In Memory FORMER TRUSTEES Francis Power “Peter” Parker Jr. passed away due to natural causes after a long illness in early July 2019 in Wilmington, Delaware, at the age of 79. With an abundance of love and joy Peter will be remembered by his daughter, Gray Parker, and son-in-law, Mark Hodgson, of Tega Cay, SC; son, Geoff Parker ’91, of Tampa, FL; sister, Valeria Parker Storms, and brother-in-law, Clifford Beekman Storms, of Stamford, CT; and sister, Patricia Parker Ferebee, and brother-in-law, John Jethro Ferebee, Sr., of Rocky Mount, NC. Peter was also adored by his two grandchildren, Leyton and Sebastian Parker. He was predeceased by his loving wife, Robin Hickman Parker. Peter was subsequently married to Catherine Bruni Parker from 1994-2007. Born in 1940 in Atlanta, GA, to Francis Power Parker Sr. and Winifred Orr Parker, Peter graduated from The Westminster School in Atlanta with high academic and athletic honors in 1958. At Vanderbilt University he majored in English, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa, was president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1962. He attended medical school at The University of Virginia, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and was President of his class. Upon graduating in 1966, he interned at New York Hospital (Cornell), served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and then returned to Charlottesville where he completed his pathology residency and was a faculty member of the Department of Pathology at The University of Virginia. Peter had a lengthy and distinguished career as a pathologist at Christiana Care in Delaware, where he became chairman of the department. He was a member of the American Society for Clinical Pathologists, the College of American Pathologists, and the Delaware Clinical and Laboratory Physicians. Further, he served as a Director on the UVA Medical Alumni Associa-
tion’s Board of Directors, as well as a Trustee on the Medical School Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Dr. James Francis Fess Reamer passed away on Saturday, August 3, 2019, at age 83. Jim was born on December 12, 1935 in Baltimore, Maryland to Francis Fess Reamer and Edith LaRue (née Unger) Reamer of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree from Bucknell University and his Doctor of Medicine from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. He practiced Pathology at the now closed Wilmington Medical Center and then at Christiana Hospital, both in Wilmington, Delaware. Jim was predeceased by his first wife of 32 years, Arleyne Terry Reamer (née van Gampler) and his sister, Nancy Jane Walker, of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his second wife, Michele Sullivan of Kendal, Kennett Square, and his three sons and their families, James Reamer, Jr. ’80 and his wife Karen Coleman, of Ashland, Massachusetts, Hudson Reamer ’82, of Indianapolis, Indiana and Jordan Reamer ’85, of Claremont, California. Jim has three grandchildren, Lindsay, Hudson, Jr. and Garrett. FORMER FACULTY & STAFF Nancy Fitts Donaldson, 93, of Newtown Square, a longtime Quaker school educator and the mother of Inquirer cartoonist Signe Wilkinson, died in her sleep Thursday, September 26, at White Horse Village. Nancy attended Media-Providence Friends School and graduated from Swarthmore College, where she was known as “Fittsy.” She married Peter B. Wilkinson in the late 1940s and lived in Texas, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh, before settling in Paoli to raise three children. When her children were old enough to attend school, Nancy earned a teaching certificate in education from West Chester University, and began her career as a fourthgrade teacher at Paoli Pike Elementary School in West Chester. She then came to WFS and continued teaching until 1971, when she became the head of Lansdowne Friends School. She was then named lower school principal first at Abington Friends School and then at the Shipley School. She later supervised student teachers for Swarthmore Col-
lege. Nancy retired in 1990 and served on the board of directors for Friends’ Central School and Media-Providence Friends School. She was the first clerk for the board of Stratford Friends School in Newtown Square, tutored pupils in the city of Chester, and supported the Chester Children’s Choir. In 1984, Nancy married Orlin Willits Donaldson who sadly passed away in 2008 after 24 years of marriage. She is survived by daughter Signe Wilkinson and sons Gregg Wilkinson ’70 and Geoff Wilkinson ’74; stepchildren Storm Snaith and Kyle Donaldson; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and a sister, Ellen Fitts Millick (WFS parent of alum and former trustee & faculty). Her first husband died in 1983. 1937 Jane Hayden Frelick ’37, age 99, wife of the late Robert Frelick, M.D., died on September 4, 2019 at the Lorelton in Wilmington. Jane Owen Hayden was the daughter of Oliver and Dorothy Hayden of Wilmington. After graduating from Friends School, Jane earned a BA from Oberlin College, Ohio, and a Masters in Nursing from Yale University. She joined her husband and worked as a civilian nurse with the occupation forces in Germany in 194647. Subsequently, they established a medical practice from their home office on Murphy Road, serving the community for 30 years. They moved to her parents’ home in Westover Hills in 1976. Jane’s home was a welcoming sanctuary to itinerant opera singers, exchange students, refugees, far-flung family and friends. She campaigned to educate children against smoking, to stop gun violence, to promote fluoridated water and safe and legal abortions. She tutored at the Baylor Women’s Correction Facility and the Ferris School, served on the board of the Delaware Center for Justice, and was active in the PTA, the League of Women Voters, Opera Delaware, and PFLAG. She was a lifelong member of The Brandywiners and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek. Jane is survived by five children: Sally O’Byrne (Terry O’Byrne) and Scott Frelick of Wilmington; Susan Goekler (Mac Goekler) of Rehoboth; Alcy Frelick (Bill Martin) of McLean, Winter 2020 • QuakerMatters
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