In MEMORIAM

Sally Rich Burbidge Cassity BA’52 died September 27, 2007, due to unexpected and extensive complications following major heart and arterial surgery. She was 76.

Sally Rich was born in Ogden, Utah, on November 23, 1930, to Clark Lowe and Dorothy Scowcroft Rich. She graduated from Ogden High school in 1948 and received a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Utah, going on to teach fifth grade at Polk Elementary in Ogden. She married Kenneth Parry Burbidge, Jr., on July 16, 1954, in Ogden. They were later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Ken passed away in 1998 following a long illness. Sally was fortunate enough to find happiness and contentment in marrying F. Burton Cassity on February 10, 2001. They were great companions for each other and enjoyed their time together in service, travel, laughter, and love.

Sally loved being in her garden, doing needlepoint, and traveling, especially extended family vacations. She particularly enjoyed summers in Sun Valley and winters in Palm Springs.

Sally was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and her civic and charitable work was nonstop. Whether she was fulfilling critical roles on the Ballet West, Kingsbury Hall, Libby Gardner Hall of Music, University of Utah Alumni and Red Butte Garden boards, University of Utah Board of Trustees, as self-appointed construction manager on the Burbidge Athletics Academic Center, or “Fairy Godmother” of the Utah Marching band, her efforts were tireless. Because of her lifelong service, Sally was honored with the University of Utah’s Distinguished Alumna award, the School of Music’s most prestigious Camerata Award, and having the Utah Band Rehearsal Hall dedicated in her name.

Sally is survived by her husband Burt; her sister Maryann Finley; three children, Clark Rich Burbidge (Leah), Jill B. Wiscomb (Don) and Karin B. Cook (Todd); 15 grandchildren; five stepchildren; and 25 stepgrandchildren. She was preceded in death by her sweetheart Ken as well as her father and mother. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Sally and Kenneth Burbidge Pulmonary Chair, Central Development Office, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, or the Sally Burbidge Marching Band fund, Central Development Office, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.

Edited from the notice published in The Salt Lake Tribune from 10/2 - 10/5/2007.

Paul Cracroft BA’48 MA’54 died Feb. 11 from complications of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. He was 85.

R. Paul Cracroft was born at home at 821 Markea Ave. in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, 1922, to Ralph and Grace Darling White Cracroft. Educated at Wasatch, Bryant Jr., and East High schools, he decided at age 13 that he wanted to write. At 16, he was elected editor of East High’s Red & Black for 1939 and won the first All-American rating for a high school paper in Utah’s history. At the University of Utah, he majored in English and wrote for all of the student publications, winning campus and regional honors and editing the literary magazine, Pen, in 1948. He met his future wife, Kathryn Storrs, on a blind date on Aug. 23, 1941. From June 1942 to July 1944, he served in the North Central States mission, headquartered in Minneapolis. After his return, the two were married in the Salt Lake Temple by Elder (later President) Harold B. Lee on Aug. 16, 1944, and moved to Camp Roberts, Calif., for Paul to begin military training as a private. When the Battle of the Bulge hit at Christmastime 1944, he was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., where he was commissioned a lieutenant. He shipped out on Aug. 12, 1945, on the USS George Clymer for what he later learned was the planned invasion of Japan, canceled after the Japanese surrender when he was just two days at sea.

Re-entering college in January 1947, he worked as a reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune and then for Parry Sorensen as assistant director of public relations at the U. From 1951 to 1955, he served in Washington, D.C., as first press secretary to the late Senator Wallace F. Bennett. Returning to the U in 1955, he worked for more than 35 years in public relations as executive director of the Alumni Association, director of Lectures and Concerts, instructor in journalism and, until his retirement in 1990, as manager of Kingsbury Hall. In this last position he initiated the first serious considerations that led to renovation of that great hall. From 1959-1973, he hosted "Retrospect," a news analysis show on KUED, Channel 7, which, in those early years, made it the longest-running sustained weekly program on the educational channel. For 36 years he also served as statistician for the U’s home football games, typing play-by-plays and spotting for Paul James at away games during many of those years.

