Nikola “Nick” Nikolic, professor emeritus of physics, passed away June 14. He is survived by his wife, Jean, and his adult children, Carolina and Nikola. What follows is excerpted from a eulogy offered by Nikolic’s longtime colleague and friend Bulent Atalay, UMW professor emeritus of physics. When Nick Nikolic passed away, he was 84, and he had spent exactly half his life in Fredericksburg, 33 of those [from 1969 to 2002] as a professor of physics at Mary Washington. He was a brilliant physicist, and his undergraduate academic record at the University of Belgrade has never been surpassed. Physicist Charlie Townes, who later received a Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of the laser, invited Nick to Columbia University to pursue a doctorate in physics, and he accepted. A native of Belgrade, Nick never returned to the country of his birth. The former Yugoslavia’s loss would be America’s gain. Among physicists, Nick saw Newton as the king. He was not impressed … [Read more...]
Cheryl Hawkinson-Melkun
Assistant Professor of Communications
Cheryl Hawkinson-Melkun, assistant professor of communications in the University of Mary Washington College of Business, passed away unexpectedly June 19. She was 56. A highlight of her 16- year UMW tenure was the founding of the Stafford Campus Writing Center. She was the center’s first director, beginning in the fall of 2004. Regarded as a demanding yet patient professor, Hawkinson-Melkun used her knowledge and influence to help the many students who passed through the center and her classrooms become better communicators. Hawkinson-Melkun recognized the difference in the needs of traditional and nontraditional students. She was known for her ability to bring out the best in her students and for her determination to help them succeed. Hawkinson-Melkun was lauded as a generous and supportive supervisor who empowered her staff members to grow and excel professionally. She is survived by her family: Keith, Charlotte, Jared, and Hannah Melkun; parents Elden and Elaine; and … [Read more...]
IN MEMORIAM
Charlotte Elizabeth Scott Myers ’36 N. Marshall Schools ’36 Audrey Alrich Silver ’36 Sara Elizabeth “Liz” Clark ’37 Virginia Richardson Parker ’38 Stella Miles Hood ’39 Marjorie Horner Webber ’39 Fern Carson Greear ’40 Margaret Richards Knight ’41 Betty Johnson Studebaker ’41 Anne Hargroves Parker White ’41 Eleanor Sommers Hartless ’42 Elsie Davis Todd ’42 Johanna Theresa Crittenden Greer ’43 Betty Rogers Zylewitz ’43 Eileen T. Landers Chase ’44 Priscilla Moyer Wilson Ashton ’45 Josephine Bruno Edmundson ’45 Harriet Hall Johnson Waymack ’45 Jane Howard Patrick ’46 Gloria Brown Schoonmaker ’46 Elizabeth Stallings Sharpe ’46 Florence Marie Mason Conrad ’47 Auralea Cox Curtis ’47 Helen Dawn Singleton Darfus ’48 Frances McGlothlin Borkey ’49 Elizabeth Louise “Betty Lou” Fitzgerald Braden ’51 Laura Costarelli Williams ’51 Bernard T. Burchell ’55 Harold Franklin Carder ’55 Sari Glasser Erlanger … [Read more...]
CONDOLENCES
Phyllis Quimby Anderson ’44, who lost her husband Christine Doumas Conlin ’50, who lost her husband Georgene Kirkendall Harrison ’50, who lost her sister Mildred Jones Bonner ’52, who lost her husband Susan Hutcheson Jurgens ’52, who lost her husband Laura Milster Orville ’55, who lost her husband Jan Rutan Wright ’60, who lost her husband Barbara Ashley Firesheets ’61, who lost her mother Barbara “Bobbie” Brookes Nation ’61, who lost her mother Georgene Branch Burton ’62, who lost her husband Pam Brookes Weiseman ’63, who lost her mother Ryan Stewart Davis ’66, who lost her father Mary Karen Vellines ’70, who lost her mother and her husband Norah M. Heckman ’73, who lost her father Jennifer Carder Hightower ’77, who lost her father Joan Castner Niederlehner ’77, who lost her mother Jennifer Miller Strobel ’77, who lost her husband Judy Kemp Allard ’79, who lost her mother Darcy Driscoll ’82, who lost her mother Matthew J. Kelly … [Read more...]