teaching English as a second language at New York University. Finishing his dissertation in 1974, he moved to Katonah, N.Y., and he taught at City College of New York as an adjunct professor until the city’s budget crisis terminated his position. He turned to writing freelance and served three terms on the Katonah-Lewisboro School Board. In 1989, he and Caroline retired to a cottage in Wales. Although she had become a Quaker in the early 1960s, he came late to Quakerism, beginning to attend meeting for worship only when they moved to Wales. Against his expectations, he became a convinced Friend, serving in what is now North Wales Area (UK) Meeting as treasurer, overseer, and elder, positions in which his sense of humor, wisdom, and commitment to conflict transformation aided him. He was also a founding member of the Oswestry Coalition for Peace, which dedicated a book of writings by World War I conscientious objectors to him. Active in local amateur theater, he was an extra in the film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. He also served for several years as chairman of the Llanffylin Festival and volunteered as a chauffeur for the elderly. On selling his last car, he reckoned he had owned over 150 cars, including two Bugattis, several Buicks, and a 1919 American La France fire engine. He also had a considerable collection of memorabilia and toy cars. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2007, and he and Caroline returned to the United States in 2011, settling in Queens to be near their son, and he joined Flushing (N.Y.) Meeting. Victor is survived by his wife of 58 years, Caroline Warram Lane; a son, Victor Hugo Lane IV (Oksana); and two grandchildren. Those inclined are asked to donate to Alzheimer’s Association, American Friends Service Committee, or Doctors Without Borders.

Parker—Clarence Murray Parker, 96, on October 9, 2014, peacefully, at Friends Homes Guilford, N.C. Clarence was born on December 7, 1917, in Carthage, Ind., to Florence Macy and Samuel Murray Parker. He received a bachelor of science from Earlham College in 1940. His career in biochemistry included years at DuPont in New Jersey, Wyeth Laboratories in West Chester, Pa., and the Veterans Administration Hospital research laboratories in Coatesville, Pa. He developed a fermentation process to produce penicillin and expanded the knowledge of vitamin C’s health benefits. Clarence and his wife, Helen Borton Parker, shared their love for the outdoors with their children and grandchildren, hiking and camping locally in Pennsylvania and cross country. He was active in Chester County Boy Scouts and enjoyed CB and ham radio. Starting with a Kaypro computer he used for data gathering and word processing, he stayed up-to-date with electronic equipment through the years. A member of Willistown Meeting in Newtown Square, Pa., he was most recently sojourning at Friendship Meeting in Greensboro, N.C., where he compiled and printed the meeting newsletter. He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Helen Borton Parker; five half-sisters, Miriam Parker Newsom, Esther Parker, Ruth Parker, Frances Parker Kelley, and Gertrude Parker Keaton; and a brother, John W. Parker. A half-brother, Mervin Parker, died in infancy before Clarence was born. He is survived by his children, Murray Borton Parker (Charlotte) and Janet Parker DeLaney (Robert), and two grandchildren.

Peters—Ruth Ann Kloepfer Peters, 69, on July 20, 2013, in Pasadena, Calif. Ruanne, as she was known to her Quaker friends, was born on May 27, 1944, in Mitchell, S.D., the third daughter of Ruth McCoy and Dr. H. Warner Kloepfer. Her Quaker family lived briefly in Kansas and Arkansas before moving to New Orleans in 1952 for her father’s position on the faculty of Tulane University Medical School. Ruth Anne was a dedicated student who graduated from the experimental Benjamin Franklin High School for gifted students. She earned a bachelor’s from Newcomb College, a master’s from Tulane University, and a doctorate in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. Her first marriage, to Milton Burgess, lasted for ten years before ending in divorce. She married School of Public Health professor John M. Peters in 1976. In 1980, the couple transferred to University of Southern California School of Medicine, where she taught and researched epidemiology. They lived in San Marino, Calif., and she joined Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, Calif. She changed her name among Friends to Ruanne to avoid confusion when her mother, Ruth Kloepfer, who had retired to southern California and also joined Orange Grove Meeting. Ruanne had enormous drive and executive ability, serving and clerking many committees, clerking the meeting, and working in several capacities at American Friends Service Committee and Friends Committee on National Legislation. When she started to feel the early effects of progressive supranuclear palsy, she took early retirement in 2004. John died in 2010, and in 2011, she moved into a care facility and then transferred to the Retreat at the Oaks of Pasadena. Ruanne took the life that God gave her and lived it to the fullest. She was a devoted aunt, stepmother, and grand-stepmother, and kept in touch with her large extended family and cherished friends. She enjoyed exercise, cooking, entertaining, and travel. As her disease progressed, she lost the ability to do many things for herself, but her family, friends, and the compassionate caregivers at the Retreat gave her love and care. She completed her earthly life on July 20, 2013, but her memory lives on in those who knew and loved her. Ruanne is survived by four stepchildren, John D. Peters (Marsha), Philip Peters (Diana), Charles Peters (Lydia), and Susa Brush (Steve); six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two sisters, Jean Watts (Robert) and Karol Kloepfer; a brother, John Kloepfer (Linda); a sister-in-law, Jodi King (Tom); and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews from both her own and her husband’s family.

