Dec-98 - Friends Journal

Milestones
Deaths
· Irving-Edward Bu"oughs Irving]r., 75, on March
6, of lung cancer. Ted was born in Philadelphia.
He attended Penn Charrer School and Haverford
College in Pennsylvania. Following his graduation
in 1943, he served in the Marines on Guam during
World War II. After his discharge in 1946, he
married Marion Kirk. He earned his MA and PhD
in English from Yale University. In 1960, he accepted
a tenured position from the University of
Pennsylvania in the English Deparrment. During
the course of his career, Ted became a leading
scholar on the epic poem Beowulf He established a
scholarly reputation early in books that proved to
be of lasting value, including The Old English
Exodus, the prize-winning A Reading of Beowulf,
and Introduction fQ Beowulf Several times he chaired
the Old English group at the Modern Language
Association, and he lectured widely in the United
States and abroad. In his articles and lectures he
wrote not only of Beowulf and other Old English
poems, but also about writing, the oral tradition,
and poetry. While many of his ancestors were
Quakers, Ted was raised Episcopalian. In the mid-
1960s, the Irvings joined Swarrhmore (Pa.) Meeting.
For many years Ted served on various committees
and chaired discussion forums on First
Day. In 1982, Ted was divorced and remarried
Judith Moffett, a poet and teacher at Penn. They
enjoyed many common interests, among them
travel, gardening, and literature. They spent a year
in England as visiting professors. After his retirement
in 1993, Ted and Judy moved to Salt Lake
City to enjoy exploring the West. Ted soon becarne
an integral parr of Salt Lake (Utah) Meeting
and acrively participated in aU aspects of its community
life. Through his teaching and sharing his
love of poetry, he expanded the lives of aU those he
touched. Though retired, he maintained active
academic relationships with many previous students
and colleagues and continued to cultivate
their intellectual lives. Ted made regular trips East
to see his grandchildren. In January 1998, Ted and
Judy moved to Cincinnati, Judy's hometown, to
be closer to their Eunilies. They bought a traCt of
land nearby in Kentucky, where they planned to
build a log cabin home. Shortly, however, before
they left Salt Lake City, Ted was diagnosed with
lung cancer. He died shortly thereafter. He is
sorely missed and will be remembered as an outstanding
teacher, a loving husband, a devoted father,
an affectionate grandfather, and a very good
Friend. Ted is survived by his wife, Judith; two
sons, Edward m and Andrew; a daughter, Alison
Irving Hall; a brother, Robett; and six grandchildren,
Christopher, Katharine, Charlone, Erin,
Megan, and Margaret.
Johnson-RichardM. johnson, 82, on April22, of
congestive hearr failure, in Belfast, Maine. Dick
grew up in Wisconsin, attended Antioch College
in Ohio, and there joined the Religious Society of
Friends. At Antioch, he met and married his wife of
almost 60 years, Cynthia White. Farming, gardening,
and owning and managing a feed business
kept Dick close to the earth. In 1964, he earned a
masters degree in library science ftom Syracuse
University in New York, with which he entered the
University of Wisconsin's Center System as reference
librarian. In the late 1960s, he and Cynthia
FRIENDS JoURNAL December 1998
became field direCtors for the American Friends
Service Committee's Quang Ngai, Viemam, hospital,
day care, and prosthetics center. T he twoyear
assignment was interrupted and closed by
the 1968 T et offensive and later reopened with
a much smaller staff. Following the Viemam experience,
Dick found himself philosophically opposed
to the idea of paying income and war taxes,
and he and Cynthia chose to resign their jobs
and live out their lives on a nontaxable income
as subsistence homesteaders. They moved to
Monroe, Maine, along with three of their four
children, where they helped establish a community
land trust. Dick was a founding member of
Belfast (Maine) Meeting. For modest income, he
correcred and commented on English composition
papers for a community college in Massachusens.
He took an active interest in local efforts such
as Coastal Aids Network; H.O.M.E. Inc., a model
land rrust designed to encourage low-income hous-
. ing; and People for People, a program distributing
food for the needy. He also made maple syrup,
root beer, and ginger ale, with which he generously
delighted his friends. Throughout his life, music,
meter, love, and humor have poured forth through
Dick's poetry and rhyme. He is survived by his wife,
Cynthia; and children, David, Melissa, Margot, and
Mallery.
Milburn-Lucy Ka" Milburn, 103, on May 25,
four days after her 103rd binhday parry, in North
Plainfield, N.J. Lucy spent most of her life in
Newark, N.J., except for brief periods in southern
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. After graduating
from Barringer High School in 1913, she attended
Barnard College, from which she graduated in 1917.
In 1918, she married Richard P. Milburn. Lucy's
active participation in civic afFairs began in her teens
with the women's rights movement, marching for
suffrage in New Jersey. She worked with the Newark
Interracial Council, of which she was president
for several years, and was a founding member of the
Urban League Guild. The achievements of these
groups included gaining permission for African
American docrors to practice in Newark hospitals
and later bringing about the integration of the
YMCA swimming pool. Lucy was a charrer member,
historian, and registrar of Montclair (N.J.)
Meeting, founded in 1925. She was a longtime
member and one-time chair of the New York Friends
Center Committee for Hospitality to International
Students and a member of the yearly meeting's
Committee on American Indians. Lucy was physically
active well into her later years, doing yoga
(including headstands) into her 80s, and bicycling
imo her 90s. She also was a poet, composing verses,
often haiku, on everything from the natural world
to fam ily, baseball, her animal friends, and the
difficulties of old age. In 1976, at the age of81, she
published her first book of poetry, Over the Years in
Verse. A second volume, Octogenarial Observations:
From. Doggerel to Prayer, followed six years later and
a third, The Incurable Rhymester, was published a
year later. A booklet of eight new poems was produced
for those attending her 1 03rd birthday parry.
Lucy was preceded in death by her husband in 1981.
She is survived by a daughter, Anne Milburn Huff,
a son, Richard H .; five grandchildren, Roger and
Douglas Huff, Susan HuffWagner, Sarah Milburn
Moore, and Anne Milburn Estes; and five greatgrandchildren.
seeks applications and nominations for
a faculty position in Pastoral Studies, beginning
the academic year 1999-2000. Rank
and salary shall be commensurate with experience.
Due to the nature of this position
and the mission of the school, the person
hired for this position must be a member of
the Religious Society of Friends.
As a teacher of Pastoral Studies, the appointee
must have an understanding of the
work of the pastor. In particular, this person
should understand how Quaker theology and
values distinctively shape pastoral ministry
within a Quaker setting. The appointee will
be expected to teach six oourses annually,
some of which may contribute to curriculum
areas other than pastoral ministry. Full participation
in the life of the. institution is also
expected.
Candidates for this position should have at
least an M.Div. degree and significant recent
pastoral experience among Friends. Some
experience with, or understanding of, unprogrammed
Friends is preferable. While a Ph.D.
in some branch of Applied Theology is desirable,
experience in pastoral ministry takes
priority in this appointment.
Send nominations or a curriculum vita and
names of three references to Bill Ratliff, Clerk
of the Search Committee, Earlham School of
Religion, 228 College Avenue, Richmond, IN
47374. Review of applications will begin immediately
and will continue until an appointment
is made. Earlham School of Religion is
an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.
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