IN MEMORIAM

Through March 31, 2023

Alumni

JANE (GUERNSEY ’76) BIRMINGHAM

Jane Birmingham “chose a degree in economics over a career in ballet and was an exquisite writer as well as dancer,” wrote her husband, Charles. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, and joined Penn’s staff as a development officer, where she conducted fundraising during the 1980s. After leaving Penn, she joined Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California, where she raised more than $20 million over two decades to introduce Title I students to STEM and the environment.

Jane died December 5, 2022, and is survived by her husband, Charles, and her sisters, Anne (Guernsey ’74) Barnes and Susan Guernsey.

JOHN E. ERSKINE ’57

John E. Erskine, 81, of Emporium, Pennsylvania, passed away at his residence on March 23, 2023. He was born February 2, 1942, in St. Marys, a son of the late Bernard and Edith Ferguson Erskine. John came to Sewickley Academy in Grade 6, then attended Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut, Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, and graduated from Quaker Valley High School.

Surviving are two sons, John D. and Harry; his daughter, Shawnarae Callahan (Tom), also all of Emporium; seven grandchildren, eight greatgrandchildren; and his brother, Peter ’62, of Prescott, Arizona.

DRAYTON HEARD III ’56

Drayton Heard III died on March 2, 2023, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 82. Born on January 9, 1941, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Helen Owsley and Drayton Heard, he spent his youth in Sewickley, and summers in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. He attended Sewickley Academy, Philips Academy Andover, and the University of North Carolina. Married in 1968 to the late Janet Mason Heard, they made their home in West Hartford, Connecticut, and raised their two daughters.

Drayton is survived by his companion, Nancy Westerveld, of Lexington, Kentucky; brother, John Owsley “Jay” Heard ’60, of New York City; sister and her husband, Helen (Heard ’68) Heatherington and Edwin Sherin Hetherington ’67, of New York City; daughters and sons in-law, Nancy Heard Krahmer and Charles Hohmann Krahmer of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and Allison Owsley Dugan and Brent John Dugan of Raleigh, North Carolina; six grandchildren, and a nephew and niece.

ELIZABETH

(ZUG ’60) JOHNSTONE

Elizabeth Zug Johnstone, of Mason’s Island, Connecticut, passed away on July 9, 2022, following a short illness. Born and raised in Sewickley, she spent most of her adult life on Mason’s Island in the home built by her grandparents, Harry and Ethel Loutrel. Lisa had a joyful and fun-filled life thanks to her loving husband, Tod Johnstone, her brother, Terry Zug ’53, and her “three kids” (stepdaughter, Alexandra Wood, nephew, Geordie Zug, and niece, Eliza Cox), along with their children, and innumerable friends.

Lisa was predeceased by her parents, Gordon and Harriet Zug, and her brother, Christopher Zug ’56

ELIZABETH CLARKE (JOHNSON ’89) KINDELBERGER

Beth Kindelberger died peacefully on November 6, 2022, from complications of lung cancer. She was surrounded by her loving husband, Walter, and daughters, Genevieve (Genna) and Madelyn (Aly), as well as her siblings, Laurel and Christopher ’98 (Joe Sheehan), and parents, Tom and Cathie Johnson.

She was President of her class and Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook at Sewickley Academy. She graduated from Dartmouth in 1993 where she was President of her Delta Gamma sorority, and later earned a Master’s degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Beth and her family are particularly thankful for the excellent and sensitive care provided by her doctors, nurses and all those at Shadyside Hospital and Hillman Cancer Center.

JOHN STEPHEN MIKITA ’74

J. Stephen Mikita ’74 passed away on March 1 at the age of 67. Born with spinal muscular atrophy, Steve could not move from the neck down and was not expected to live past the age of two. During his life he inspired and empowered others with his legal and advocacy work. He served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Utah and was legal counsel for Utah’s two largest state agencies, providing protection and services for people with disabilities and vulnerable adults. Among his many awards, Steve received the first National Personal Achievement Award from the National Muscular Dystrophy Association and was inducted into Sewickley Academy’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2009.

Steve was the first student in a wheelchair to attend Duke University where he graduated magna cum laude, with a double major in political science and religion. He received his law degree from Brigham Young University. During law school, he was law clerk for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.

