Class Notes from Reed magazine Autumn ’09

The Class Notes section of the Reed magazine Autumn 2009 reports on some Reed chemists:

  • Former Reed chemistry professor Fred Tabbutt popped up in a photo of Reed alums. Fred (far L in photo) had gathered with the others to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Richard Cellarius ’58 and Doris Scheuchenplflug Cellarius ’59.
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  • A wedding photo of Silas Cook ’99 and Kristel Halter ’99 also gave us a glimpse of some other chemistry alums: Takashi Nakai ’00 and David Gibbs ’99. Kristel and Silas were married on July 4 in Newport, Rhode Island. Kristel and Silas began dating when their paths crossed in New York City; both attended Columbia University, where Kristel got her master’s degree in journalism and Silas earned his doctorate in chemistry. Today, they live in Bloomington, Indiana, where Silas is assistant professor of chemistry at Indiana University and Kristel is working on a historical fiction set in fourth-century Egypt.
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  • A wedding photo of Samantha Bates ’03 and Sterling Paramore ’02 gathered several Reed chemists together: Rachael Relph ’03, Peter Jordan ’03, and Hattie Brown ’02. Samantha and Sterling, who had moved back to Portland a year earlier, were married on June 13th in Park City, Utah. Sam works as a nurse at Oregon Health & Science University, and Sterling is a data analyst for ODS. Although neither works in chemistry, Sterling still wears his “Chemistry is pHun” T-shirt and the couple share a periodic table shower curtain.

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The In Memoriam section of the magazine also reported the passing of Victor P. van der Sterre ’41, March 10, 2009, in Millbrae, California. “Dutch” attended Reed for two and half years before, as he said it, his academic concentration was “done in” by football in fall 1939. He resumed his studies at UC Berkeley, received a BA in chemistry in 1942, and was hired by DuPont to be a chemist at the company’s South San Francisco finishes plant. The war draft initially enrolled him in chemical warfare training, but he switched to aviation training and became a pilot. In 1945, he married his high school sweetheart, Margaretha Schade; they had one daughter. Dutch returned to DuPont, where he worked as a developmental and technical supervisor and staff chemist until retirement in 1980. The couple built their own home, skied in the U.S. and abroad, boated, and took one-week cruises to a different location every year. Dutch’s brother, Carl van der Sterre ’31, also attended Reed.

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