Wilson—Willard Janney Wilson, 83, on June 15, 2014, at Broadmead in Cockeysville, Md. Janney was born on October 22, 1930, in Takoma Park, Md., to Willa and Curtis Wilson, Quakers going back many generations. He grew up on a dairy farm near Purcellville, Loudoun County, Va., in a house where, beginning in 1785, seven generations of Wilsons had lived. He attended Goose Creek Meeting in Lincoln, Va., except briefly in his early teens when his father withdrew him to join the local Baptist church. He graduated from George School, where he was especially moved by the small mid-week meetings, some of them out-of-doors. After traveling with a workcamp to Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1949 to help students repair World War II damages to their school, he entered Earlham College in 1950. Undergoing a spiritual crisis, he sought the Light to help him live by his values. He refused to comply with the Selective Service Act and served a year in Petersburg Federal Reformatory, Va. (He liked to tell people afterward that he had been “in with all the moonshiners.”) Although he went back to Earlham after prison, he decided not to stay for his senior year. In 1954 he worked in an American Friends Service Committee group called Interns-in-Industry in West Philadelphia, Pa. Studying at Pendle Hill study center in Wallingford, Pa., he met and married his first wife, Emily Calhoun. He received a bachelor’s in agricultural economics and rural sociology with honors from Pennsylvania State University in 1959 and worked for a while as a social worker at Philadelphia State Hospital and as a machinist in Atlanta, Ga. Returning to the farm, he was active both at Goose Creek and at Baltimore Yearly Meeting, serving many years on Peace and Social Concerns, Quaker Earthcare Witness (then Unity with Nature), and Ministry and Oversight Committees. He and Emily divorced in 1976. During the Vietnam War, he worked with Loudoun County Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament, and as a member of NAACP, helped set up each year the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday march from Leesburg Courthouse to Douglass Community Center. In 1979 he and Suellen Beverly married. He closed his dairy operation in 1981 and drove the bread truck for the Holy Cross Abbey monks in Berryville, Va., until the early ’90s. He and Suellen divorced in 1990. Janney and Jean Martindale Brown married at Friends Meeting of Washington (D.C.) in 1991. He continued farming and enjoyed his twice-weekly Meals On Wheels deliveries, especially staying to talk with the people. Janney’s warm smile and gentle nature carried him a long way in life. He missed farm work after moving to Broadmead in 2005, but he and Jean found Gunpowder Meeting in Sparks, Md. A charter member of Spirit and Nature Committee, he felt dearly loved and supported by these Friends. His last meeting for worship was in late May, with everyone sitting outdoors on benches facing west, looking out over the cemetery and the farm lands beyond. Janney is survived by his wife, Jean Martindale Brown Wilson; a daughter, Jeannette Wiedenmann; three stepchildren, Peter Brown, Elizabeth O’Donoghue, and Michael Brown; three grandchildren; five step-grandchildren; and his former wife Suellen Beverly.

