| Obituaries
William E. Heronemus, pioneer in the development
of alternative power sources
by Sarah R. Buchholz,
Chronicle staff
A pioneer in wind and solar power, professor emeritus
of Mechanical Engineering William E. Heronemus, 82, of Amherst,
died Nov. 2 of cancer.
He served the University for more than 16 and a half years, spanning
the energy crisis of the 1970s, when he designed and advocated for
the use of alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, and
ocean thermal differences.
A veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Arriving at UMass with 27 and a half years of U.S.Navy experience,
including two master's degrees from MIT in naval architecture and
marine engineering and experience building ships and nuclear submarines,
he was associate head of Civil Engineering and helped launch the
College of Engineering's graduate program in ocean engineering.
He gave a Chancellor's Lecture in 1977 and received a Chancellor's
Medal.
The author of more than a dozen reports related to wind power, in
places such as Long Island, the Lake Ontario region, and offshore,
he also wrote dozens of articles and was the subject of many others.
Several of his reports were written for a congressional subcommittee.
He gave more than 100 invited talks, many in Massachusetts, but
others around the U.S. and in Europe and Africa, and was a consultant
to the U.S. Department of State, the states of New York, Connecticut,
and Massachusetts and to the offshore oil industry.
He received funding from the National Science Foundation to study
the feasibility of heating a New England home without fossil fuel
and the feasibilty of ocean-sited power plants. He taught hundreds
of students about wind, ocean and solar power and how to harness
it. His students went on to build alternative energy equipment,
including the power-generating windmills of California's Pacheco
Pass.
He had also been an engineering manager for United Aircraft Corp.
in Farmington, Conn. He also bought and sold homes through 3H Woodlot
and Construction Inc.
He leaves his wife, Phyllis Heronemus; three daughters, Lee Martin
of Amherst, Ellen Bryan of Concord, N.H., and Marcia Heronemus-Pate
of Tulsa, Okla.; three sons, Robert and Peter, both of Leverett,
and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. David P. of Newport, R.I.; a sister,
two brothers and other family.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 188,
Northampton 01060.
Sarah J. Hamilton, ran New Students Program
By Daniel J. Fitzgibbons,
Chronicle staff
Sarah J. Hamilton, 66, who helped smooth the entry
of more than 100,000 students during three decades as director
of the New Students Program, died Nov. 8 of peritoneal cancer
at her South Hadley home.
Hamilton, who retired last year, came to Western Massachusetts
in 1965 to serve as program director for the Western Massachusetts
Girl Scout Council. She completed a master's degree through the
School of Education in 1970 and was named director of New Students
Program the next year.
NSP and Hamilton were virtually synonymous during her career.
She hand-picked the student counselors and fashioned a program
focused on meeting the initial needs of new students, such as
academic advising, pre-registration, housing choices and understanding
the nuts and bolts of life at UMass. She insisted that her counselors
convey a "positive yet realistic" view of the University.
With little tolerance for bureaucratic infighting and incompetence,
Hamilton zealously protected her program from attempts to change
its focus. Backing up her arguments with reams of positive evaluations
from students and parents, Hamilton relentlessly pursued her goal
of wanting new students to look forward to returning to campus
each fall.
But Hamilton also recognized the need for the program to keep
pace with the times and the changing nature of UMass students.
Over the years, NSP added information sessions on health, campus
safety, men's and women's issues, computing and a host of other
emerging topics. During each 21/2-day NSP session, new students
were flooded with enough basic information to guide them through
their first weeks on campus.
Hamilton demanded, and usually received, the highest quality work
from her staffs. As she frequently told her counselors, "People
do great things when great things are expected of them."
The NSP schedule demanded a lot from the student staff. Every
summer for nine weeks, about 4,000 students would arrive in groups
of 400 for intensive introductions to UMass. United by common
cause and fatigue, the counselors worked hard and, in the brief
time between sessions, played hard, guided by another Hamiltonism:
"When you're on, you're on and when you're off, you're off."
In a staff memo penned at the end of the 1982 summer program,
Hamilton summed up the impact of NSP on new students and the counselors
alike: "Only you can know how much you put into the job and
how much you ultimately affected the lives of the new students.
I hope you can feel proud of your contribution to them and to
the program."
As one counselor later wrote , "I learned to be a leader,
but more important I learned to work within a group. I learned
more about myself those two summers at NSP than any other time
in my life."
Hamilton summed up her UMass career in a letter to the Chronicle
in September 2001: "My years are a blur of always interesting
non-predictable experiences and ironies shared with terrific colleagues."
At UMass, Hamilton also oversaw recruitment open houses and campus
tours, as well as the Chancellor's Talent Award and Dual Enrollment
programs. From 1987-89, she served as interim dean of Enrollment
Services.
She leaves her partner, Julie K. Nelson; a brother, Robert A.
Hamilton of Pineville, Mo.; and three nephews.
Memorial gifts may be made to PAWS of Granby, P.O. Box 472, Granby
01033.
A celebration of her life will be held at a future date.
Janet F. Mowry
Janet F. Mowry, 58, of Deerfield, a former clerk
in the Controller's Office, died Nov. 7 in Western Massachusetts
Hospital in Westfield.
She served the University for 14 years before going on leave in
1991.
A lifelong resident of Deerfield, she was a graduate of Frontier
Regional High School.
She was a member of the South Deerfield Congregational Church.
She leaves two brothers, George L. of Deerfield and Ronald E.
of Ellicott, Md.; a sister, Marsha J. Hobbs of Lakeland, Fla;
and other family.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Pioneer Valley Humane
Society, French King Hwy, Greenfield 01301 or to the South Deerfield
Congregational Church, North Main St., S. Deerfield 01373.
Margaret Ann Doubleday
Margaret Ann Doubleday, 80, of Amherst, a retired
clerk in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration, died Nov.
7 at SunBridge Care in Hadley following a long illness.
She served the University for 15 and a half years before retiring
in 1987.
A graduate of Belchertown High School and the former Northampton
Commercial College, she also worked for the Belcher-town Rationing
Board during World War II, the Belchertown Public Schools, the
East Long-meadow Public Library and the Tororo Girls' School in
Tororo, Uganda.
She leaves her husband of 60 years, Elwyn J. Doubleday; three
sons, Elwyn Jr. of Alton Bay, N.H., the Rev. William of New York
City, and Mark of Buckland; and other family.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Swift River Valley Historical
Society, Elm St., New Salem 01355.
Gregory Malinoski
Gregory Malinoski, 63, of Northampton, a retired
maintainer at University Health Services, died Nov. 11 at home.
He served the University for 15 years before retiring in March.
He had worked earlier for Highland Valley Eldercare.
A former baseball player for Northampton High School, he was a
graduate of Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School.
He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
He leaves two sisters, Cynthia Sullivan of Northampton and Wendy
Mieczkowski of Monta-gue, and other family.
Memorial gifts may be made to Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital,
14 Chestnut Place, Ludlow 01058.
Steven Maher
Steven Maher, 45, of North-ampton, a former baker
in the Bake Shop, died Nov. 8 at home.
He served the University for four and half years before leaving
in 1989.
A graduate of Northampton High School, he attended Holyoke Community
College.
His interests included skiing and playing baseball.
He was a former communicant of Blessed Sacrament Church in Northampton.
He leaves his parents, Robert and Beverly Maher of Granby; two
sisters, Christine Langlois, a clerk in Athletics, of Holyoke
and Kerry Loux of Florence; and other family.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Brattleboro Retreat, c/o Anna
Marsh Lane, P.O. Box 803, Brat-tleboro, VT 05301.
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