Mark DeForest Orton Jr. '47

JUNE 19 1929 - OCT. 17, 2022

Published by Columbia Gorge News on Nov. 30, 2022

Conductor/Composer Mark DeForest Orton Jr. passed away on Oct. 17, 2022, at the age of 93. Mark was born in St. Paul, Minn., to Mark Orton and Margaret Kalman Orton and spent his first decade there. He took an early interest in music which was fostered by his grandfather Charles Kalman, the director of The Minnesota Symphony and a prominent arts philanthropist. At five years old, Mark would “conduct” nightly in front of the family Victrola. Through his grandfather, he was introduced to the celebrated conductor Eugene Ormandy, who, after hearing of Mark’s hobby, had a miniature conductor’s podium, music stand, and baton made especially for him. Ormandy would later become one of his mentors.

Mark went on to study music at Colorado College (with David Kraehenbuehl and Willi Appel) and at Julliard (with Vincent Persichetti and Robert Hufstader), where he earned a masters degree in choral conducting. In his early career in New York City, he was associate conductor under Robert Shaw with The Shaw Chorale and later conducted both The Summit Chorale and The Collegiate Chorale, with which he recorded several records for RCA. He worked with many notable 20th century composers including Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc. In 1965, Mark met his wife Diane Breslow, who at the time was working with the Collegiate Chorale. They married and moved from NYC to Long Island where Mark took up a teaching position at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook. He directed the BAFFA orchestra and chorus and also taught private lessons in conducting, piano and voice. At the same time, he began what would be a 35-year residency as music director of the Setauket Presbyterian Church. He built a remarkable musical community there, the evidence of which could be seen in each year’s Easter and Christmas concerts when he would cram a chamber orchestra and a full choir into the small balcony to perform full requiems and masses. During the course of his career, Mark also wrote and arranged hundreds of compositions for choir, both liturgical and secular.

Career aside, Mark was a family man through and through. He was a devoted husband and father and coached little league baseball and soccer, chaperoned ski trips, and was himself an avid swimmer and borderline polar bear – swimming miles in the Long Island Sound in a questionable stars and stripes speedo well into October. Born between the wars, he was a gentleman of the old school, known for his graciousness and old-world style. That said, he was quite comfortable pushing fashion boundaries, sporting dashikis, Russian bomber hats, and sombreros alongside his conductor’s tux. Secrets of his longevity include time with his grandkids, playing Bach fugues on the piano, regular servings of crème brulée, and martinis dry enough to double as paint thinner.

In later life, Mark and Diane left Long Island and settled near their daughter Xani in Hood River, Ore. Despite decreasing mobility in his later years, Mark remained a regular at both Freshies Bagels and 10-Speed Coffee and could often be found chatting it up at the bar at Divot’s restaurant.

He is survived by his six children, Jenifer Calandri, Melissa Morris, Dickson Cunningham, Mark Orton III, Alexandra Petros, and Michael Orton, along with 10 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, a host of nieces and nephews, and roughly 1/3rd of the feral cat population back on Long Island.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Hood River Schools Music Program, hrcef.org/contributeprogramsnew. Checks should be made out to HRCEF and sent to HRCEF, 1011 Eugene St., Hood River, OR 97031; memo: In memory of Mark Orton.

Chris Strachwitz '51

JULY 1, 1931 - MAY 5, 2023

Published by The New York Times on May 10, 2023

By Alex Traub

Chris Strachwitz, who traveled in search of the roots of American music with the eagerness of a pilgrim, discovered traditional musicians with the skill of a detective, promoted their careers with the zeal of an ideologue and guarded their work with the care of a historian, died on Friday, May 5, 2023 in San Rafael, Calif. He was 91.

His death, at an assisted living facility, was caused by congestive heart failure, his brother, Hubert, said.

Mr. Strachwitz (pronounced STRACKwits) specialized in music passed down over generations — cotton-field music, orange-orchard music, mountain music, bayou music, barroom music, porch music — stemming not only from before the music industry era but even from before the rise of mass culture.

