FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
KLMNO
OBITUARIES
BERTRAM FREEDMAN, 92
Federal lawyer was a survivor of the Bataan Death March
Bertram Freedman, 92, a feder-
al lawyer and administrative law judge who was also a survivor of the Bataan Death March during World War II, died May 8 at Car- roll Hospital Center in Westmin- ster, Md. He had dementia. Mr. Freedman came to Wash-
ington in 1947 and was a staff lawyer for many years with the Interior Department. He worked extensively on water and mineral rights, native lands in Alaska and other matters concerning Indian tribes. From 1977 until his retirement in 1982, he was an administrative law judge with the Commerce De- partment, adjudicating claims in- volving questionable business practices. Bertram Freedman was born in
Mount Vernon, N.Y., and graduat- ed from City College of New York in 1935 and from Brooklyn Law School in 1938, before he had turned 21. He had a law practice in New York City before joining the Army Signal Corps in 1941. He was captured by Japanese forces on the Philippine island of Corregidor in 1942 and was held prisoner for three years. He sur- vived the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in 1942, in which thousands of his fellow prisoners died during a forced march with- out food or water. Mr. Freedman was repeatedly
beaten and bayoneted during his captivity and also survived being transported on cramped prisoner ships. He was released after the
Geraldine H. ‘Gerry’ Love
war ended in September 1945. Among the first things he did
was travel to Manila, where he at- tended the city’s first postwar Yom Kippur service and retrieved a prayer shawl he feared had been lost. Mr. Freedman was quoted in historical accounts of the Bataan Death March, but his family said he seldom spoke of his wartime experiences to family or friends. He lived in the District for
many years before moving to Sar- asota, Fla., in 1982. He had lived in Potomac since 2009. Mr. Freedman was a member of Ohev Sholom-the National Synagogue in Washington and, since 2009, B’nai Israel Congre- gation in Rockville. He was a member of the Amer- ican Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor , a veterans organiza- tion, and contributed to various arts organizations and Jewish charities. His marriage to Norma Blu- menson ended in divorce. His second wife, Bessie Feinsil-
ber Freedman, died in 2008 after 32 years of marriage. Survivors include three daugh- ters from his first marriage, Deb- ra Cowen of Potomac, Marcy Ja- cobs of North Potomac and Vicky Baker of Alexandria; two step- children, Sharon Malcolm of Co- lumbia and David Feinsilber of Silver Spring; a brother; 11 grand- children; and five great-grand- children.
— Matt Schudel
Col. Marfing had lived in the
LIBRARIAN
Geraldine “Gerry” H. Love, 90,
a University of Maryland librari- an from 1960 until her retirement in 1982, died May 20 at her home in Berwyn Heights. She had lung cancer. In addition to her work at U.-
Md., Mrs. Love helped start the Berwyn Heights Town Library and a new Berwyn Heights El- ementary School library. Geraldine Hoffman was a
Cleveland native and a 1941 Eng- lish graduate of Ohio University in Athens. She received a bach- elor’s degree in library science in 1943 and a master’s degreee in English in 1948, both from what is now Case Western Reserve Uni- versity in Cleveland.
She was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Bladens- burg. Her husband of 36 years, Rob-
ert R. Love, died in 1982. Survivors include three sons,
Johnathan R. Love of Laurel, Wil- liam R. Love of Columbia and Thomas J. Love of Berwyn Heights; and three grandchil- dren.
—Alison Lake
Thomas E. Marfing
ARMY COLONEL
Thomas E. Marfing, 90, a re- tired Army colonel who special- ized in planning the research and development of chemical, biological and nuclear weap- ons, died May 1 of pneumo- nia and con- gestive heart failure at In- ova Mount Vernon Hospi- tal. He was a
T. Marfing
resident of the Mount Vernon sec- tion of Fairfax County. A decorated World War II vet-
eran, Col. Marfing served in the military for 28 years before retir- ing in the late 1960s. He then worked for the defense contractor Potomac Research Inc. for several years. Thomas Edward Marfing was born and raised in Appleton, Wis. He was a 1941 chemistry graduate of the University of Wisconsin and joined the Army at the begin- ning of World War II. During the war, Col. Marfing was the senior American liaison officer with a Chinese regiment. He was with one of the first units to travel to China over the re- opened Burma Road and also flew over the Himalayas to partic- ipate in military actions in west- ern China. After returning to the United
States, he briefly pursued gradu- ate study in chemistry but soon returned to the Army. He later re- ceived a master’s degree in busi- ness administration from Har- vard University and served at posts across the country and abroad, including as deputy com- mander of the Army’s general de- pot in Verdun, France. His military decorations in- cluded the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star Medal.
Washington area since the early 1960s and was a member of Al- dersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria. His wife of 64 years, Mildred
Parsons Marfing, died in 2008. Survivors include two children, Sally Marfing of Mount Vernon and Thomas E. Marfing Jr. of Winchester, Va.; and three grand- children.