Steve is survived by his siblings, Carole (Neil York), Bill (Pattie), and Judith ’76 (Richard Krzyminski); his cousins Rev. Jeffrey S. Mikita ’90 (Christine) and Kathryn Mikita ’88; eight nieces and nephews; and seventeen great-nieces and nephews.

VANESSA (TAYLOR ’86) PATTERSON

Vanessa Taylor Patterson passed away unexpectedly on February 8, 2023. Vanessa was born April 3, 1968, in Orange, Texas. Early in life, her family moved to Pittsburgh and she became a life-long Pittsburgh

Steelers fan, claiming it was a mostly tortured experience. She moved west for college, attending the University of California, Irvine, where she first met her long-time partner, Pete.

She is survived by Pete; sons, Carter and Graydon; her brother, Alex Taylor, his wife, Natali, and their sons of Ben Avon, Pennsylvania.

WILLIAM BLAIR WARDROP ’90

William Blair Wardrop, Jr., 51, passed away suddenly on January 21, 2023. He was the beloved son of Bill ’55 and Susie (Coyle ’60) Wardrop, brother of Elizabeth (Wardrop ’91) Lawley, and uncle to her two children, Alex and Carolyn. Blair was married to Colleen Dobson Wardrop whose large family included her parents, Helen Dobson and Edward Dobson (deceased), and her six siblings, Michael, Deborah, Marc, Christina, Keith, and Gregory, as well as all of her siblings’ children. Blair’s family includes his aunts, Alison Wardrop and Nina (Wardrop ’62) Brooks, and Nina’s husband, Frank ’62

Blair attended Sewickley Academy, and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy as a Battalion Commander, ranked sixth of 810 in his class. He then pursued his love of flying airplanes at Averett College. In his career, he achieved the rank of captain.

Faculty And Staff

ALEXANDER W. “SPIKE” BERRY, JR.

Alexander W. Berry Jr., 78, of Ambridge, PA, died on February 20, 2023, at Good Samaritan Hospice, Beaver. Better known as Spike, he was born July 23, 1944, to the late Alexander and Hattie Berry. Spike retired with 28 years of service from the Ambridge Borough of Public Works. The retired life was not for him, so he went to work at Sewickley Academy, where his father had also worked, retiring with 11 years of service. Spike enjoyed football, golf, classic television, cutting grass, and all things Motown. He was known for many things, but mostly for being a good person. He leaves behind his wife

Rose Claudette Berry, five brothers and seven sisters, seven children, and thirteen grandchildren.

HOWARD HALLEY “HAL” SHOCKEY, JR.

Howard Halley Shockey, Jr., (Hal), formerly of Winchester, Virginia, and Sewickley, passed away on November 9, 2022, at his home in Portage, Michigan. He had been coping with the effects of ALS. Hal was born January 11, 1937, in Winchester, Virginia, the son of Howard Halley Shockey, Sr. and Mary Ragsdale Shockey, both of Winchester. He graduated from Handley High School in Winchester in 1956 and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, where he received a BS in electrical engineering in 1960. In the spring of 1964 he met Sarah, his wife-to-be, on a week-long trout fishing trip with friends in the mountains of North Carolina. On November 11, 1964, Hal and Sarah were married in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Immediately after graduation, Hal worked for Duquesne Light Co. in Pittsburgh as an engineer designing transmission and distribution lines. He then spent two years as a writer of fiction. In 1970, he took on a part-time job with Sewickley Academy, teaching geometry to high school students, and discovered that he had found the right profession. He spent the next 30 years teaching mathematics from plane geometry to Advanced Placement calculus at the Academy. He was also an avid gardener and singer. When Hal passed away, he was in his favorite chair, looking out the window at the garden he so loved.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah Lynn Lemon Shockey, his daughter, Deborah Lynn Shockey Gillespie of Boise, Idaho, his son, Richard Matthew Shockey ’92, and his grandson, Thomas Calvin Manwell Shockey in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

KATHARINE E. SWEENEY

A Grade 1 teacher in her second year with the Academy, Kate passed away suddenly from illness on November 9, 2022. She was a graduate