Like other leading musical folklorists of the modern recording era — among them Moses Asch, Alan Lomax and Harry Smith — Mr. Strachwitz rescued parts of that history before they vanished. But the extent of his devotion and the idiosyncrasy of his passions defy comparison.

Mr. Strachwitz was the founder of Arhoolie Records (the name comes from a term for field hollers). In addition to recruiting his own artists, he did his own field recordings, music editing, production, liner notes, advertising and sales. In the company’s early years, he affixed the labels to the records and mailed them himself.

He was a lifelong bachelor who said that having a family would have thwarted his career. On his journeys around the country to record new music, he had for company a manually operated orange juicer and 20-pound bags of oranges. The targets of his search included a highway grass cutter, a gravedigger and a janitor, all of whose musical talents were basically unknown at the time.

He immigrated from Germany after growing up as a teenage count under Nazi rule and went on to explore the fullest reaches of American pluralism. He took an interest not just in the standard roots repertory of folk and blues, but also in norteño, Cajun, zydeco, klezmer, Hawaiian steel guitar, Ukrainian fiddle, Czech polka and Irish dance music, among countless other genres.

To account for what united his passions, Mr. Strachwitz said he liked music that was “pure,” “hard-core” and “old-timey,” particularly if a musician had a “spark.” His language grew more colorful when he defined his type of music negatively. “It ain’t wimpy, that’s for sure,” he said in a 2014 documentary film about him. The movie took its title from Mr. Strachwitz’s ultimate insult, which he used to refer to anything that he considered commercial, artificial and soulless: “This Ain’t No Mouse Music!”

The first Arhoolie album, released in 1960, was “Texas Sharecropper and Songster,” by the blues singer Mance Lipscomb. It vaulted Mr. Lipscomb into prominence during the 1960s folk revival.

The first Arhoolie record, released in 1960, was “Texas Sharecropper and Songster,” by the blues singer Mance Lipscomb. Mr. Lipscomb’s music had never been recorded, and the new release vaulted him into prominence during the 1960s folk revival. Mr. Strachwitz went on to help revive the careers of other blues singers, including Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Big Mama Thornton.

As both a record executive and a record collector, he made a particularly profound historical contribution to Norteño, music from the Texas-Mexico border. The Smithsonian Institution last year called his archive of Mexican and Mexican American music “the largest collection of commercially produced vernacular recordings of its kind in existence,” noting that it contained many records that are “irreplaceable.” It was the result of about 60 years of collecting (though Mr. Strachwitz never learned to speak

Spanish). Norteño musicians nicknamed him El Fanático.

He might have been considered a preservationist, but he also shaped the worlds that he documented. That was especially true of his recordings of Cajun musicians. In 2000, the rock historian Ed Ward wrote in The New York Times that Mr. Strachwitz “helped prod the culture into what is now a full-blown renaissance.”

Perhaps his most notable discovery in Louisiana was the singer and accordionist Clifton Chenier, who came to be regarded as the leading exponent of the mix of rhythm and blues, soul and Cajun music known as zydeco. During a visit to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as an older man, Mr. Chenier discussed his frustrations with the record industry. “They wanted you to do what they wanted you to do, and I didn’t like that,” Mr. Chenier said.

Mainstream musicians also saw something exceptional in Mr. Strachwitz. In a 2010 profile of him in The Times, the guitarist Ry Cooder said that Arhoolie’s second release, “Tough Times,” an LP by the blues musician Big Joe Williams, “started me on a path of living, the path I am still on.”

Christian Alexander Maria Strachwitz was born on July 1, 1931, in Berlin. He grew up on a country estate called Gross Reichenau in what was then the Lower Silesia region of Germany. (It is now a village called Bogaczow in southwest Poland.) His father, Alexander Graf Strachwitz, and his mother, Friederike (von Bredow) Strachwitz, ran a vegetable and grain farm of a couple hundred acres. The men of the family had the royal title of count.