As an active member of the LDS Church, he served twice as a member of the High Council of the University of Utah Stake, twice as a bishopric counselor, Bishop of the Parleys Fourth Ward (1977-1982), and Parleys Stake high councilman. He helped write the History of Parleys Stake from its official founding in 1958 to 2000 and was particularly proud of a 479-page epic poem based on the Book of Mormon; he also wrote several plays.

Paul and Kay Cracroft celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary in 2007 before she preceded him in death that September. He was also preceded by his parents, older brother Laurance White Cracroft, and grandsons Thomas Paul and Bryant Jeffrey Parker. Paul is survived by his sister Helen Grace Cracroft White, brother Richard H. (Janice) Cracroft; Kathy (Don) Wilhelmsen, Shauni (Kent) Young, Patricia (Kent) Parker, David (Terese) Cracroft, Paul Jeffry (Kathryn) Cracroft, and Randy (Gwen) Cracroft; 19 grandchildren; and 11 great-grand children.

Edited from the notice published in The Salt Lake Tribune from 2/13 - 2/15/2008.

Ernst Eichwald MD’53, University of Utah professor of pathology and pioneering scientist, died at home in Murray, Utah, on Dec. 23, 2007. He was 84.

Eichwald was born Dec. 13, 1913, in Hanover, Germany. He received his medical degrees in Freiburg, Germany, in 1938 (when he moved to the U.S.), and from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1953. He completed internships and pathology training in Dayton, Ohio, and at the Children’s Hospital in Boston. He subsequently worked as an assistant in pathology at Harvard Medical School, followed by service in the U.S. Army from 1944-46 as Head of Laboratory Service at the 120th General Hospital, New Guinea, Manila, Philippines, and Kyoto, Japan. He returned to Children’s Hospital as assistant pathologist in 1946. In 1948, Eichwald moved to Salt Lake City to assume a faculty position as an assistant and then associate professor of pathology at the University of Utah. He was recruited to Montana Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls, Montana, in 1953 under an arrangement that provided resources to support his research program. In 1956, he established the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine, which evolved into the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls, an independent biomedical research institute that continues to thrive. He served as a professor of microbiology at Montana State University, Bozeman, and chair of the Montana Chapter of the American Cancer Society. In 1967 he returned to Salt Lake City as professor of pathology and surgery, and chaired the Pathology Department until his partial retirement in 1979. He continued laboratory work until 2003.

Eichwald was a pioneer of tissue transplantation. He described the male-specific antigen; organized the first International Transplantation Conference, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, in Harriman, N.Y., in 1953; founded and edited the journal Transplantation for 30 years; and chaired the Transplantation Committee of the National Academy of Sciences from 1955 to 1967. His research played an important role in the development of successful protocols for organ transplantation in humans.

Eichwald devoted much of his spare time to playing chamber music in both Salt Lake City and Great Falls, Mont., and co-founded the Great Falls Symphony. With passion for science, music, and life, he was also a wonderful teacher and mentor.

Ernst Eichwald is survived by his wife, Irmingard (Sissy), daughter, Jenny (Seattle), sons, Paul (Missoula) and John (Atlanta), stepsons Andre (Salt Lake City) and Daniel (Salt Lake City), and grandchildren Paul, Morgan, Heather, Ian, and Ryan.

Edited from the notice published in The Salt Lake Tribune on 12/30/2007.

Bae Gardner ex’49 died peacefully at home on February 19. She was 81.

Olivia Bae Bishop Gardner was born March 10, 1926, to Van Dyne Jones Bishop and Bennett J. Bishop in Hinckley, Utah. The family lived there until 1942, when they moved to Salt Lake City. Bae attended East High School, where she played flute in the orchestras and marching band and excelled academically. After her sweetheart M. Kelly Gardner he returned from World War II, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 7, 1945.

Bae began working at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in 1968 and served as associate director for 23 years. She later authored the biography of Robert H. Hinckley, friend and founder of the Institute.

A devoted member of the LDS Church, Bae served in many positions, most notably as ward organist for over 25 years. A voracious reader from childhood, Bae was also a scholar of the arts, gifted writer and musician, avid ornithologist, political enthusiast and patriot.

She is survived by her husband; sister Dorothy (Roy) Fisher, brother Orion (Sue) Bishop; son Alan (Robyn) Gardner; daughters Dawn (David) Curtis and Anne Gardner; seven grandsons; and a new great-grand-daughter, all of Salt Lake City. An online guestbook is at www.russonmortuary.com. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Bae B. Gardner Internship in Public Policy at the Hinckley Institute of Politics.

