In Memoriam: 1950s
Notices sorted by graduation date
Edwin Lewis “Lew” Hansen (Col ’51, Law ’57 CM) of Atlanta died Oct. 21, 2023. Raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, his service in the U.S. Army included graduating from Engineer OCS at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; the Airborne and Ranger schools at Fort Benning, Georgia; and the rest of his time at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 82nd Airborne Division. While earning his bachelor’s degree in economics at UVA, he was a member of the Raven Society, Eli Banana and the IMP Society, and he lived on the Lawn his fourth year as a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He also played varsity football all four years. After completing his military service, he became a double ’Hoo by returning to UVA for law school. He moved to Atlanta to intern with Judge Durwood Pye and stayed to practice law with the firm Candler, Cox, Andrews & Hansen and later with Hurt, Richardson. He stayed active in the UVA community throughout his life, serving on the Board of Managers and as president of the Alumni Association. He was a member of the Commerce Club, the Downtown Kiwanis Club and Leadership Atlanta. He also served at Atlanta Law School as both a teacher and trustee for many years. After retirement in 1996, he was an active volunteer in the community, including as a host for the Olympics in Atlanta. Survivors include his wife, Anne; three children, including Edwin Lewis Hansen Jr. (Col ’90 CM) and John Austin Hansen (Col ’91 CM); and eight grandchildren.
Howard M. Besosa (Arch class of ’52) of Monterey, California, died Nov. 1, 2021. He was a first lieutenant in the Army and served during World War II. He earned a degree in engineering at the University of Puerto Rico before coming to UVA for a degree in architecture. He attended UVA’s Beaux Arts Ball in 1952, where his and his date’s costumes were voted most beautiful. After graduating, he started his own architectural firm. Later, he went on to work as a freelance writer, poet and photographer. His work was published in a variety of magazines, and his photography won first place in a Kodak contest. Survivors include his wife, Susan, and two children.
H. Mebane “Meb” Turner (Educ ’53 CM) of Baltimore died Nov. 19, 2023. While earning his bachelor’s degree at UVA, he was a member of the men’s football and wrestling teams. He was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the IMP Society, Eli Banana, the P.K. Society, the Raven Society, and the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society. He was a graduate of Union Theological Seminary and the Teachers College, Columbia University, both in New York City. He also received a doctorate from American University. In 1969, he began working at the University of Baltimore, serving briefly as provost and as president for 33 years, leading its transition from a private university to a thriving public member of the University System of Maryland. After retiring in 2002, he headed Boys’ Latin School for two years. He served on the boards of the old Maryland General Hospital and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House. He was a past governor-general of the General Society of Colonial Wars and past president of the Baltimore City Jail Board, Baltimore Rotary and Virginians of Maryland. He became so identified with efforts to improve the Charles Street and Mount Royal Avenue section of Baltimore that in 2002, Mayor Martin O’Malley and the City Council named a newly renovated bridge after him. In 2016, the University of Baltimore’s Learning Commons building was named in his honor. He maintained a lifelong love of theater, and friends say he never lost his Virginia accent. Survivors include his wife, Ivana; two sons, including Edgar H. Turner II (Col ’09, Educ ’12, ’16 CM); and five grandchildren.
William “Bill” Stokes Satterthwaite Jr. (Col ’55 CM) of Charlottesville died Nov. 16, 2023. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps after earning his bachelor’s degree at UVA, where he was a member of the St. Elmo fraternity, served beer at Carroll’s Tea Room, and played drums in a jazz quartet. After his military service, he was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, working in the D.C. and Baltimore areas as a field agent. After the CIA, he worked as an investment broker and then retired as sales director for the former Michie Company in Charlottesville. He was a docent at the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Virginia, and was a founding donor for the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. He loved sports, especially tennis and baseball. He coached Little League baseball in Charlottesville and enjoyed spending Saturdays at Scott Stadium cheering on the Cavaliers. After retirement, he moved for a time to Naples, Florida, where he played tennis into his late 70s, drove visitors on boat tours of the Gulf and volunteered at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Survivors include two daughters, including Jane Satterthwaite Hynes (Col class of ’85); and four grandchildren.
James Gardner Biever (Com ’57 CM) of North Venice, Florida, died Sept. 20, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he earned his bachelor’s degree in commerce from UVA, where he was a Lawn resident. He went on to a career in finance, energy and corporate jet sales. He moved to Florida in 2015 from Lewes, Delaware. His many hobbies included tennis, golf, power boating, hunting, fishing and travel. He was also an avid cook, known for his smoked turkey at Thanksgiving. Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Kim, his son, and his niece, Liza (Douglass) Maddrey (Col class of ’00).
