We are saddened to report the sudden death January 18, 2016 of Gerald R. “Gerry” Potts, a  classmate of John Updike’s who was a four-sport athlete at Shillington High School (football, basketball, track, and baseball). He was 85.

Potts, who graduated ahead of Updike and the Class of 1950, kept in touch with Updike later in life, especially after the Reading Eagle published a story naming him as a possible model for Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom. Updike sent him a postcard saying, no, he wasn’t, and Potts, who believed in the society’s mission, donated his Updike letters to the Updike archive at Alvernia several years ago.

Potts retired in 1980 but has been an active community member for all of his life, serving on the Shillington Borough Council, the Shillington Zoning and Planning Commission, and the Governor Mifflin School Board, among other organizations.

Here is his obituary. Potts is pictured (left) on his front porch in 2011 with Dave Silcox, Updike’s Shillington contact in whose dining room the first formative meeting of the society took place. The society offers sincere condolences to his wife, Shirley, and children Lori, Richard, and Andrew, all of Shillington.

Services will be 9:30 a.m. at the Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, 739 Penn Ave., West Reading. Contributions may be made to Governor Mifflin School District, ℅ Funds for Future Athletic Endeavors, Attn: Pat Tulley, Athletic Director, 10 S. Waverly St., Shillington, PA  19607.

The Society belatedly learned that Kathryn “Kay” Brobst Hartman died on May 24, 2015 in Towanda, Pa., where she lived most of her married life. She was the last surviving teacher that John Updike had as a youth, teaching the young author-to-be reading and science at the 6th grade level. She was 99 years old. Our sympathies (and gratitude for her life) go out to her family.

Funeral announcement

Obituary

The society belatedly learned that member Ann Karnovsky, Ph.D., of Cambridge, Mass., died on Monday, June 23, 2014. Members who attended the 2nd Biennial John Updike Society Conference may recall meeting her, as she attended the event at the Houghton Library and left an impression on a number of us because of how passionate she was about books and manuscripts and Updike in particular. We will miss her. No photo is available.

Here is her obituary, as published in The Boston Globe on June 29, 2014.

We learned belatedly and are saddened to report that John Updike Society member Robert Weatherall died on December 26 at his home in Ipswich, Mass.

Members will remember Bob from the very first conference at Alvernia University in 2010, when he and Mary Weatherall (Updike’s first wife) mingled with registrants and displayed a graciousness that was topped only by their opening their Ipswich house to us for our second conference—even mounting an impressive display of Updike materials, especially for us. Those who interacted with Bob were touched by how genuine and gentlemanly he was, and how giving.

His obituary in The Ipswich Chronicle recalls a full life that began in wartime Britain and had an impact on countless people: “He was a passionate advocate of education and was the first to work to ensure the the Foeffees of Little Neck honored William Payne’s 17th century gift to Ipswich students. He had an abiding interest in the public good, whether it be the welfare of the schoolchildren of Ipswich or access to and stewardship of open spaces.”

Members in the area can attend a memorial that be held at Ascension Memorial Church in Ipswich on January 31 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in his name may be made to Essex County Greenbelt Association, 82 Eastern Ave., Essex, MA 01929, or to the Ipswich Music, Arts & Drama Association, Inc., Box 449, Ipswich, MA  01938. Visit www.whittier-porter.com to send a message of condolence.

Our sympathies go out to Mary and the children. He will be missed.

John Updike would have turned 82 today, and while there aren’t a lot of birthday tributes on the Internet now, in 2010 a site devoted to famous persons’ birthdays featured Updike:

“Happy Birthday, John Updike, Prolific Novelist, Critic and Poet”

The Society is saddened to report that Robert “Bob” McCoy passed away on Sunday, November 4. Dr. McCoy was the San Diego State University administrator/scholar behind the stage production of Buchanan Dying at the Little Theatre there March 18-20 and March 25-27, 1977, as part of The Institute for Readers Theatre Series. McCoy had written his dissertation on Updike’s short stories in 1974 at the University of Southern California.

Member James Yerkes says that Bob was “generous to a fault with information about his long personal acquaintance with Updike and a true gentleman scholar.” He is survived in San Diego by his wife, Arlene, and two sons.

We report with sadness that John Updike Society member Brent G. Worley, 64, died on April 16, 2012 after a long battle with cancer. A resident of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and a longtime member of the Governor Mifflin School Board, Brent was an avid reader and collector of John Updike’s works who had amassed a near-complete set of autographed first trade editions of Updike’s works. He will be missed.

Here is his obituary, as it appeared in the Reading Eagle. It contains details about the memorial service on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

Our sympathies go out to his wife, Professor Rebecca Baker Worley.

Yesterday marked John Updike’s 80th birthday, and in tribute The Christian Science Monitor offered 10 quotes “to commemorate one of America’s exceptional men of letters.”

Here’s the link to “John Updike: 10 quotes on his birthday.”