The family lived in a manor built during the time of Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia. The Nazis appointed Chris’s father a local game warden, and during

World War II he joined the military and attained the rank of captain, though Hubert Strachwitz said his service was limited to escorting troop transports bound for Italy. On the family’s bucolic ancestral property, the war seemed far away to young Chris.

That changed in February 1945. The family fled as the Russians invaded the estate. Chris and two of his sisters had left shortly beforehand on a train; his father escaped in a horse and buggy; Hubert, Chris’s other two sisters and his mother left on a tractor-trailer. Thanks to a wealthy relative in the United States, the family was able to reunite in Reno, Nev., by 1947.

Chris served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956. Soon after being honorably discharged, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He taught high school German in the suburbs of San Jose for several years.

In his free time, Mr. Strachwitz collected records, and he developed a particular interest in Lightnin’ Hopkins, whom he struggled to learn more about. There was no public information about whether Mr. Hopkins was even still alive.

In 1959, a fellow music enthusiast told Mr. Strachwitz that he had found Mr. Hopkins in Houston. When the school year ended, Mr. Strachwitz went on a road trip.

He later recalled that he found Mr. Hopkins playing in “a little beer joint,” improvising songs in a conversational style, telling a woman in the crowd to quiet down, wondering in song about the man from California who had traveled all the way to Texas “to hear poor Lightnin’ sing.”

Mr. Strachwitz believed that nobody had ever recorded a scene like that live. Following a tip from one of Mr. Hopkins’s songs, he returned to Texas the next year and found Mr. Lipscomb. This time, he brought a recorder.Meeting musicians where they lived and recording them where they liked to play, rather than in a studio, became Mr. Strachwitz’s signature style.

He found unexpected commercial success when Country Joe and the Fish performed their “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” at the Woodstock music festival in 1969. Joe McDonald, the band’s lead singer and principal songwriter, had used Mr. Strachwitz’s equipment to record the song in 1965 and given him publishing rights in exchange. With his share of the royalties, Mr. Strachwitz put a down payment on a building in El Cerrito, Calif., near Berkeley. It became the home of Arhoolie and a record outlet he called the Down Home Music Store.

Aside from recording music, he drew attention to the artists he loved by collaborating with the filmmaker Les Blank on several music documentaries.

As the record industry declined, Mr. Strachwitz focused on a nonprofit arm of Arhoolie that digitizes and exhibits his singular record collection. In 2016, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the nonprofit label of the Smithsonian Institution, acquired the Arhoolie catalog.

In addition to his brother, Mr. Strachwitz is survived by three sisters, Rosy Schlueter, Barbara Steward and Frances Strachwitz.

There was one word Mr. Strachwitz often used to describe success in his field. When he found an aged master of traditional music playing a song at a resonant time and place, he called it, as if he were hunting butterflies, a “catch.”

William M. Abbott M.D. '54

APRIL 14, 1936 - JANUARY 9, 2023

Published by Boston Globe from January 12 - 15, 2023.

William M. Abbott MD of Weston, aged 86, died peacefully in his home January 9, 2023. Dr. Abbott was born in San Francisco, Calif., graduating from Cate School, Stanford University, and Stanford University Medical School. He completed his surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and subsequently was named its first Chief of Vascular Surgery. As a dedicated surgeon, researcher, and teacher, Dr. Abbott became a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, and served as a president of the National Society for Vascular Surgery. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia (Davison); his son, William W. Abbott and his wife, Katherine of Barrington, RI; and their two daughters, Annabelle and Allison. He is also survived by his daughter, Sarah L. Abbott of Westminster, CO; and her son, Morgan. A memorial will be planned for a future date. For online guestbook, visit gfdoherty.com.