Walter Hepworth Lewis (Grad class of ’57) of St. Louis died Nov. 17, 2020. He earned his doctorate in biology at UVA after earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and botany from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He joined Washington University in St. Louis in 1964, teaching popular classes in botany for undergraduates and serving as the university ethnobotanist. Throughout his career, he studied and conducted research in areas including ethnobotany, systematics and taxonomy, cytology, ecology, and pharmacology. After retiring as a biology professor in 2000, he continued his active research program as a professor emeritus, publishing his last technical paper in 2017 at age 87. He and his wife, Memory Elvin-Lewis, professor emerita of biology at Washington University, frequently collaborated on projects, including their book, Medical Botany: Plants Affecting Human Health. An expert on the wild roses of North America, he was honored in 2013 by the American Rose Society as a “Great Rosarian of the World.” He also earned the Martin de la Cruz Silver Medal from the Mexican Academy of Traditional Medicine in 2000 and the E.K. Janaki Ammal Gold Medal from the Society of Ethnobotanists in 2004. He was named, along with his wife, a Distinguished Economic Botanist from the Society for Economic Botany in 2006. He served as senior botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and between 1964 and 1972 he was curator and director of its herbarium. He is credited with collecting more than 23,000 plants worldwide, and at least a dozen plant species are named in his honor. In addition to his wife, survivors include a daughter, a son, and three grandchildren.
Joseph Varden Dyer Jr. (Col ’58 CM) of Baltimore died Oct. 13, 2023. After participating in the ROTC program at UVA, he joined the Air Defense Artillery upon graduation. He went on to serve three years of active duty, during which he received a number of awards, including the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Army Parachutist Badge and Ranger Tab. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1961. At UVA, he played on the lacrosse team, where he was appointed team captain during his third year and led the team in total points. He was also selected for the South All Stars team, and he received an All-American honorable mention in 1957. He was inducted into the UVA Lacrosse Hall of Fame and still holds records in assists and points. He was also a member of St. Anthony Hall, IMP Society and Eli Banana. After discharge, he worked at Verizon until retirement. He also served for 10 years as the director of the Middle Atlantic Professional Golf Association of America. Golf was a longtime hobby and passion of his, and he held the job with pride for 10 years. For most of his life, he continued to teach golf lessons to students of all ages, though he specialized in helping people adapt their game to changes brought on by age. Survivors include three children and five grandchildren.
Harry Selverian (Arch ’58 CM) of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, died Oct. 20, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he served from 1958 to 1960. He was stationed in Germany and achieved the rank of Specialist 4th Class, E-4. Prior to his military service, he earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture at UVA, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Skull and Keys, and the German Club. His academic and military experiences set the foundation for his successful career as a project manager in various architectural and construction firms in Philadelphia. Notably, he was the project architect for St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church. The son of Armenian immigrants, he was proud of his heritage throughout his life. He lived by the Golden Rule, treating others as he would like to be treated. Survivors include his wife, Sona, two children, his brother, and four grandchildren.
Donald Edward Sours Sr. (Engr ’58 CM) of Keswick, Virginia, died Oct. 31, 2023. He served as a captain and company commander in the Army National Guard and was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Army ROTC program at UVA. There he studied civil engineering and was a member of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society and Sigma Chi fraternity. In the early 1970s, he began a successful career as a professional engineer, project manager and corporate officer for R.E. Lee & Son Construction Company, eventually becoming president and retiring in 2002. He was heavily involved in the Charlottesville and UVA communities. He served as chairman of the City of Charlottesville Planning Commission, as a member of the city’s Board of Architecture Review, and as a member of the UVA Engineering Foundation. In 1980, he was appointed to the Psi Chapter House Corporation Board of Directors. He served for 40 years, including 25 years as president. His accomplishments include bringing the fraternity into a property management contract with the UVA Foundation and its Historic Renovation Corporation and arranging the financing and managing of the 1983 restoration of the chapter house. In 1998, he was inducted into the Order of Constantine, the highest honor Sigma Chi bestows upon a brother for commitment, dedication, and service to the fraternity. Survivors include his wife, Josephine; six children; two siblings; and seven grandchildren.
Genevieve Dugan Goff (Grad class of ’59) of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, died Dec. 4, 2023. She earned her doctorate in psychology from UVA and taught psychology for four years at the University of Vermont. In 1959 she and her family moved to Connecticut, where she worked in the neuropsychology lab at the VA hospital in West Haven, doing groundbreaking research. Later, she went on to another career at Connecticut Conference of Municipalities/Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency in New Haven until retiring in 1997. She was an avid reader and was in as many as 10 book groups at a time. She loved to travel and drove her Prius all over the East Coast until she was 92. She had a green thumb, and everywhere she lived was filled with plants. She also loved theater and had several season tickets. Survivors include three children, five grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.