Wunker—David Edward Wunker, 61, on July 2, 2014, in Santa Fe, N.M. Dave was born on February 5, 1953, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Helen Vogel and Remmert Wunker. Until he was ten, he lived on 100 acres of farm, lake, and woodlands in southwestern Ohio, exploring nature, reading, and learning—activities he pursued for the rest of his life. When he was ten, his family moved to Albuquerque, N.M. The sudden change from the woods of Ohio to New Mexico’s hot, dry environment stymied him at first, but he spent a lot of time outdoors learning the trails of the Sandia Mountains. He graduated from Sandia High School in 1970 and worked during the summer for a Christian church with two friends. The suicide of one of them shook his faith, and he spent decades exploring spiritual paths: Tibetan Buddhism, Vipassana Buddhism, the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda (Self-Realization Fellowship), the Quaker faith, and many Christian churches. He was full of curiosity and studied in several fields. He received a bachelor’s in geography and history from University of New Mexico in 1977, a master’s in geography from Rutgers University in 1979, a master’s in counseling from University of New Mexico in 1992, and a master’s in divinity from Earlham School of Religion in 2011. He was also certified in CPR and as a wilderness first responder, certified interpretive guide, wind turbine technician, commercial trucker, and master gardener. His ever-questing spirit took him into construction, office administration, properties caretaking, counseling, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, astronomical data analysis for the Very Large Array near Socorro, N.M., and air quality analysis for the New Mexico Environment Department. He was an avid mountaineer and hiker, climbing all of the 69 fourteeners—mountains at least 14,000 feet high—in the contiguous United States; Denali (also called Mount McKinley) in Alaska; three mountains in Mexico over 17,000 feet; and Mount Aconcagua (22,800 feet) in Argentina, the highest mountain in the Americas. He loved Long’s Peak in Colorado and climbed it several times. A seeker and spiritual adventurer all his life, he never firmly embraced any of the paths he tried until his last months, when he once again embraced the Christianity of his youth. An attender at Santa Fe Meeting, his connection deepened in 2012 and 2013, when he became resident Friend and caretaker. Many of the brick paths, plantings, and structural improvements in the meetinghouse and on the property bear testimony to his careful and skilled work. He also served as recording clerk for the meeting. Although he had several eye surgeries during the 18 months before he died, he seemed to be in great overall health. Thus it was a shock to Friends when he passed away in his sleep. Friends and acquaintances will miss his thoughtfulness, intelligence, and quiet kindness. Dave was predeceased by his parents, Helen Vogel Wunker and Remmert Wunker; his sister, Lois Wunker Class; and his brother, Daniel R. Wunker. He is survived by his sister, E. Susanna Wunker Keller (James); a sister-in-law, Nancy J. Wunker; and many nieces and nephews.

Yarnall—Wayne Heritage Yarnall, 72, on April 7, 2014, in Vancouver, Wash. Wayne was born on April 5, 1942, in McKeesport, Pa., to Naomi Heritage and Wayne Brown Yarnall. At 13, he built his first radio, becoming a ham radio operator at about the same time. W7KRB loved hearing the voices of other hams throughout the world. The family attended Pittsburgh (Pa.) Meeting and Mullica Hill (N.J.) Meeting, often crossing Pennsylvania to visit Naomi’s family. They spent summers in Stone Harbor, N.J., where Wayne pumped gas and built friendships that lasted into adulthood. After starting grade nine in Pittsburgh, he was called to the school office, where his father was waiting to take him home to pack: George School had an opening for him. Wayne was team manager for several sports at the school, where his grandmother Heritage had been in the first class. He graduated in 1960 and received a degree in electrical engineering from Duke University in 1964. He earned a master’s in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University, although to his disappointment he was never able to use this degree directly. In the mid-1960s he began work for HRB Singer, who sent him to an Aleutian Island far west of mainland Alaska. When he arrived, he carried his bags up the stairs to his room, but leaving a year later, he needed help getting them down, not understanding the reason for several years. In 1968 he met and married Nancy McLauchlan, the elementary school librarian at Eilson Air Force Base, near Fairbanks, Alaska. They lived in State College, Pa.; Chantilly, Va.; and Sterling, Va., where Wayne was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. They attended Goose Creek Meeting in Lincoln, Va., and he transferred his membership from Seaville (N.J.) Meeting. Beginning in 1971, he worked several years for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), living in Maynard, Mass.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Bellevue, Wash., where he formed his own company: WHY Systems, which developed and sold Digicalc, a spreadsheet for DEC. The family joined Eastside Meeting in Bellevue. In 1987 he sold the company and moved to Corvallis, Ore., to work with CH2M Hill, and the family joined Corvallis Meeting, Wayne serving as co-clerk at one point. He had three good years with CH2M Hill, but his muscular dystrophy progressed until he could not work full time. He took disability in 1990 and began to use a wheelchair more and more. From 1991 to 1996, he volunteered on the computer staff at Friends Bulletin, bringing the magazine into the computer age and helping to get its 501(c)(3) status. W7KRB was active with a local ham radio group and in handicapped advocacy. In 2004, he and Nancy moved to Vancouver, Wash., to be closer to their children in Portland, Ore., and joined Bridge City Meeting in Portland. He continued operating ham radio and established ADA Build It Right, a nonprofit company that inspected handicapped access throughout the region. Wayne and Nancy divorced in 2007. After that, he was often joined by his companion, Sharon Ruiter. Wayne loved to dance in his wheelchair, and Sharon danced with him. After suffering a heart attack, strokes, and advancing muscular dystrophy, he moved in 2012 to a convalescent care home in Vancouver. Wayne is survived by his children, Rebecca Marie Wright (Augustine Perez) and Bruce Andrew (Ingri Benson); four grandchildren; his brother, Robert Heritage Yarnall; and several first cousins.

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