Obituaries - March 3, 1999
Katharine Lowe Benson; Former Claremont McKenna Registrar
Katharine Lowe Benson, 84, former registrar of Claremont McKenna College. Born in China, the former Katharine Corbett came to Southern California in the 1930s to attend Scripps College in Claremont. After working many years as an industry statistician, she was hired as registrar of Claremont Men’s College in 1957. Twenty years later, she became the first woman named an honorary alumna. Three years after her 1981 retirement, she married George Benson, founding president of what is now Claremont McKenna College, who survives her. In honor of her many decades of service, including establishing the college’s chapter of the scholastic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1990. Within the community, Benson served on the boards of many organizations, including St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, the Assistance League of the Pomona Valley, Casa Colina Auxiliary, Friends of Pilgrim Place, Curtain Raisers of the Claremont Colleges, the Pomona Valley Audubon Society and the Inland Hospice Assn. On Monday in Claremont.
John Carmody; Washington Post Television Columnist
John Carmody, 74, who became known as “Captain Airwaves” in the television column he created and wrote for 20 years for the Washington Post. The column, begun in 1977, covered every aspect of television from programming to ratings to hirings and was widely read by both television viewers and industry insiders. Fans included NBC “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert, who said he and other colleagues learned to do the “full Carmody.” He described that as being able to “reach down to the doorstep and pick up the Washington Post and with one motion flip it open to . . . the Style section to read ‘The TV Column.’ ” Born in Berlin, Carmody was adopted by an American lawyer and grew up in Seattle. He served in the Army in Okinawa during World War II and later in South Korea. He graduated from the University of Washington, worked in Germany with the U.S. Displaced Persons Commission and was employed by Boeing in Seattle before turning to journalism. He was hired by the Rocky Mountain News in Denver in the late 1950s and went to the Post in 1962. Considered a national authority on television, Carmody once described cable’s C-SPAN (which broadcasts gavel-to-gavel coverage of Congress) for The Times as “really television for the record. This is the real straight dope . . . without any fig leaf at all.” On Monday in Bethesda, Md., of cancer.
Betty Roche; Blues Singer Performed With Duke Ellington
Betty Roche, 81, a blues singer who performed with Duke Ellington. A native of Wilmington, Del., Mary Elizabeth Roche burst into her singing career by winning an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She sang with the Savoy Sultans in 1941 and in 1943 joined Ellington, singing part of his suite “Black, Brown and Beige” in his first Carnegie Hall concert. She was also known for singing Ellington’s signature “Take the ‘A’ Train” in the 1943 film “Reveille With Beverly.” Roche recorded the song nine years later for Bethlehem Records, a version that was digitally remastered and re-released in a 1990s CD series. Ellington once wrote that Roche “had a soul inflection in a bop state of intrigue, and every word was understandable despite the sophisticated hip and jive connotations.” On Feb. 16 in a Pleasantville, N.J., nursing home.
Harriet Waddy; Among First Black Women Officers in WWII
Harriet Waddy, 94, one of the first black female commissioned officers in World War II. Waddy joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps early in the war and went through basic training in Iowa. In 1942, she returned to Washington, D.C., as an aide to the corps director, shortly after the group was renamed the Women’s Army Corps and made a part of the regular Army. She graduated from Adjutant General’s School and was put in charge of 50 civilian typists in the Casualty Branch. Their job was to write letters notifying families that soldiers had been killed, wounded or were missing in action. In a 1942 newspaper interview, Waddy noted that her uniform entitled her to go anywhere in Washington and that succeeding as a WAC could drive a wedge into prejudicial beliefs. She served on active duty in the Army until 1952 and in the reserves until 1969. She worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for 25 years. On Feb. 21 in Eugene, Ore.
Charles Allan Gerhardt; Conductor, Arranger, Record Producer
Charles Allan Gerhardt, 72, conductor, record producer and arranger for classical music and film scores. Born in Detroit, Gerhardt began playing piano at 5 and was composing and orchestrating by 9. After serving as a Navy chaplain’s assistant during World War II, he studied music and science at the University of Illinois, the College of William and Mary, USC and the Juilliard School of Music. He began a long association with RCA Victor as a recording engineer, handling such artists as Vladimir Horowitz, Leopold Stokowski and Arturo Toscanini, who encouraged him to become a conductor. In 1960 Gerhardt was asked by RCA and Reader’s Digest to produce a highly successful 12-LP album package titled “A Festival of Light Classical Music” for sale by mail. He went on to produce dozens of similar albums of mood music. Beginning with “The Sea Hawk” in 1972, he conducted the National Philharmonic and other orchestras playing music by noted composers of film scores. Among them were Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin and John Williams. Gerhardt, who spent much of his life working in London, also composed scores for European films. On Feb. 22 in Redding, Calif., of complications of brain cancer.