Edited from the notice published in The Salt Lake Tribune from 2/21 - 2/22/2008.

William Mulder BA’40 MA’47, a University of Utah Emeritus Professor of English, died at home March 12, following a stroke. He was 92.

Mulder was born June 24, 1915, in Haarlem, Holland, the son of Albertus and Foekje (Fanny) Visser Mulder, who immigrated to the United States in 1920. After L.D.S. High School and a Holland mission (1935-37), Mulder attended the University of Utah, where he wrote for undergraduate publications the Chronicle, Pen, and Utonian, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After service as a communications officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve on Okinawa during World War II, he returned to the U of U for his master’s degree in English. He pursued graduate studies at Harvard University in an American Civilization program and was granted a doctorate “with distinction” in 1955. His dissertation was published in 1957 by the University of Minnesota Press as Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia. In 1958, he edited, with the late A. Russell Mortensen, Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers, originally published by A.A. Knopf and still in print in Sam Weller’s Western Epics imprint.

Mulder taught in the English Department of the U of U for 41 years, with several leaves of absence, including a 1957 teaching Fulbright at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. That experience led to his being asked to lecture in India for the U.S. Information Service and to develop the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad (1965-68; 1979-82). With Hyderabad as a second home for the family, the years in India, full of travel, teaching, and cultural exchange, led to rich memories and lifelong friendships. He also served at the U of U as editor of the Western Humanities Review and was founding director of both the Institute of American Studies and the Center for Intercultural Studies (now the Middle East Center). He was director of Graduate Studies in the English Department and anonymous writer on various assignments for the Olpin and Gardner administrations. He was also visiting professor at BYU, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Sonoma State College, and Duke University. In 1977 he visited seven universities in Japan for the Asia Foundation to assess programs and library holdings in American Studies. For four years, Mulder served on the Advisory Committee of the National Council on International Exchange of Scholars for Fulbright awards in American Studies, and for three years served as secretary-treasurer of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association. He received many honors and awards, including the Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award from the U of U; the Charles Redd Award in the Humanities from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; and the Award of Merit from the U of U Alumni Association. He was named the first Fellow of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1998. In 1999, the University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate and the Utah Humanities Council selected him to receive the year’s Governor’s Award in the Humanities. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities.

In retirement, Mulder remained active in academic circles as president of the Utah Academy and as a member of several boards on campus and in the community, including the Reynolds Association, the Maud May Babcock Reading Arts Society, Broadway Stage, Wasatch Westerners, Weber Studies, Dialogue, and Friends of the U of U Marriott Library (chair 1993-95). In addition, he contributed to several statehood centennial publications. He supported various social, cultural, and environmental causes as well as employees and struggling scholars he and his family had encountered in India. Although he was a sympathetic observerand wrote extensively about Mormon culture in the context of American history and literature, Mulder was not a churchgoer and expressed his views in Leaving the Fold, edited by James Ure (Signature Books, 2000).

Mulder was first married in 1938 to Gweneth Gibbs Gates and later divorced. The surviving children of that marriage are R. Richard (Kathryn), Layton; J. Thomas, Salt Lake City; and Barbara Thompson (Fred), Wetumpka, Alabama. In 1961 he married Helen Louise Thomson Smith, who survives him. Their firstborn, William J., was killed at age 31 in a road accident in 1993. Their surviving children are Paul M. (Darlene Casanova), Salt Lake City; Alice E. (Daniel Bedford), Ogden; former daughter-in-law Stephennie Fullmer Mulder (Yoav di Capua), Austin, Texas; and stepchildren Emily Smith (Michael Hoffman), Salt Lake City, and Charles Smith, Ogden. He is also survived by brother Albert Mulder, Jr. (Laura), sisters Mary Ence (Carlton) and Patricia Shoemaker (Herbert), and grandchildren Robert, Christopher, Jennifer, Tristan, and Skylar. He was preceded in death by his sister Anne Glissmeyer (Roy). In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the U of U Marriott Library.

Edited from the notice published in The Salt Lake Tribune from 3/23 - 3/26/2008.

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