Alton B. "Butch" Cole, 83, a retired assistant
professor of Forestry and Wildlife Management, died June 25 of
congestive heart failure in Bradenton, Fla.
He served the University for 18 years before retiring
in 1978.
He entered Massachusetts State College as an undergraduate
in 1937, later leaving for Army Air Force duty flying the "Hump"
over the Himalayas between Bur-ma and China in World War II. He
returned to finish his B.S. in Forestry in 1946. He did graduate
work at the University of Montana and went on to Yale where he
received a master of forestry with honors, in 1948.
He joined the faculty as an instructor in 1948 and
was recalled to U.S. Air Force duty in the Korean War. He remained
in the Air Force after the war, retiring at the rank of major
and returned to the faculty in 1966. He taught timber harvesting,
dendrology, forestland management in the Stock-bridge School,
and had administrative duties in the department.
"He was a fine fellow and he was always helping
somebody fix something," said William Rice, retired professor
of Forestry.
His first wife, Jane Cole, and his second wife,
Dorothy Cole, predeceased him.
He leaves four sons, Doug, Barry, Jeff and Ray;
and several grandchildren.
Everett H. Emerson, 77, of Lenox, a retired professor
of English, died of congestive heart failure July 9 at home.
He served the University for 19 years before retiring
in 1983.
He taught American literature for an additional
10 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before
retiring a second time in 1993. At his retirement, UNC created
a distinguish-ed professorship in his name.
A Marine veteran of World War II, he served in the
Pacific.
During his tenure at UMass, he directed both the
Honors Program and freshman composition for several years. He
also helped to establish the Chancellor's Lecture Series, now
called the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series.
He taught at Lehigh University from 1955 to 1960.
He then became a founding faculty member of Florida Presbyterian
College, now known as Eckerd College.
He authored three books and many articles on early
American authors and their English contemporaries. He was secretary
of the Conference on Early American Literature at the Modern Language
Association and edited the journal, "Early American Literature.
"Known as a long-term mentor to his graduate
students, he saw 11 of the 15 dissertations he directed at UMass
become books.
"He will be much missed by all those who knew
and learned from him," said English professor Mason Lowance.
He leaves his wife of 53 years, Katherine Emerson;
a son and many nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
