Category: 1939

Memorial service for Walter Stitt Robinson, 96, Lawrence, KS will be held 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at First United Methodist Church. Private inurnment will be held at Pioneer Cemetery.

Stitt was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1917. He graduated from Central High School of Charlotte and completed his B.A. degree at Davidson College, 1939 summa cum laude. He received his M.A. degree in history at the University of Virginia before entering military service for four years in November 1941. He rose to the rank of Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division and engaged in combat in an airborne glider unit in the invasion of Southern France in August 1944, the Battle of the Bulge, and the airborne crossing of the Rhine in Germany in March 1945. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Germany. He was a member of the faculty of Northwest Alabama University, 1946-48, before completing his Ph.D. in history at the University of Virginia in 1950. He then joined the faculty of the University of Kansas where he served as chair of the Department of History, 1968-73, before retiring in 1988.

He published eleven books and over thirty articles. Among his publications were The Southern Colonial Frontier, 1607-1763 in the Histories of the American Frontier, a biography of Governor James Glen of Colonial South Carolina, and five volumes of Indian Treaties in Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607-1789. In support of his work, he received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, the American Philosophical Society, and the General Research Fund of the University of Kansas. He was a Fellow of the Institute for Advance Study in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1983.

He was the recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship Award at the University of Kansas, 1976. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Raven Society of the University of Virginia, and the honor society of History, Phi Alpha Theta, where he served as international president, 1984-86. In his professional career, he was affiliated with the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Southern Historical Association. He was also a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity and American Legion.

Among other professional and community services, he served on the National Civil War Centennial Commission. He was president of the Kansas State Historical Society, the Kansas School of Religion, and the Douglas County Historical Society. He was chair of the Program Committee for the national meeting of the Organization of American Historians in 1959 and chair of the Kansas Committee for the Humanities, 1975-78 (now the Kansas Humanities Council). He was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Lawrence and participated regularly on a rotating team of Sunday School teachers for over fifty years.

Survivors include his wife, Constance Mock Robinson; a daughter, Barry Robinson Cook; and husband,Bob, of Leawood, Kansas; a son, Walter Lee; and a grandson, Trevor Lee of Seattle, Washington. Also surviving is his sister, Barry Hemby of Charlotte, North Carolina and numerous nephews and nieces.

Memorial contributions may be made in his name to the KU Endowment Association in memory of Walter Stitt Robinson or First United Methodist Church and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.

Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com
Published in Lawrence Journal-World on June 26, 2014

Eugene “Gene” Harrison Alexander, 96, of Mooresville, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, at his residence, after a brief illness. He was born Aug. 23, 1917, in Huntersville, to the late James Wilson and Daisy Rogers Alexander of the Cornelius community. He was married for 62 years to Edith Oehler Alexander, until her death in 2003.

In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by brothers, Pressley and Jay Alexander of Charlotte; James Alexander of Davidson; sister, Laura Morris of Charlotte; and two grandsons, Jamey Sloop and Darin Eugene Alexander.

After graduating from Cornelius High School, Gene chose farming as his way of life and established himself as a hard-working cattle farmer and as owner and operator of Alexander Lumber Company and Farm. His multiple accomplishments and influence will be long remembered by his family, friends and community.

He was a member and supporter of Mooresville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church since 1951, 62 years. There he served as teacher of the Men’s Sunday school class, deacon and elder. In 2000, he was honored as Elder Emeritus by the Session of the Mooresville ARP Church, for his faithful service.

He is survived by sons, David Alexander and wife, Janet, of Mooresville and Joe Alexander and wife, Cathy, also of Mooresville; daughters, Mary Sloop and husband, Wayne, of Horse Shoe, Daisy Beam and husband, Alex, of Mooresville and Jeanette Stikeleather and husband, Richard, also of Mooresville; sister, Lois Bell of Due West, S.C.; 14 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Visitation was held Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville. Graveside services will be held today (Sunday, Jan. 5), at 1:30 p.m., at Bethel Presbyterian Church, 19920 Bethel Church Rd., Cornelius. Funeral services will be held today (Sunday), at 3 p.m., at Mooresville ARP Church, with the Rev. Andy Ward officiating. The family will receive friends in the Family Life Center, after services.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice & Palliative Care of Lake Norman, 705 Griffith St., Davidson, NC 28036 or Mooresville ARP Church, 659 Carpenter Ave., Mooresville, NC 28115.

Cavin-Cook Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Alexander family. Condolences may be made to the family at www.cavin-cook.com.

Joseph Hiram Calvin, Jr. ’39, of Birmingham, AL, died April 3, 2012. He was born in Decatur on June 2, 1918, the son of Joseph Hiram Calvin and Bernice Jackson Calvin.

He graduated from Davidson, where he was president of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He attended Harvard Law School for two years before serving in the Army, from which he retired as a captain in 1946. Calvin received his juris doctor from the University of Alabama and practiced law in Decatur for nearly 50 years. During this time, Calvin served as president of the Morgan County Bar Association, was president of the Decatur Kiwanis Club, was a longtime member of the board of Compass Bank, was chairman of the Decatur School Board, and was elected to represent Morgan and Lawrence counties in the Alabama State Senate. He was named most effective Alabama senator.

Calvin was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church in Decatur until moving to Birmingham in 2000. He was a deacon and elder and taught Sunday school for many years. He is thought of by all as the perfect gentleman.

Calvin is survived by his wife, Juliet Given Calvin, 9 Cross Creek Dr., Birmingham, AL 35213-2318; his son, Joseph Calvin III ’84 (Jennifer Calvin); and four grandchildren, Kalli Calvin, Elizabeth Calvin, Joseph Calvin IV, and Virginia Calvin. He is also survived by Juliet Calvin’s sons, Finis St. John IV (Gaynor Lee St. John) and William Given St. John (Elizabeth Gentry St. John); her grandsons, Finis St. John (Virginia Givhan St. John) and John Jefferson St. John; and great-granddaughter, Mary Juliet St. John. He was preceded in death by Juliet’s granddaughter, Emily Parker St. John.