November 2007

Sue Rauld Barca, 79, a former teacher and school administrator at schools in Bolivia and the Canal Zone, died September 28, 2007. In 1971 she moved to the Canal Zone where she taught at Curundu Junior High School and Panama Canal College. She was also a language coordinator for DoDD Schools, and a translator and interpreter for accident investigations and hearings on ships transiting the Canal. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Edith “Edie” (Smith) Cotton, 54, died September 13, 2007, in Montgomery, Ala. She was born in Ancon, Canal Zone, graduated from Cristobal High School in 1970, and attended community college in Alexander City, Ala. She was married to Allen Cotton in 2001 and was a co-reporter with Allen for the Canal Record. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Brian G. DeRaps, 53, died April 25, 2007. He was born in Coco Solo Hospital, graduated from Cristobal High School in 1973, and attended the University of Tampa. He worked for the cable industry in Tampa for 27 years and was Senior Service Manager covering Hillsborough County. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

George G. Dilfer, 93, died August 9, 2007, in Boca Raton, Fla. He went to work for the Navy in the Canal Zone and eventually took a job with the Cerveceria Nacional in Public Relations and Sales for the Atlas Brewery. He was active in business and community life in Panama and the Canal Zone, the Masons, the Shriners, the local Little League teams and golf tournaments. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Mary B. Egolf, 92, died October 30, 2007, in St. Petersburg, Fla. She was born in the Canal Zone a few months after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. She worked for 20 years in the Canal Zone Government’s Health Bureau until retiring to Seminole, Fla., in 1975. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

William W. Forsstrom, 87, of North Kingstown, R.I., died October 28, 2007. He was born in Colon, graduated from Cristobal High School in 1938, and attended R.I. State College. In 1943, he joined the Seabees in the Canal Zone. He was a Mason and a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Richard “Gabby” M. Gadbois, 69, of Marietta, Ga., died September 4, 2007. He was stationed in the Canal Zone as a Marine and married while stationed there. He remained there as a Canal Zone police officer on the Atlantic side until retiring in 1972.

Robert C. Herrington, 86, of Clearwater, Fla., died October 7, 2007. He was born in Ancon, Canal Zone, and graduated from Balboa High School in 1939. After 37 years of employment with the Panama Canal Company, he retired and moved to Clearwater in 1977. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Jack Briggs Hilliard, 76, of Crozet, Va., died September 29, 2007. He went to the Canal Zone in 1931 and left in 1953 to enter military flight training. He attended Brigham Young University where he received BS and MS degrees in history. He was a historian for the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va., a curator at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, and senior curator of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wash. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

C. William Homa, a former contractor in the Panama Canal Zone, died October 3, 2007, at Paitilla Hospital. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society and BPOE Elks Lodge 1414, Balboa.

Margaret D. Klasovsky, 85, of Merritt Island, Fla., died July 30, 2007. She went to the Canal Zone in 1945 with her husband John. They remained in the Canal Zone until 1971 when he retired from the Gatun Locks. She was a substitute teacher at Cristobal High School from 1958 until 1971. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Martha (Marti) Frances Lohr, 78, of Sequim, Wash., died September 14, 2007. In 1958, Martha and her husband Bill sailed to Panama on their sailboat and decided to stay. She worked for the motion picture industry as an accountant until 1979. She belonged to the Pen Women, Canal Zone Chapter, in Panama where she entered some of her oil paintings and won several awards. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Richard Spencer Lombard, 79, of Tucson, Ariz., died October 18, 2007. He was born in the Canal Zone in 1928, attended Canal Zone schools, and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1952. He spent three years with a New York law firm and then became a member of the law department of an affiliate of Exxon in 1955 for ten years. From 1965 to 1973 he worked in the law departments of Exxon and various affiliates, and was Exxon’s general counsel from 1973 until his retirement in 1993.

Ella Frances Norton, 77, of Santa Barbara, Calif., died October 27, 2007. Ella and her husband Joe Norton moved to the Canal Zone in 1963 to work in the Canal Zone School District. During the next 25 years, she was a science teacher mostly at Curundu Junior High School until retiring in 1988. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Margret Elizabeth Orvis, 93, died July 2, 2007, in Tulsa, Okla. She moved to the Canal Zone with her husband and sons in May 1951. While there she worked for the Navy at Rodman and then at the Panama Canal Company at the Administration Building.

Anna Barbara Petersen, 94, died October 8, 2007, in Sun City, Calif. She and her late husband, Capt. John T. Petersen, raised their two children in the Canal Zone. After he retired, they moved to California. She was a member of the Panama Canal Society.

Mary Elizabeth (Irving) Richardson, 76, of Modesto, Calif., died October 27, 2007. She was born in Colon, grew up in the Canal Zone, and graduated from Cristobal High School in 1950.

Hua Willison Rigby, 87, died on September 12, 2007. Hua was a Canal Zone girl from the Atlantic side, and lived on both sides of the Ishmus. Although she spent 40 years in Tampa, Fla., her heart never left the Canal Zone.

Gerald Patrick Risberg, 57, of Fort Worth, Texas, died October 22, 2007. He was born in Colon. He worked for the Panama Canal Company until 1983. At that time he relocated to New Orleans where he managed the Panama Canal Commission’s Logistical Office. He retired in 1999.

Sydney F. Stevenson, 75, died September 8, 2007, in the Republic of Panama. He was born in Panama, and graduated from Balboa High School in 1950 and Mississippi State University in 1960. He worked for the Panama Canal Marine Bureau and then transferred to the Grounds Maintenance Branch of Corozal. He retired with more than 30 years of service. He was a member of the Panama Canal Society.