Category: 1957

Daniel Mark Crates, of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, passed peacefully into eternal life with his Heavenly Father on Monday afternoon, July 13, 2026, at the age of 91.

A Chattanooga native, Daniel was born on July 10, 1935. He attended Bright School and McCallie School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College. Following graduation, he proudly served in the Tennessee Air National Guard from 1957 to 1963.

After completing his military service, Daniel joined his family’s business, Simco Leather Company, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of equestrian equipment founded by his father, Robert H. Crates. He later worked alongside his brother, Rear Admiral Robert C. Crates. Following Simco Leather’s merger with Shakespeare Industries in 1970, Daniel served as President of the Simco Division, a company executive, and a member of Shakespeare’s Board of Directors until 1980.

In 1981, Daniel and his family founded Crates Leather Company, carrying forward a family tradition of manufacturing and distributing quality equestrian equipment to customers around the world.

Throughout his life, Daniel generously shared his time and talents in service to his community. He served as Chairman of the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association, as a board member of the Tennessee Manufacturers Association, and as a member of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga and the Young Presidents Organization. He also served as a commissioner for both Lookout Mountain and Walden, Tennessee, and later served as Mayor of Walden.

Daniel and his beloved wife, Elise, were faithful members of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church for many years and were active members of the Brock Sunday School Class.

Although these paragraphs recount many of Daniel’s significant achievements, they represent only a fraction of a lifetime marked by extraordinary accomplishments, dedicated service, and enduring contributions to his profession, his community, and those whose lives he touched.

Above all, Daniel cherished his family. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 61 years, Elise Anderson Crates; his father, Robert H. Crates; his mother, Thelma G. Crates; his brother, Rear Admiral Robert C. Crates; his son-in-law, Charles T. Matthews; and his cousin, Dr. John B. Cameron.

He is survived by his loving daughter, Cameron Crates Matthews; his grandchildren, Tyler M. Smith and Eric Matthews; and his treasured great-grandchildren, Rowan Smith and Isla Matthews, all of Signal Mountain.

A private family burial will be held at Forest Hills Cemetery, with Frank Hitchings officiating.

Arthur Dye of Portland, Oregon, died peacefully in the company of cherished family members on June 29, 2026. He was born September 26, 1935, in Charlotte, North Carolina, the eldest child of Mildred Taylor Dye and Dr. Arthur McKee Dye. 

As a teenager, Arthur attended boarding school at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, then continued his education at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1957, he enrolled at the Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education, an experimental master’s degree program in rural Vermont. The program’s founder, progressive educator and pacifist Morris Mitchell, became one of Arthur’s earliest mentors, inspiring him to dedicate himself to a lifetime of community service and social activism. 

Arthur’s wide-ranging career included a decade of fundraising and community organizing for the American Friends Service Committee, a prominent Quaker service organization. As a staff member at the AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia, he was assigned to the organization’s Peace Education Program, which provided crucial support and counseling for conscientious objectors at a time when young Americans were being drafted to fight in Vietnam. Other assignments in those early years at AFSC included support for the Civil Rights Movement in the South, and humanitarian aid programs for civilians in active war zones. 

Some of the proudest moments of his career date back to his time as executive secretary of AFSC’s Pacific Northwest regional office, where he developed deep and lasting friendships with members of Native American tribal groups, African American trade unions, and the United Farmworkers of America as they fought for racial justice and human rights in Oregon and Washington.

From the mid-1970s, his career also embraced higher education and scientific research, including administrative roles at Wilmington College, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, and his father’s alma mater, the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. He ended his career at Ecotrust, a Portland-based environmental nonprofit that partners with local communities to implement economically sustainable conservation strategies up and down the West Coast. 

At the retirement community where he lived with Jill Spencer, his wife and partner of more than four decades, Arthur was known as a gentle and caring neighbor who participated in diverse community activities and volunteerism. In recent years, when his longtime hobbies of home remodeling, gardening, and furniture making were no longer viable, he became an avid nature photographer and an amateur cultivator of bonsai trees. And nothing gave him greater joy in life than seeing his two grandsons grow into young adults.