Stephen Albert Norwood '59

FEBRUARY 12, 1942 - DECEMBER 18, 2022

Published on Legacy.com on Dec. 20, 2022

Steve went to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ December 18, 2022. He was born in Pasadena, California February 12, 1942 to Dr. Jackson and Lenore Norwood. Steve graduated from Cate School in Carpinteria, Calif. in 1959. He earned Business and MBA degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. During the Vietnam War, he served as a 1st lieutenant in Air Defense Artillery. He began his marketing career selling computers for IBM, then developing and marketing oil and gas tax-sheltered investments in Seattle and Los Angeles. Steve moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1981, continuing to work in the financial services industry, representing products to the brokerage community and establishing full-service operations in local and regional banks.

On a Delta flight, he met Cynthia Leggett, one of the flight attendants. They married September 24, 1983, living in Dallas and San Antonio, before retiring in Austin in 2010. Steve continued to grow in his faith, finding strength and fellowship at Northwest Bible Church (Dallas), Faith Bible Church (Boerne) and Hyde Park Baptist Church (Austin). Steve’s relationship with God and his Christian friendships were central in his life.

Preceded in death by his parents, brothers-in-law John Martinson and Fred Clark, Steve leaves behind his adored wife, Cynthia; sister, Jaclyn Martinson; brothers, Robert Norwood and Daniel (Shari) Norwood; sisters-in-law, Nancy Clark and Louann (Ed) Ruby; plus a large extended family, who loved him and will miss his love, support, infectious humor and tremendous enthusiasm for life.

George David Sturges '59

MARCH 14, 1941 - JULY 21, 2022

By Ann Sturges Deyo and Lisa Jane Dinga

George David Sturges (Dave) of Pasadena, Calif. and Park City Utah died on July 21, 2022, following complications from vascular dementia. He was 81 years old. Born at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena on March 14, 1941, Dave received his primary and secondary education at Polytechnic and Cate School. Cate School provided the foundation for Dave’s lifelong love of learning. He regailed his family, including his niece and nephew with tales of life on the Mesa, and his deep respect for the teachers who loved their subjects and taught their students well. He kept in contact with many of his classmates until the end of his life. Thank you for the gifts given to him, which he shared with others throughout his life. George attended the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of New Mexico. He served in the U.S. Army in Landstuhl, Germany. He was preceded in death by his parents, Molly (Alger) and Albert Sturges, and his sister and brother-in-law, Molly and Robert Tuthill. He is survived by his sister, Ann Deyo, his niece, Lisa Jane Dinga (Paul), nephew Scott Deyo (Serena), and great nephew and great niece, Lake and Lola Dinga.

Dave spent his professional career with The William Wilson Company, The Rowan Company, and Podley, Caughey and Doan. Dave’s proudest accomplishment was his 47-year membership in Alcoholics Anonymous, where he not only maintained his own sobriety, but also sponsored many, and opened his own home to those in need of a place to live. Upon moving to Park City in 2001, he enjoyed skiing, and pursued his interest in art by becoming a plein air artist in his own right. He enjoyed the camaraderie of talented instructors and fellow artists, and was known as a friend to all.

Dave’s family is grateful for the excellent medical care he received over the years from Dr. Joseph Ferriter and Dr. Roger Friedman, the staff at Intermountain Healthcare Park City and the University of Utah Health, his at-home caregivers from Caring Hearts of Utah, and the wonderful end-oflife care he received in memory care at Spring Gardens in Heber City with Applegate Hospice Care.

When you gather with friends, enjoy sharing a tale about this man who cared for others, and loved telling a tale or two himself. Donations in Dave’s memory can be made to The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, PO Box 5555, Mt. Carmel, UT 84755 or online at: thunderbirdfoundation.com. Condolences to his family may be sent to the care of P.O. Box 1206, Park City, Utah 84060.

David G. Kronen '78

SEPTEMBER 24, 1959DECEMBER 30, 2022

Published by The Independent on Jan. 23, 2023

David Gregory Kronen, 63, died in peace at his home in Hope Ranch, Calif. on December 30, 2022, after a brave and prolonged battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, an aggressive neuromuscular disorder. He transitioned to a better place while surrounded by his loving family.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Dave moved with his parents (John Duncan Kronen and Elizabeth Riley Kronen) and three siblings to Santa Barbara in 1963. He attended Vieja Valley Elementary, La Colina Junior High, San Marcos High School (1977), and Cate School. In 1984, Dave graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, to then return to Santa Barbara where he would remain the rest of his life.

