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Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
July 7 - July 14, 2005 Edition
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Obituaries July 7, 2005
Andrew Loring Rowe of Edgartown, previously a longtime Chicago resident, died June 26 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital at the age of 94. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death. A successful businessman, an accomplished war veteran, and a consummate gentleman, husband, father and grandfather, he will be greatly missed by family and friends alike. Born March 18, 1911 in Evanston, Ill., to parents Edgar Charles Rowe and Katherine Livingston Andrew, Andrew Loring spent his youth primarily in Chicago, and also at his family’s farm in West Point, Indiana and on and around Cape Cod. He attended kindergarten at the University School for Girls in Chicago where Jimmy Stewart was among his classmates and then was graduated from Francis Parker School in Chicago and Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J. before matriculating at Princeton University. While at Princeton he majored in architecture, winning a Beaux Art Prize for his senior thesis, a design for the Princeton Yacht Club on Lake Carnegie. In addition to his studies, Andrew Loring, known to his friends as Loring or Shanksie, managed the crew that rowed at Henley. He graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1934 but because of the Depression, he never practiced architecture, and instead became a salesman for Elgin Watch of Elgin, Ill. in their Northern New England Territory. He became a Vice President of Elgin Watch before going to work for La Salle Steel of Hammond, Ind. Upon entering the steel business, he went back to the M.I.T. Senior Executive Program at the Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, where he was among one of the first graduating classes. He eventually rose to the level of Vice President at La Salle Steel before retiring in 1976. In addition to a successful business career, Loring had a distinguished career in the armed forces. He was a Lieutenant in the Navy and served in the South Pacific as a gunnery officer in World War II. He was stationed worldwide and was on the first non-combatant ship into Yokahama after the war ended. When stationed in Sydney in 1943, he received a stack of three months of letters from his wife, Barbara. They were numbered chronologically and when he opened the fifth letter he discovered his first child had been born, a son, Andrew Loring Jr. Included in the missive was a photograph of his wife and firstborn; he kept that photograph in his wallet for the remainder of his life. Loring was an active member of every community in which he lived. In Chicago he served as President of the Racquet Club and Saddle and Cycle Club and was a member of the University Club. Here on the Vineyard he served as President of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust and after his tenure still regularly attended all board meetings and activities. He was also on the Board of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Loring was President of the Edgartown Reading Room and a member of the Edgartown Yacht Club, where he served on the Race Committee and often had to remain seated on the committee boat because the canopy was too low to accommodate his 6-foot, 6-inch frame. Loring was an avid athlete and sports enthusiast. He played basketball, tennis, football, golfed and sailed. When a teenager he crewed Q-Boats for Ray Hunt out of Duxbury. Even in his nineties he walked every afternoon and swam every day in the summer. He and his brother, Jamie, saw Jesse Owens set the world record at the Century of Progress Track Meet in 1933; he frequently attended Blackhawk hockey games, Purdue basketball games, track meets, football games and any event in which Princeton, his children or his grandchildren were competing. In his later life he was always willing to offer fellow spectators, specifically his grandchildren, a complete education on the rules of the game in question, the history of said sport, the records of the teams competing and his prediction of the outcome. He is responsible for inspiring future generations of sports fans with his enthusiasm and wisdom. At 94 years old, Loring was a valuable repository of history. He was equally comfortable sharing memories of his war experiences as he was telling stories about his youth spent in Chicago. He was known to have ice skated to Francis Parker School up Lake Shore Drive and through Lincoln Park and, when the Drake Hotel in Chicago was under construction, he and a friend snuck to the eighth floor and dropped golf balls to the pavement below to see how far they would bounce: five floors, as the story was told. He was so tall that he could never get lost, even if he wanted to. The day after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, at which he had covertly been a spectator, Loring appeared in the press photos standing a foot above the crowd. His mother, who thought he had been safely in school, was shocked. But his height was an asset, too, as his family often used him as a landmark at busy social events, navigating their way through the crowds using him as a reference. He was a compass, physical, moral and historical, for his family and community. He was predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Barbara Bastien, his brother James Lincoln, and his sister Jane Rowe Evans. He is survived by his sister, Ruth Rowe Philbrick of Silver Spring, Md.; his children, Andrew Loring Rowe, Jr. of Hope, Maine, and his wife, Jennifer Gooch Rowe, Thomas Bastien Rowe of Middletown, R.I., and his wife, Elizabeth Burrage Rowe, and Nancy Rowe Burroughs of Peace Dale, R.I., and her husband, Richard Hansford Burroughs; his grandchildren Jason Gooch Hearst, Amory Andrew Rowe, Brewer Bastien Rowe, Thomas Loring Rowe, Nicholas Loring Burroughs and Hannah Grinnell Burroughs. He will be missed by children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors and those who knew the lanky, upright, white-haired gentleman with the orange and black scarf and the binoculars who routinely walked up North Water Street to the Edgartown lighthouse overlook where he would sit on the bench, watch the boats pass and gaze up the harbor toward the Tower Hill cemetery where his beloved companion of almost 60 years was waiting and where a graveside service will be held Thursday, July 28, at 3 pm. A reception will follow at the Edgartown Reading Room at the foot of Cooke Street at four pm. All are welcome to both the service and the reception. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust, P.O. Box 5277, Edgartown, MA 02539 or to the U.S. Athletic Trust, P.O. Box 224, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 10510, a non-profit organization founded by a Princeton graduate and Olympian to provide funding to college-graduated Olympic hopefuls, and currently managed by Loring Rowe’s granddaughter.
