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KLMNO OBITUARIES
A LOCAL LIFE: BARBARA HOLLAND, 77 Memoir fondly recalls ‘party town’ Washington in ’40s Her books “The Joy of Drink- by Megan Buerger
Author Barbara Holland was a self-professed guardian of indul- gences including cigars, bacon, naps and gin. During her 77 years, she had
written more than 15 books of eclectic, often quirky range: a historical look at the apprecia- tion of cats, a biography of ac- tress Katharine Hepburn, two wry books about the presidency and a lighthearted book on joust- ing.
Before she died of lung cancer Sept. 7 in Bluemont, Va., she wrote a memoir of growing up in Washington in the 1940s back when it was “a serious party town.”
“I distinctly remember Alben
Barkley falling into my aunt’s swimming pool,” she once said of the former vice president. Alcohol was involved, as it al- most always was in those days. And booze, which she considered “the social glue of the human race,” had a profound thematic impact on her writing.
ing” (2007) and “Endangered Pleasures” (1995) embraced vices increasingly frowned upon in a modern era that favored organic vegetables, daily workouts at the gym and moderate alcohol con- sumption. “Subtly,” she wrote in “Endan-
gered Pleasures,” “in little ways, joy has been leaking out of our lives. Almost without a struggle, we have let the New Puritans take over, spreading a layer of foreboding across the land until even ignorant small children rarely laugh anymore. “Pain,” she continued, “has be- come nobler than pleasure; work, however foolish or futile, nobler than play; and denying ourselves even the most harm- less delights marks the suitably somber outlook on life.” Born Barbara Murray in De- pression-era Washington, her parents divorced when she was a child. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, a Labor Department lawyer whose last name she took as her own. Ms. Holland’s relationship
with her stepfather grew tumul- tuous over the years. “My friends and I were all deathly afraid of our fathers,” she wrote in her 2005 memoir, “When All the World Was Young.” “Fathers were angry; it was their job.” Growing up in Chevy Chase, she found solace in books and writing poetry. After falling ill with whooping cough in first grade, Ms. Holland temporarily relocated with her mother to Florida in hopes that more sun might improve her condition. There, she learned how to read. By the time she regained her health, her reading level was so high that she was promoted repeatedly in school until she was noticeably out of place. Lonely and socially behind, she resented her education and con- centrated on writing. She spent three years at Beth-
esda-Chevy Chase High School but refused to participate in gym class, a graduation requirement. Rather than face an extra year, she talked her way into Woodrow Wilson High School in the Dis- trict for her senior year.
Although Ms. Holland did not
attend her high school gradua- tion in 1950, she was recognized for her poetry and is pictured in the yearbook with the subtitle, “Wilson’s Amy Lowell,” a refer- ence to the Pulitzer Prize-win- ning poet.
Although Ms. Holland shared
a love of writing with her mother, an author of children’s books, the two experienced a falling out over Ms. Holland’s refusal to at- tend her mother’s alma mater, Swarthmore College in Pennsyl- vania. Ms. Holland’s personal life
grew increasingly complicated. As she related in her memoir, she had an abortion during her sen- ior year of high school and then ran away from home with her then-boyfriend, George E. Earn- shaw, whom she later married and divorced. They also had an- other child, a daughter, whom they gave up for adoption. For a time, Ms. Holland lost
contact with her family and found herself in dire financial condition. She later joked that, as much as the idea appealed to her
Drew C. Arena DOJ, PHONE COMPANY
OFFICIAL Drew C. Arena, 62, a ranking
Justice Department lawyer who later became a vice president for the phone company Verizon, died Aug. 18 at a hospital in Boston, where he was being treated for lung cancer. He lived in the Dis- trict. Mr. Arena joined the Justice
Department in the 1970s as an as- sistant U.S. attorney in Denver. He came to Washington in 1980 and was a counsel to the U.S. Senate during an investigation of the 1979 nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Penn- sylvania. From 1982 to 1985, Mr. Arena
ASSOCIATED PRESS LASER PHOTO
Dodge Morgan faced loneliness during his single-handed, nonstop journey — the first by an American. DODGE MORGAN, 78
Millionaire sailed the globe alone by Emma Brown
Dodge Morgan, 78, a million- aire who braved fierce winds and endured profound loneliness to become the first American to sail single-handedly around the world without stopping, died Sept. 14 of complications from surgery for cancer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Mr. Morgan was the fourth per- son in history to complete a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. Piloting a 60-foot custom- built boat, he had set out to break the world speed record — 292 days, set in 1971 by Briton Chay Blyth — and ended up shattering it, arriving in Bermuda to cheer- ing crowds on April 11, 1986, a mere 150 days after departing. Mr. Morgan had been bitten by the idea for a round-the-world voyage decades earlier, when he spent 21
