Ruth Louise Witham Walker '35

Long-time class secretary Ruth Louise Witham Walker '35 died Feb. 2. She was 89.

Walker earned a B.A. degree in English from UNH and was elected president of the Women's Student Government organization. After college, she taught high school in Wilmington, Vt., for two years. She was active in Dover, N.H., community and church organizations.

She is survived by a son, Frederick Walker '61; daughters Barbara Dutilley, Virginia Dichard and Ann Walker; a brother, Howard Witham '35; seven grandchildren; two great-grandsons and several nieces.

Alvin R. Ingram '40

Dr. Alvin R. Ingram '40, a noted chemist, died Jan. 23. He was 85.

Ingram received a B.S. in chemistry at UNH, a master's from Northeastern and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. He was employed for 35 years as a research chemist at Arco Chemical Co., retiring in 1984. He was awarded 43 patents and the 1982 Atlantic Richfield Technical Achievement Award, and his articles appeared in numerous publications. He was a member of the American Chemical Society.

He is survived by his wife, Virginia; son Carl; and two grandchildren.

Paul I. Abell '48

Dr. Paul I. Abell '48, died Jan. 12. He was 80.

Abell earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from UNH and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. During World War II, he served in the Army Signal Corps in Europe and Japan. He was a chemistry professor at the University of Rhode Island for 40 years, and for 17 summers, he helped the Leakey family look for evidence of early hominids in Tanzania. Working with Mary Leakey in 1978, he chanced upon a hominid footprint that proved to be part of a 80-foot-long trail dated at 3.6 to 3.7 million years old.

Over the years, Abell was a Fulbright lecturer in Egypt and went on research expeditions in paleontology to the Omo River and Lake Rudolf regions of East Africa for the National Geographic Society. He was an accomplished violinist, painter, book collector, gardener and cabinet maker. He built his own home, a geodesic dome in Kingston, R.I., and his summer home in Nova Scotia.

He is survived by three daughters, Susan and Octavia Abell and Erin Gallagher; and a sister, Jane Coon.

Joseph L. Simon '60G, '63G

Joseph L. Simon died March 22. He was 67.

After earning a bachelor's degree from Tufts in 1958, Simon received a master's and Ph.D. in zoology from UNH. He joined the then new University of South Florida in Tampa, where he became the first faculty member to reach the million-dollar mark in sponsored research. He helped to create the university's first doctoral program, in biology, in 1967. His research on Tampa Bay's ecology continues to be influential. Simon was named the president of the American Society of Zoology and received a Fulbright scholarship to Taiwan in 1989-90. He retired about six years ago. A patron of the arts, he was a former board president of Tampa's StageWorks.

Survivors include two nephews; and companion Richard A. Preto-Rodas.

Jerome H. Supple '63G

Dr. Jerome H. Supple '63G died Jan. 16. He was 67.

Supple attended Boston College before earning his Ph.D. in chemistry from UNH. He was a chemistry professor and acting president in the State University of New York system. In 1989, he was hired as the president of Texas State (later renamed Texas State University-San Marcos), stepping down in 2002. On his watch, the school launched its first of six doctoral programs and raised $74 million in its first major capital campaign. The school's science building was recently named after him.

In addition to his wife, Catherine, he is survived by three sons, James, Andrew and Paul; a sister, Colette Maguire, and one grandson.

Dawn Hyman Campbell '79

Dawn Hyman Campbell '79 died Dec. 6. She was 47.

Campbell graduated from UNH with a B.A. degree in psychology. An accomplished tap and ballet dancer, she suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident while at UNH. She attended graduate school at California State University, Chico, and was employed at Drexler Technology and later at Stinson & Isom as a job developer. Campbell made appearances at high schools as a spokesperson for the Northern Californian Spinal Cord Prevention Project. An active volunteer, she enjoyed many activities, including skydiving, white-water rafting and kayaking.

She is survived by her husband, Bill Campbell; daughter Emma Campbell; her father, Harry Hyman; and two brothers, Vic and T.J. Hyman '85.