With his first wife, Becky Dye, Arthur had three sons, all of whom were able to spend time with him during his final days. In many respects, Arthur’s character was shaped by his formative years in the South, and although he lived away from his home state of North Carolina for most of his adult life, he never lost his Southern affinity for story-telling and tall tales. Up until the very end, he held on to his abiding kindness and sense of humor – bantering with hospital staff, delighting in oft-repeated jokes, sharing memories of good times past, and expressing gratitude for the full life he had lived. Arthur is survived by his wife, Jill Spencer, his first wife, Rebecca Dye, his sons, Lewis Dye (Joan Husman), Allen Dye (Belle Gironda), and Morris Dye (Lyn Hikida), and his grandsons, Taylor Dye and Jackson Dye.

The family has requested that any memorial tributes be made in the form of charitable contributions to:

 ● Right 2 Dream Too in Portland, Oregon

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-keep-us-open

● Fox Creek Park, c/o the Swannanoa Community Council in Swannanoa, North Carolina 

https://grovemontpark.square.site/s/order?si=true&item=QB65KDEE5MTIN3LTEBYG6LV 7#most-popular

Mr. Robert R. Isenhour, Jr. (Bob) passed peacefully on 25 June 2026 at Rappahannock-Westminster Canterbury in Irvington, Virginia. Bob was born in Burlington, NC on February 5, 1935.

He spent his childhood in Burlington and graduated from Walter M. Williams High School there. After graduation, he attended Davidson College where he graduated with a BA degree majoring in Business Administration.

After college he joined the US Navy where he served as an Intelligence Officer in the Washington, DC area for his four-year tour-of-duty before attending graduate school at Stanford University where he obtained an MBA degree with a concentration in finance.

Bob began his professional career at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston Salem, NC as a credit manager. He worked at Reynolds for over 20 years and served as a Department Manager until his retirement at age 52.

While living in Winston Salem, Bob met and married Mary Wolff Maddrey (“Wolffe”) and they began what would be a 50 year-plus lifetime together. For many of those years they enjoyed working together as Bob joined Wolffe’s design business, “Interiors by Isenhour”, in Winston Salem after his retirement from Reynolds.

In their later years, Bob and “Wolffe” retired to Emerald Isle, NC to the “Dream Home” they built on the Intracoastal Waterway. They enjoyed living in the Emerald Isle community for almost 30 years. Bob always loved dogs and raised two German Shepards and two Golden Retrievers and actively participated in the local community. Bob was proud of his community service as an Emerald Isle Commissioner, including his lead role in the planning and construction of the new Emerald Isle Community Library.

In 2023, Bob moved from his home in Emerald Isle to the Rappahannock-Westminster Canterbury Retirement Center in Irvington. During his time at RW-C, he enjoyed his final three years living in close proximity to his sister Katherine Isenhour Lantz and sharing family life with her as well as making occasional trips to Bob’s mountain retreat home in Fancy Gap, Virginia.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Robert R. Isenhour and Willie McKnight Isenhour as well as his beloved wife, Mary W. Isenhour. He is survived by his Sister, Katherine Isenhour Lantz, of Irvington, Virginia.

There is no Irvington area memorial event currently planned. However, there will be a graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery in Concord, NC at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a tax-deductible donation (by check) to one of the following charitable organizations, or to an animal welfare organization of your choice:

• Animal Welfare League of Northern Neck. Inc.

P. O Box 975; White Stone, VA 22578.

(AWL Tax ID is 54-1106959)

• Northern Neck Partners for Pets

P.O. Box 361, Irvington, VA 22480.

(Partners for Pets Tax ID is 46-4025767)

William (Bill) Elias Jackson Jr. passed away at home, in Davidson, on June 8, 2026, at the age of 90.

He was born at home on the family farm, in the North Carolina Sandhills, to William Elias Jackson and Laura Helen Sullivan Jackson, of West End, on Sept. 21, 1935. As a boy, he plowed tobacco with a mule, picked peaches and played baseball, beginning his lifelong love of the New York Yankees.