⁄2 years wending his way
from Maine to Alaska aboard a 36-foot wooden schooner. He maintained his sense of wanderlust even as he returned to dry land, where he started and operated an electronics company in his Massachusetts garage. The business — producing marine ra- dar equipment and popular Whistler radar detectors for cars — grew quickly, and Mr. Morgan sold it in 1983 for an estimated $32 million. Suddenly, he had the wherewithal to do whatever he wanted. “Various people in this world
have chosen to put themselves close to the edge, either intellec- tually, or emotionally, or physi- cally,’’ Mr. Morgan said in 1985 as he planned his voyage. “This is my way of doing it. It may be an overdone way, but sailing a boat alone is such an uncomplicated way to stay on the edge. I think it allows you to sort out what is im- portant in life. I think there are a lot of overcivilized people out there drinking coffee out of a Wedgwood cup.” He commissioned renowned
naval architect Ted Hood to de- sign American Promise, a rugged, $1.5 million vessel made virtually unsinkable with watertight com- partments and submarine-esque doors. Mr. Morgan armed his sin- gle-masted sailboat with the lat- est in high-tech gear, and he avoided the need for repairs by outfitting it with two of every-
thing: two sets of sails, two rud- ders, two satellite navigational systems and two machines to con- vert salt water into fresh water. Sailing eastward around Afri-
ca’s Cape of Good Hope, skirting south of Australia and South America, Mr. Morgan endured the boredom of becalmed seas and the heaving thrill of tropical storms. American Promise right- ed itself after being laid flat by wind at least 11 times, according to newspaper reports; once, a gale pushed the boat 175 miles with its sails furled. Even more than a remarkable
physical adventure, the voyage became a psychological test of Mr. Morgan’s ability to withstand ex- treme solitude. In five months at sea, the sailor
spoke only to a handful of ham ra- dio operators. He saw few passing ships and laid eyes on land just once, when he rounded Cape Horn on Day 108. For company, he had only schools of dolphins, the occasional albatross and about 40 books, including Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huck- leberry Finn.”
Once, as he crept across the Southern Ocean, a massive west- bound container ship slid by on the horizon — the first sign of hu- manity for weeks. “Solitude is eas- ier when I am not directly re- minded of the company of oth- ers,” Mr. Morgan wrote in his book, “Voyage of American Prom- ise” (1989). “It takes me hours to rid myself of the lonely feeling the great ship left me with.” The journey was recorded via six cameras installed around the boat, and that footage was later used to produce a PBS documen- tary about the trip, “Around Alone.” Mr. Morgan rose every morn-
ing at 5:30 to spend the day eat- ing, reading and fixing frayed lines and writing in the ship’s log. Each evening, he completed what he called “shrink tests,” designed by two Boston College psychology professors who studied Mr. Mor- gan’s response to solitude and sensory deprivation. He woke ev- ery two hours during the night to check on the boat. “I enslaved myself to this rou-
tine,” Mr. Morgan later said. “That was how I managed to cope.” Upon reaching Bermuda, Mr.
Morgan celebrated with his favor- ite meal — a cheeseburger — and
then declared he was “gonna stay ashore awhile.” His trip made headlines around the world and was not repeated by another American until 2005. Dodge David Morgan was born
on Jan. 15, 1932, in Malden, Mass. He was a toddler when his father died, and he was raised during the Depression by his mother. Mr. Morgan graduated from Boston University, served in the Air Force, wrote for the Anchor- age Daily News and headed his own advertising firm before founding the business from which he made his fortune, Con- trolonics Corp. After his round-the-world jour-
ney, Mr. Morgan settled in Maine, eventually building a home on an island near the town of Harps- well. He bought and later sold two weekly newspapers in Maine and helped start VXI Corp., a New Hampshire-based company spe- cializing in speech-recognition hardware and software. He continued sailing and was in the planning stages for a voy- age around Antarctica when he realized, he told the Boston Globe in 2001, that he “no longer had the fire in the belly” for such an adventure. Mr. Morgan’s first marriage ended in divorce. In 1972, he mar- ried Manny Hoyt, who planned and packaged 280 days’ worth of freeze-dried and vacuum-packed meals for his journey aboard American Promise. Their mar- riage also ended in divorce. Survivors include his fiancee,
Mary Beth Teas of Harpswell; and two children from his second marriage, Hoyt D. Morgan of New York and Kimberley P. Morgan of San Diego. After his circumnavigation, Mr.