—Emma Brown
Wilma Wood Pechacek
VOLUNTEER
Wilma Wood Pechacek, 94, a
longtime area volunteer, died May 10 of a heart ailment at her home in Washington. Mrs. Pechacek was a lifetime member of the Women’s Commit- tee for the National Symphony Orchestra, which raises funds and educational awareness for NSO programs. She also helped with clothing drives for the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary of Wash- ington.
Wilma Elizabeth Witherow was born in Girard, Pa., and at- tended what is now Strayer Uni- versity in Washington. Mrs. Pechacek was a member of
the Cleveland Park Congregation- al United Church of Christ for nearly 90 years. In the 1970s, she wrote a cookbook to raise money for the church. Her husband of 39 years, New-
ton O. Wood, died in 1973. Her second husband, of 30 years, Clar- ence G. Pechacek, died in 2005. A daughter from her first mar-
riage, Anne Tiedemann, died in 1991. Survivors include two children from her first marriage, Le W. Rowell of Bethesda and Newton O. Wood III of Oakton; nine grandchildren; and 11 great- grandchildren.
—Timothy R. Smith
B.M. ‘Boots’ Shaver
CHURCH MEMBER
B.M. “Boots” Shaver, 82, a for- mer Vienna resident and member of Providence Baptist Church in McLean, died May 11 at Blue Ridge Hospice in Winchester, Va., of renal failure. Mrs. Shaver was a member of
several area Baptist churches during her lifetime and was ac- tive in the church’s Woman’sMis- sionary Union. She also taught adult Bible study classes. Beulah Mae Ellis was born in Gastonia, N.C., and raised in Washington. She did clerical work at the Navy Department during World War II and, many years later, worked briefly as a clerk-typist at what is now the Na- val Criminal Investigative Serv- ice.
She moved from Vienna to her daughter’s home in Stephens City, Va., about two years ago. Her husband, Winifred D.
“Curly” Shaver, whom she mar- ried in 1947, died in 1984. Survivors include three chil- dren, Eric Shaver of Williams- burg, Va., Wendy Maines of Ste- phens City and James Shaver of Amissville, Va.; five grandchil- dren; and four great-grandchil- dren.
—Adam Bernstein
RUE MCCLANAHAN, 76
Bawdy Southern belle of TV’s ‘Golden Girls’
by Emma Brown
Rue McClanahan, 76, an Emmy
Award-winning actress best known for her role as widowed Southern vixen Blanche Deve- reaux on the popular sitcom “The Golden Girls,” died June 3 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She had a brain hemorrhage. “The Golden Girls,” about four
feisty, aging women who share a home in Miami, aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992. An instant hit, the series won two Emmy awards for best comedy and destroyed the myth that viewers weren’t in- terested in a show about women of a certain age. “ ‘Golden Girls’ is contrary — enticingly snide and brittle,” wrote The Washington Post’s Tom Shales, who deemed the show the best new comedy series of the year in 1985. Ms. McClanahan was already an accomplished stage and televi- sion actress when she landed the role of glamorous Blanche, the vain, man-hungry Golden Girl who purred in a drawl that was, according to Ms. McClanahan, “a cross between British and South- ern and cornball.” Her unabashed libido provided endless fodder for gags. “What was your first impres- sion of me?” Ms. McClanahan’s Blanche asks ditzy Rose Nylund, played by Betty White.
“I thought you wore too much
makeup and were a slut,” Rose re- plies. “I was wrong. You don’t wear too much makeup.” Rounding out the cast were Bea
Arthur as sarcastic schoolteacher Dorothy Zbornak and Estelle Get- ty as Sophia Petrillo, an abrasive octogenarian who had suffered a minor stroke that left her without social tact.
All four women won Emmys for outstanding lead actress during the show’s run. White, who is en- joying a late-career renaissance, is now the only surviving Golden Girl; Arthur died in 2009and Get- ty in 2008. “The Golden Girls” ended when
Arthur decided to leave the show, although it endures in syndica- tion. The remaining trio of ac- tresses attempted a short-lived spinoff, “The Golden Palace,” in which their characters ran a South Beach hotel. It was can- celed after one season. Ms. McClanahan continued to appear on stage, including in “The Vagina Monologues” and as Madam Morrible in the long-run- ning Broadway musical “Wicked.” She made cameo appearances in television series including “Law and Order” and in films such as “Starship Troopers” (1987) and “The Fighting Temptations” (2003).
She was an honorary director of
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and spoke to cancer- support groups, having survived a bout with breast cancer in the late 1990s. She designed a clothing line, “A Touch of Rue.” And she never stopped acting. In 2008, she played the matriarch of a colorful Texas family in the cable televi- sion series “Sordid Lives.” “I have several steamy sex scenes — they’re wild and rau- cous,” she said in an interview with Chicago’s Windy City Times. “I suppose Blanche would prob- ably approve.” Eddi-Rue McClanahan was
born Feb. 21, 1934, in Healdton, Okla. Her name was a contraction of her father’s, William Edwin, and her mother’s, Dreda Rheua- Nell. She started dancing at an early age and was so proficient that, by the time she was a senior in high school, she owned a local
1985 PHOTO BY NBC VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bea Arthur, left, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty starred in “The Golden Girls.” McClanahan played widow Blanche Devereaux on the sitcom.