Madison Anne Whitmarsh, precious daughter of Amy and Jim Whitmarsh, died suddenly on July 3. Her parents are extremely saddened by her death. Madison was born on May 12. Madison is survived by relatives: Melissa and Jim Tirpak, Beth and Mike Ferry, Deb and Andy Raymond, Denise DeRosa, Robert Whitmarsh, and many cousins. She is predeceased by grandparents Anne and Dale Pelow and Marion and Elliott Whitmarsh. Her funeral will be held on Friday, July 8, 10 am at the Federated Church, South Summer Street, Edgartown. Burial will follow in the New Westside Cemetery, off Robinson Road, Edgartown. In lieu of flowers, her parents are requesting that a donation in Madison’s memory be made to the Tufts-New England Medical Center NICU, 750 Washington Street, Box 818, Boston, MA 02111 or the SIDS Outreach Foundation c/o Massachusetts SIDS Center Boston Medical Center, One Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, MA 02118. Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, Oak Bluffs. Visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com for online guest book. Margaret Stover Cook Margaret Stover Cook, longtime Island resident died peacefully at home July 1 in West Tisbury, supported by the love of friends and family and in the company of her children. Born June 8, 1929, to parents Margaret Benita Paine and Chester A. Stover in Scranton, Pa., she spent her youth in the Allegheny Valley, living in Binghamton, Syracuse, Scranton and Camp Hill. She commuted to Dickinson College where she met her future husband, Charles Bennett Cook III (“Chuck”). It was at Dickinson that she developed her deep love of early English literature while obtaining her undergraduate degree. Marg spent her childhood summers at Lake Winola and passed on to her children stories of idyllic times canoeing and rambling with her beloved cousins, Kitty, Nancy, Dotty St. John, and her brother, Chet. While newlyweds, she and Chuck lived in Boston as he completed studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. With Chuck’s specialty in the Middle East and his facility for foreign languages, they soon had their first posting with the U. S. Foreign Service Diplomatic Corps in Tabriz, Iran. The young woman from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, met her new life with open arms. The couple lived in five countries through two revolutions. Marg and Chuck’s four children were born in Iran, Sweden, and Lebanon. Returning to the States in 1964, they began “civilian life” in Northern Virginia. During the years in Virginia, Margaret cared for her family and was involved in the usual complement of committees, such as PTA and Scouts. However, she soon plunged into the great causes of her time, working for integration and economic justice. Through the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., she and Chuck worked tirelessly and with real sacrifice for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Poor People’s Campaign and supported peace rallies. She was a founding member of Deborah’s Place, an innovative half-way house for women in DC. During all of this time, she faithfully cared for each of the elder members of the family as their needs increased. Finally, Marg and Chuck moved to New England and lived in Franklin, where Margaret volunteered at Norwood Hospital as a Patient Advocate. She loved the deeply engaging work and was recognized as volunteer of the year. Throughout their many moves and during their time in Virginia and Massachusetts, the Island became more and more “home” as Margaret returned with family to the home of her in-laws, Charlie and Hazel Cook, in West Tisbury. In 1994, Marg and Chuck were able to realize her dream to move to the Island year-round. In their last great adventure as a couple, Marg and Chuck (a Navy veteran) traveled to England and Normandy for the observance of the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Chuck, Margaret’s husband of 43 years, died in August of 1995. Margaret spent her last years deeply involved in Island life, serving on the West Tisbury Conservation Commission and as a Senior Deacon at the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury. People found Margaret to be a beloved friend and, for many, an “adopted” mom. Margaret will be remembered for her salty, irreverent wit, which invited others to be themselves, her ready contributions to community life and her boundless care for others. She enjoyed bird watching, camping with her family, and a good cup of coffee with friends. Her grandchildren remember her as loving, caring and always there for you and all were welcome in her home except at New Year’s Eve. It was then that Margaret hosted her infamous West Tisbury New Year’s Eve sleepover. Margaret is lovingly remembered by her children and grandchildren: Pamela and her fiancé Peter Pogue and his daughters Meredyth and Megan; Bradford and Marjorie Cook and their children James, Thomas and Elizabeth; Priscilla and John Karau and their children Jack and Matthew; and William and Debra Cook and their children Emily and Bennett. In addition, Margaret is lovingly remembered by her brother Chet, his wife Peggy Stover, their sons Ryan and Evan, and numerous cousins. Her memorial service was held at the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury on July 6. Burial took place in the family lot at the West Tisbury Cemetery. Donations may be made in Margaret’s memory to First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, PO Box 3000, PMB 3111, West Tisbury, MA 02575, Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, P.O. Box 2549, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557 or Women Empowered, P.O. Box 1253, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568. Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, Oak Bluffs. Visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com for online guest book. |
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