Morgan donated American Prom- ise as a training sloop to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. In 1991, the boat sank after a pre- dawn collision with a coal barge in the Chesapeake Bay. None of the dozen midshipmen aboard was injured. The boat later re- turned to the sea after undergo- ing a years-long restoration. “Anybody who buys a boat buys
a dream,” Mr. Morgan once said. “Particularly a sailboat. They may never fulfill it, but they always have the option. Someday, may- be.”
browne@washpost.com
served in the Foreign Service as legal adviser to the U.S. ambassa- dor to Mexico. He later helped ne- gotiate international counternar- cotics treaties and worked on le- gal cases concerning the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia and Pana- manian dictator Manuel Noriega. Mr. Arena was director of the
Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs from 1988 to 1992. From 1995 to 1999, he was in Brussels, where he established a Justice Department office and served as Attorney General Janet Reno’s liaison to the European Union. Mr. Arena retired from the Jus- tice Department in 2000 to join Verizon, where he was vice presi- dent and associate general coun- sel. He supervised issues regard- ing cyber crime, privacy and secu- rity,
corporate governance,
infrastructure protection and emergency preparedeness. He re- tired this year. Drew Charles Arena was born
in Fair Lawn, N.J., and was a 1969 graduate of Princeton University, with a major in medieval history. He graduated from law school at the University of Colorado in 1972. His marriage to Lynne Domi- nick ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 27 years, Elise Pinkow Arena of Washington; two sons from his first marriage, Xander Arena of Phoenix and Dylan Arena of San Mateo, Calif.; a daughter from his second marriage, Sarah Arena of Washington; and three grand- sons.
—Matt Schudel
David W. Ashman CHIEF PETTY OFFICER
David W. Ashman, 88, who re- tired from the Navy in 1965 as a chief petty officer and then spent many years at Johns Hopkins Ap- plied Physics Laboratory, died Sept. 7 at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney. He had a pul- monary embolism. Mr. Ashman joined the Navy in 1942 and served in the Pacific dur- ing World War II. He became an electronics tech- nician during his military career. After his military retirement, he worked for several defense con- tractors and then conducted re- search at the Applied Physics Lab from 1973 to 1992. David Warren Ashman, a Silver Spring resident, was a native of Buffalo. His first marriage, to Ellen
Hinze, ended in divorce. His sec- ond wife, Mary Jo Young, died in March after 48 years of marriage. A son from his first marriage, Richard Ashman, died in 1990. Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Sharon Ashman-Besse of Colorado Springs; a stepdaughter, Cynthia J. “Janie” Curry of Hedgesville,
Minna K. Davidson
Minna K. Davidson MONTGOMERY BUDGET,
POLICY ANALYST
Minna K. Davidson, a staff ana- lyst for the Montgomery County Council from the mid-1980s until her retirement in August, died Sept. 5 of metastatic breast cancer at her home in Rockville. She was 57.
Ms. Davidson analyzed budg-
ets, policy and proposed legisla- tion in a number of program areas, including personnel reg- ulations, the building of Strath- more Hall and funding for arts and humanities.
Minna
Kohn David- son was born in Washing- ton and grew up in Mont- gomery Coun- ty. She gradu- ated from Bethesda- Chevy Chase High School in 1970. She
received a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in 1973 and a master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago. Ms. Davidson had been pas-
sionate about dance since attend- ing classes at what is now the Maryland Youth Ballet. In 1977, she received a master’s of fine arts degree in modern dance and choreography from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and then spent several years teaching dance at colleges in Wisconsin and Michigan. She returned to Montgomery with her husband in 1984. Ms. Da- vidson worked as the executive di- rector for the Montgomery Coun- ty Commission on the Arts and Humanities before joining the county council staff.
She was a member of Temple Emanuel in Kensington, where she served as the secretary of the board of trustees. Survivors include her husband
WILLIE J. JONES September 19, 2009
It's been one year since you left us to go to a better place.We will always remember your smile and unselfish way of life. Love, the Jones Family
RANDALL JEAN F.RANDALL
On September 18, 2010 of McLean, VA. Wife of Frederick C. Randall; mother of Barbara, Joan, Kirk and the late Thomas; grandmother of Philip and Patrick. Family will receive friends at Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home, 9902 Brad- dock Rd., on Monday or Tuesday. Please call family for details. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. Online condolences may be left
atwww.legacy.com.