R
B7
1977 PHOTO BY CBS VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
McClanahan and Arthur had worked together before, in the groundbreaking “Maude.” Arthur had the title role, Adrienne Barbeau played her daughter and McClanahan was her dimwitted best friend.
dance academy. She graduated with degrees in
German and theater arts from the University of Tulsa. Bent on a ca- reer in acting, she dropped the “Eddi” from her name and found her first stage role in a 1957 re- gional theater production of the courtroom drama “Inherit the Wind.” She spent several years acting and waitressing in Califor- nia before moving to New York, where she landed a breakout role as Hazel in an 1964 off-Broadway production of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” In 1970, she won an Obie — the
off-Broadway version of the Tony —for her performance as a tempt- ress in the drama “Who’s Happy Now?” Not long afterward, televi- sion producer Norman Lear plucked her from the stage and cast her in the CBS sitcom
“Maude,” an “All in the Family” spinoff starring Arthur as an out- spoken feminist. Ms. McClanahan played Maude’s dimwitted best friend, Vivian Cavender Harmon, in the hit series, which ran from 1972 to 1978.
She found work on other televi- sion series, including “Mama’s Family,” with White, before she was invited to audition for “The Golden Girls.” Much to Ms. McClanahan’s dismay, she was asked to read for the role of in- nocent Rose. “From the moment I opened the packet to the script, I said: ‘I know just how to play Blanche,’ ” Ms. McClanahan later recalled. But White, who had previously played the libidinous Sue Ann Ni- vens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” had already been tapped for the role. Not long into the au-
OF NOTE
Sandy Herold
CHIMP OWNER
Sandy Herold, 72, a Connecti-
cut woman whose chimpanzee mauled and blinded her friend last year, leading to lawsuits and a national debate over the regula- tion of exotic pets, died May 24 of a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Ms. Herold’s 200-pound chim- panzee, Travis, went berserk in February 2009 after Ms. Herold asked her friend, Charla Nash, to help lure it back into her house in Stamford. The animal ripped off Nash’s hands, nose, lips and eye- lids before being shot and killed by police. Travis had appeared in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger, and at home he was treated like a member of the family. The chim- panzee’s rampage forced Ms. Herold to stab her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pound him with a shovel. “For me to do something like
that, put a knife in him, was like putting one in myself,” Ms.
Herold said afterward. The chimp turned around, she said, as if to say, “Mom, what did you do?” Nash recently underwent a preliminary evaluation to deter- mine whether she is a candidate for a face and hand transplant. The mauling led Congress and
state officials to consider strengthening laws against keep- ing exotic animals. A prosecutor said in December that Ms. Herold would not face criminal charges because there was no evidence she knowingly disregarded any risk the animal posed. Nash’s family sued Ms. Herold
for $50 million and is consider- ing further lawsuits against the state, saying that officials failed to prevent the attack.
Mary Page Stegner
AUTHOR’S WIFE
Mary Page Stegner, 99, the wid-
ow of Pulitzer Prize-winning writ- er Wallace Stegner, died May 15 at a retirement home in Portola Val- ley, Calif. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Mrs. Stegner was born in Du- buque, Iowa, and met her hus- band-to-be while both were stu- dents at the University of Iowa. During their 59 years of mar-
riage, Wallace Stegner reportedly took his wife breakfast in bed ev- ery morning. In return, she shielded him from distractions as he wrote dozens of books, includ- ing fiction, essays and historical accounts of the American West. Wallace Stegner, who won a
1972 Pulitzer Prize for his novel “Angle of Repose,” died after a car
accident in 1993. In James R. Hepworth’s 1998 book “Stealing Glances: Three In- terviews With Wallace Stegner,” the novelist said that his wife had been instrumental to his success: “She has had no role in my life ex- cept to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused and protected from un- wanted telephone calls; also to re- strain me fairly frequently from making a horse’s ass of myself in public.”
— From news services and staff reports
dition, the show’s director
changed his mind, deciding that Ms. McClanahan would be a bet- ter fit for the saucy widow.Like the character who made her fa- mous, Ms. McClanahan was not inexperienced with men. Her 2007 autobiography was titled “My First Five Husbands . . . And the Ones Who Got Away.” She married for the sixth time
in 1997, when she wed Morrow Wilson. He survives, along with a son from her first marriage. When an interviewer for USA
Today asked whether she was bothered by fans who thought she and Blanche were one and the same, Ms. McClanahan balked. “I’m not much like Blanche,” she said. “She just slept around. I never did that. I always had one man and had them one at a time.”
browne@washpost.com
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