Although he had a highly successful career in banking, including a 20year tenure as Director and Regional Manager at Bank of the West in Santa Barbara, Dave was foremost a family man. He married the love of his life, Laura Corzan, in 1993 and together they raised three sons. A lifelong skier, outdoorsman, and waterman, Dave introduced his family to skiing and snowboarding at Mammoth, backpacking the Sierras, countless road and camping trips throughout the west, and summers of water skiing on Flathead Lake in Montana. Sunday family bike rides were frequent.

Hope Ranch Beach was where Dave spent 60 years worth of countless hours swimming, surfing, and enjoying beach picnics late into the evenings with family and friends. Dave and Laura’s home served as a gathering place for countless friends and family to enjoy barbecues and fun. Warm greetings and endless hospitality were never lacking. If you needed a smile, a beer, or a quiet hand on your shoulder in support, you headed over to Dave and Laura’s; and if you needed a hearty laugh, there was no place better.

In addition to a long career as a local banker, Dave was also Chapter Chair of the MIT Executive Forum (2008-2011), Honor Roll at the Senior Management training at Pacific Coast Banking School, and was involved with many other nonprofits and local businesses. Particularly close to his heart, and as a founding member of a local nonprofit, The Friendship Paddle, Dave served on the board for over 10 years. He participated in every paddle until he couldn’t, and the last several proudly alongside his sons. Dave had a healthy appreciation for Santa Barbara’s natural beauty, especially the ocean and the Channel Islands.

As Dave’s physical health declined and he became less mobile, he delighted in having visitors at the regular “Thirsty Thursday” gatherings organized by boyhood friends in his backyard. He never lost his sense of humor and avid interest in whatever was going on with friends and family.

Dave’s lively spirit is shown as his friends would say, “He may be late to a party but he was always the last to leave.” And if someone dear to him was overwhelmed or overstressed, Dave always reminded them, “Life is good. Remember that.” Dave touched a lot of lives in Santa Barbara and had more friends than you could count. Loyalty ran deep with him; he needed more than two hands to count the number of close friendships that spanned over 50 years.

Dave is survived by his wife Laura, and his sons Gregory, Steven, and Sam. He was preceded in death by his parents Jack and Beth Kronen. He leaves behind three siblings, Jack (Sue) of Honolulu, Hawaii; Ann of Malibu, Calif.; and Tom (Tammy) of Santa Barbara, as well as five nieces and nephews. They will all continue to honor his immense character, spirit of adventure, and loving nature.

Cletis D. Shelby '82

FEBRUARY 1, 1964 - JUNE 9, 2022

Cletis Shelby died on June 9, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nev. at the age of 58. Cletis was born on February 1, 1964 in Tennessee to Robert Shelby, Sr. and Mamie Shelby. He was baptized at an early age and raised in a Christian household. He received his Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 and went on to earn his Master’s of Business Administration in International Finance from Columbia University in 1989.

During his sophomore year at UPenn, Cletis worked as a statistics tutor and in doing so, he met Lurdys Gordon. They started dating that year and would go on to get married three years later in 1987. After Cletis graduated from Columbia, he and Lurdys moved across the country to the San Francisco Bay Area and would remain married for 12 years. In 1996, Cletis and Lurdys welcomed their son, Christopher (Chris), into their home. Christopher’s arrival motivated Cletis to live an exceptional life that would enable him to inspire by example, showing Chris that extraordinary opportunities come through hard work, preparation, dreaming big dreams, and pursuing them relentlessly. Christopher will always remember his dad as a positive light into people’s lives and as someone who encouraged him to pursue his goals.

Cletis had a special attribute of connecting and networking with people all over the world. He was an individual that was able to lead transformational programs and had a passion for facilitating opportunities to individuals in less fortunate environments.