SIMPSON
at the time, she could not afford to fall into alcoholism or drug ad- diction. Pulling herself out of depres- sion, she gradually found work at a department store and recon- nected with her family. Over the years, she settled in Philadelphia and did advertising copywriting while publishing her short fiction and essays in maga- zines. She had a daughter with expressionist painter James Brewton. She was also married and divorced from John B. Wood, a government mathematician, and Mark Schilling, a printing salesman.
Besides her daughter with
Brewton, Emily Brewton Schil- ling of Sarasota, Fla., survivors include two sons with Schilling, Matthew Schilling of Pottstown, Pa., and Benjamin Schilling of Orlando; two brothers, Nicholas Holland of Del Mar, Calif., and Andrew Holland of Kensington; two sisters, Judith Clarke of New Hope, Pa., and Rebecca Snyder of Pensacola, Fla.; and two grand- children. In the early 1980s, Ms. Holland
W.Va; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. —Adam Bernstein
Roselyn A. Clancy SCHOOL RECEPTIONIST
Roselyn A. Clancy, 88, a recep- tionist for 18 years at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Montgomery County, died Sept. 10 at Montgomery General Hospi- tal in Olney from complications of pneumonia. Mrs. Clancy also worked for
two years in the cafeteria at Our Lady of Good Counsel before re- tiring in 1985. Roselyn Ann Rulli was born in Connellsville, Pa., and was one of 11 children of Peter Michael and Catherine Rulli.
She and her husband moved to
the Washington area in 1951 and raised five children. Mrs. Clancy was a parishioner
at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church in Wheaton before she and her husband moved to Lei- sure World in Silver Spring in about 1994. Then she became a member of Our Lady of Grace in Silver Spring. Her husband of 58 years,
Charles E. Clancy, died in 2004. Their daughter, Maureen Clancy George, died in 2003. Survivors include four sons, Dennis Clancy of Jackson, Wyo., Michael Clancy of Olney, Kevin Clancy of Eldersburg, Md., and Patrick Clancy of Rockville; six grandchildren; and five great- grandchildren.
—Emma Brown
Barbara Holland saw alcohol as “the social glue of the human race,” and that view had a profound impact on her writing.
focused on writing books. Upon inheriting a cabin in Bluemont in 1993, she found inspiration in the Blue Ridge Mountains and in the solitude the cabin afforded. “From cradle to grave, my neighbors here swing in a ham- mock of family ties and nobody leaves except for the church- yard,” she wrote in her 1997 essay collection “Bingo Night at the Fire Hall: The Case for Cows, Or- chards, Bake Sales and Fairs.” “Even the few who fled to Florida get carried home in the end.”
buergerm@washpost.com
of 28 years, Craig Ludwig of Rock- ville, and their daughters Rachel Ludwig of Columbus, Ohio, and Melissa Ludwig of Rockville and Harrisonburg, Va.; her father, Da- vid S. Davidson of Bethesda; and a brother.
—Emma Brown Elizabeth J. “Betty”
McCarthy CHURCH AND GARDEN CLUB MEMBER
Elizabeth J. “Betty” McCarthy, 90, a member of Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church and Ayr Hill Garden Club, both in Vienna, died Sept. 8 at Inova Fair- fax Hospital of complications from a fall. Elizabeth Jane Gilroy was born on a farm in Lost Nation, Iowa. She attended a one-room elemen- tary school and was valedictorian of her high school class. Mrs. McCarthy received a teaching certificate from what is now Clarke University in Du- buque, Iowa, which led to a teach- ing job in Big Rock, Iowa. Several years later, she moved to Chicago and was working at the manufac- turer A.B. Dick, when she met her future husband, Paul K. McCar- thy, at a dance. They married in 1944 and soon moved to the Washington area for his government job. He died in 1992. Survivors include four chil-
dren, Joseph McCarthy, Patricia McCarthy and Mary Ellen McCar- thy, all of Vienna, and Stephen of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; and a sis- ter.
—Emma Brown
INMEMORIAM JONES
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
"Mama" SALLIE LOFTON SIMPSON June 28, 1936 - September 19, 2009
One year ago, on this sad day the one we loved was called away.
God took her home, it was His will, but in our hearts she lives still.
Love,The Simpson Family, relatives, friends, and former students
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