He graduated from Davidson College ’57 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, received a Master of Arts in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Master of Philosophy in political science from Columbia University.

He served in the Executive Office of the President under President John F. Kennedy in 1963, during which time he attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. After President Kennedy was assassinated, he returned to North Carolina to teach at Charlotte College (now UNC Charlotte). In 1964, he met and married Judith Ann Fletcher, and the following year, the couple moved to New York, where he continued his graduate studies at Columbia University’s Russian Institute. In 1968, they relocated to Davidson, where he taught courses in government and politics at Davidson College.

He continued his career in national government as the chief legislative assistant for national security to Senate Democratic Majority Whip Alan Cranston. Subsequently, he was the executive director of President Jimmy Carter’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, then the special assistant to the chief SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II) negotiator, Paul Warnke, and finally served in the office of Congressional Relations under Secretary of State Ed Muskie. He was a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution and senior fellow at the Fulbright Institute of International Relations at the University of Arkansas.

A highlight of his life was his “brush with greatness” when a student, Zindzi, told him she was sharing notes from his lectures at the University of Cape Town, with her father Nelson Mandela, in prison on Robben Island, and then meeting Madiba in person in 1990.

He was passionate about the United States of America, and cared deeply about government and domestic and foreign policy. For over 60 years, he published academic articles, journalistic pieces and letters to the editor at the national and local level on topics including nuclear proliferation and disarmament, U.S.-Soviet relations, U.S. foreign policy, human rights and voter rights, holding politicians accountable for their actions. In 2007, he was awarded the Davidson College Distinguished Alumni Award for distinguished service to his profession and community.

He attended Davidson College Presbyterian Church as a student and again in his final decades.

In addition to his passion for government and foreign policy, he loved poetry. He wrote for family and friends and occasionally published his poems locally. His byline in the News of Davidson was “Through three careers — college professor, government official in Washington and journalism — Bill Jackson has enjoyed poetry more than prose.” He drew inspiration from the ocean and his favorite place Sunset Beach, where he treasured time with family and friends. He loved writing poetry about and with his granddaughter and kindred spirit, Beatrice. He frequently brought her to the Soda Shop in Davidson, where he was a regular, visiting with old friends and making new ones.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Judith Jackson; son, James Andrew Jackson; daughter, Elizabeth Jackson (husband, Seth Chadbourne); and granddaughter, Beatrice Chadbourne, of Davidson; sister, Jane Ellen Jackson and honorary sister, Juliana Dyson, of Stallings; sister-in-law, Patricia Jackson, of Carthage; sister-in-law, Diane Fletcher Mahoney, of Waynesboro, Va.; and five nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, J. Elvin Jackson.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 18, at 3 p.m., at Davidson College Presbyterian Church (streamed on YouTube), and on Saturday, Aug. 1, at 2 p.m., at West End Presbyterian Church, with receptions following.

Herb Kincey was an outdoorsman, teacher, and a pillar of the Santa Fe community. Over his more than 50 years in the city, he helped hundreds find their way by helping to found the St. Johns College Search and Rescue Team and opening his home to anyone who needed a place to live. Throughout his life, he was kind, thoughtful, and caring.

Herb, son of Sara Bayne Kincey, and Herbert Furniss (Mike) Kincey, and younger brother of Sara Kincey Jones (all now deceased), was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1934 and grew up in the Eastover neighborhood, where he was known as Sonny. His early schooling included Eastover Elementary and Alexander Graham Bell Junior High. He then attended Woodberry Forest School outside Orange, Virginia, for four years, during which he played football, wrestled, and served as a prefect his senior year (1952-53).

After a stint at Davidson College, Herb attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, graduating in 1959 with a degree in English Literature. He pledged the N.C. Theta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity (SAE) at Davidson in 1953 and continued his fraternity involvement with the N.C XI Chapter of SAE at UNC, including serving as chapter president in 1959. Some additional time during those years was spent at Mars Hill University and Indiana University.