Cletis found work as a Principal Consultant and served as the Director for A Better Chance in the early 1990s, where he managed the recruitment and placement of talented minority students from communities throughout Northern California into the most prestigious private high schools across the country. As an A Better Chance alumnus, Cletis knew first hand the transformational impact that this educational opportunity would have in the lives of its graduates and their families and welcomed the chance to pay it forward. During his tenure, he significantly increased both the level of donations to fund the program, as well as the number of students who received educational scholarships to participate in the program.

Cletis also excelled with over 15 years of operational enterprise financial management, as well as Big 4 and independent consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies.

While at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, he published a white paper titled ‘Competitive Advantage of Investing in America’s Inner Cities’. In his free time Cletis enjoyed maintaining his fitness goals so that he could participate in triathlons, watching sports, salsa dancing, learning new languages, and traveling. His favorite places to travel were Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, Miami, and wherever Chris was.

He leaves to cherish his memory: his son Christopher of Las Vegas, Nev; his mother Mamie Shelby of Oakland, Calif.; brothers Edward (Priscilla) of Wiggins Miss., and Robert Jr. of Oakland, Calif.; and sister, Sylvia ShelbyDawson of Oakland, Calif. His favorite aunts: Katie Jenkins of Chicago, IL, Ann Winters of San Leandro, Calif., Emma Bass (Rasko) of Richmond, Texas, and Sallie Carodine of Memphis, Tenn. His cousins who were like siblings: Lesia Zedd, Kenneth Winters, Joseph Hinkston, Darren Winters, Cedric Winters, Carlos Shelby, Gary Shelby, Cary Shelby, Lucinda Allen (Keith), and Greta Davis (Levy) and Larry Jenkins. Nephews: Kendall and Keith Dawson, and niece Sierra.

We would also like to note those who had a special impact on his life such as Marilyn Harryman (Mike) and his best friend, Larry Jackson (Karen); along with a worldwide network of family, friends, and associates. He is preceded in death by his father, Robert, Sr. and sister Shlandra (Penny) Denise Shelby.

Memorial donations can be made to A Better Chance, Inc., 253 West 35th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001 or via their website: https:// www.abetterchance.org/alumni/donate.

David “Dave” was an energy industry leader since the mid-1950s, having earned his Master’s in Geology at UCLA after serving in the USAF during the Korean War. Along with several other young geologists, he was hired by Armand Hammer and then helped build Occidental Petroleum (OXY) from a small drilling company in Bakersfield, Calif. to the significant international exploration and production corporation it is today, finally retiring as the President of OXY’s Oil and Gas Division. He was a visionary leader who had a nose for finding new oil reserves and for finding opportunities where others saw only obstacles. One of his discoveries was, and continues to be, the largest oil field in South America. He was passionate about his work and proud of helping to create value in the world. He was among the best storytellers of all time, and considering his many international adventures and his skill in diplomacy and deal-making with foreign governments, his stories were the stuff of legends.

David was a devoted husband of nearly 68 years to Sarah “Sally” Martin, whom he cherished and loved deeply, and together they spent many years supporting the Arts and assembling an impressive collection of California Regionalist painting, primarily watercolors of Depression-era California scenes. He was an inspirational father to his two sons, Jon '81 and Mat '84, and their wives Michele and Karen, a beloved grandfather to Sarah '14, Nathan '17, Anna and Leah, and a generous friend to many. He was fortunate enough to have his family living close by in Santa Barbara.

MAY 9, 1931 - FEBRUARY 1, 2023

Published by Legacy.com on Feb. 4, 2023

With both sadness and celebration of a life well-lived, we announce the passing of David R. Martin at 91 years young. His family and friends’ hearts ache to have lost the presence of such a great man.

He died peacefully at home with family at his side after a 20+ year battle with prostate cancer. He was a native Californian who liked to tell of his childhood growing up on a farm in rural San Fernando Valley catching crawdads in the free flowing LA River. David will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who knew him. His legacy of success, hard work, generosity, love, and compassion will live on in the hearts of those he touched.