Magazine - summer 03 - St. John's College

46
{Obituaries}
AL TOFT
by Mark Daly, Director of
Laboratory
Albert Ritchie Toft, who was a
lab technician at St. John’s
College in Annapolis from 1960
to 2005, died of complications
from Parkinson’s disease April
20 in Annapolis. He was born
August 1, 1933, in Pasadena,
Maryland, attended George
Washington University, and
was a scientist at Goddard
Space and Flight Center in
Greenbelt for 35 years.
I heard about Al when I was
hired as director of Laboratories
at St. John’s in July 1985.
He worked as a machinist along
with a carpenter named John
Cooke in the laboratory’s
physics workshop. The physics
workshop was, and still is,
located in the basement of
Mellon Hall. As Director of
Laboratories, one of my
responsibilities was supervising
the workshop. I would
collect broken equipment,
equipment that needed to be
modified to suit the college’s
needs, and pencil drawings of
ideas from me, students and
tutors, and place them on a
workbench in the empty
physics laboratory during the
day. Al worked evenings and
weekends, so I communicated
with him through notes and
pencil drawings. The next day I
would return to find my equipment
repaired or modified, and
my pencil drawing coming to
life with a note, “Is this what
you wanted?” Most of the time,
Al would take our ideas and
improve on them. I would push
his creative talents further with
a revised drawing, place it on
the empty workbench, and the
next day the new creation
would take shape. I could
dream, scribble down an idea,
and put it on that empty workbench,
and he, with his gifts of
knowledge and creativity,
would make it happen.
When I finally got to meet Al,
he lived up to the picture I had
painted of him in my mind. I
walked into the dusty old basement
workshop to be greeted
by a cheerful, “Hello, young
man.” Here was the man who
could make those drawings
come to life. He looked like a
scientist: clean cut, darkrimmed
glasses, and a lab coat.
He was friendly and had an
intelligence that commanded
respect.
Some time later, I visited Al at
the Goddard Space and Flight
Center, and he gave me a tour
of the facilities. I came to
realize the prize St. John’s was
keeping in that dusty physics
workshop. Al was hired at
Goddard as an entry-level technician
and worked his way up.
He was now a leading scientist
in the optics laboratory. His
major contributions to the
space program were inventing
a new coating for the mirrors in
space and inventing a way to
coat them uniformly. He was a
distinguished scientist with
published works and his accomplishments
were noted in the
Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum.
He worked quietly at night in a basement workshop
in Mellon Hall, and laboratory in
Annapolis relied on Al Toft.
Al was a
problem solver
who loved a challenge.
His positive
outlook and
problem solving
abilities permeated
his entire
being. As his
Parkinson’s
disease
advanced, he
remained upbeat
and always talked
about the future.
I remember once
he pointed to a
dollar bill on the
bench, and told me, “I couldn’t
reach to pick up that dollar and
put it in my pocket. I took my
pill, sat down for five minutes,
and now I can do it.” He was
fascinated by his affliction; he
looked at it as a scientist.
Al was a caring and compassionate
man. When his good
friend John Cooke was
approaching 90, he was still
working in the workshop. His
vision was going, and his work
suffered. Al wouldn’t hurt his
friend and tell him to retire, so
he came up with a way to do it
gently. I learned from Al’s
example, and when Al’s
Parkinson’s began affecting his
work, I offered him the same
respect and compassion.
Today as I walk through the
laboratory classrooms in
Mellon Hall, I see Al’s legacy
around me. The equipment
that was repaired, modified, or
created by his hands speaks to
me. Some speak to me of the
brilliant scientist, the problem
solver. Others remind me of his
compassionate, friendly nature.
They just say, “hello, young
man.”
ROZANNE KRAMER (SFGI68)
Rozanne Edwards Kramer, a St.
John’s Santa Fe Graduate Institute
alumnus and former
manager of the St. John’s
Annapolis bookstore, died
March 21, 2008. Ms. Kramer
was born in Leavenworth,
Kansas, and as a child of an
army colonel, she traveled
extensively throughout her
childhood. She earned a bachelor’s
degree at Oberlin
College and worked on The
Evening Star in Washington,
D.C., and The Evening Capital
in Annapolis.
She joined the St. John’s staff
as manager of the Annapolis
bookstore. When St. John’s
opened its Santa Fe campus,
she moved West with her thenhusband,
Clarence Kramer.
After earning her graduate
degree at St. John’s, Ms.
Kramer earned a second
master’s degree in Special
Education and enjoyed a 15-
year career as a teacher and
drill team coach. She is
survived by three children, five
grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren.
JOHN DROEGE (A85)
John Patrick Droege, of
Plymouth, Mass., died on
January 28, 2008. He was 46
and was employed as a technical
salesman.
After graduating from
St. John’s, Droege earned a
master’s in American History
from the University of Notre
Dame. An avid outdoorsman,
Droege was a member of
the Manomet Center for
Conservation Science.
His parents, John and Aileen
Droege, would love to hear
from classmates and tutors who
knew John; contact them at:
JDroege1@comcast.net.
{ The College • St. John’s College • Summer 2008 }