Herb’s outdoor career began in 1961 while working for 3 years at Camps Sequoyah & Tsali (no longer in existence) in the western North Carolina mountains, holding several staff positions there, eventually including assistant director. From Camp Sequoyah, Herb moved on in 1964 to spend 6 years as a staff member at newly opened Outward Bound schools in the Colorado Rockies and in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. During this time, he also briefly served on the staff of two Outward Bound schools in Great Britain: The Eskdale Mountain School in northern England and the Aber Dovey School on the coast of Wales. This trip also included a month long stay at the British Army Outward Bound School outside Kristiansand, Norway.

In 1971, 2 years after relocating from North Carolina to Santa Fe, Herb opened a home-based outdoor shop, Peak & Plain Outfitters, specializing in backpacking, climbing, survival, and technical rescue gear. Also in 1971, Herb attended the first EMT course taught in New Mexico and then went on to teach EMT, First Responder, and CPR courses until 1994. During this period, both the Los Alamos National Lab and the U.S. Customs Aviation Unit, Western Branch, hired Herb to teach wilderness survival courses.

For 37 years, Herb was a member of the St. Johns College Search and Rescue Team, Santa Fe, which he helped found in 1971. In the early days, he served as a training officer for the team. In addition, Herb was also an active member of the New Mexico Civil Air Patrol for forty years. He held many staff positions during that time and participated in numerous CAP air search and rescue missions across the state, going back to the days when there were few emergency locator transmitters installed in private aircraft, making searches more difficult and lengthier. Other organizations with which Herb was affiliated over the years included: the Boy Scouts of America, Los Alamos Mountaineers, American Alpine Club, Sierra Club, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Appalachian Mountain Club, AMC Hetmans’ Association, Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Fe Council on International Relations, the Wilderness Medical Society, Outward Bound, and Camps Sequoyah & Tsali.

In the nineteen seventies, eighties, and nineties, Herb made several climbing trips with St. Johns College students and other friends to the 3 big Mexican volcanoes: Popocatepetl (now closed to climbers) Iztaccihuatl, and El Pico de Orizaba, Orizaba being the highest at about 18,800 ft. In more recent years, he engaged in less physically demanding activities, visiting countries in various parts of the world, mostly with his good friend and traveling pal, Carmel Davis.

Since about 2005 Herb’s outdoor activities and foreign travel were limited due to ongoing medical problems. However, in addition to looking after Skeeter, a beautiful female Lab mix he owned jointly with close friend, Colin Willis, Herb also spent time reading a wide variety of books, writing memoirs, and staying in touch with old and new friends, mostly thanks to Facebook. Herb was a strong believer in a brief passage from the poem, Ulysses, written by Alfred Lord Tennyson: “I am a part of all that I have met”.

Although the members of Herb’s immediate family have all passed on, he had two nieces: Lane Morgan (husband Billy,) in Texas with 3 adult children; and Lyra Gapper (partner Raul), in South Carolina with 2 adult children; as well as several cousins and other relatives, mostly living in and around Selma, Alabama.

At Herb’s request, there will be no formal funeral service. There will be a memorial service at Rivera Funeral Home 417 Rodeo Rd. in Santa Fe, N.M. on April 9, 2026, at 2pm. He asks that some of his ashes be scattered in the mountains east of Santa Fe by friends, and the remainder be placed in the Kincey burial plot located in Charlotte. Herb also recommends readers go climb a mountain, take in the full moon as it rises over Atalaya Peak, explore a cave, run a river, adopt a pet, dance the night away, or head off somewhere exotic on a sailing adventure. Herb once said, “It’s a big old world out there just waiting to be explored. Do it while you are young and strong.”

Donations may be made in Herb’s memory to St. John’s College Advancement, PO Box 715905, Philadelphia, PA 19171-5905; to Woodberry Forest School, 898 Woodberry Forest Road, Woodberry Forest, VA 20000; to Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation, P.O. Box 4543, Carol Stream, Il 60197-