October 14, 2004

OBITUARIES

Jerry Glenn Hughes

Jerry Glenn Hughes died Wednesday, Oct. 6, at home in Goes Station. He was 69.

Jerry was born in Marin County, Calif., in 1935, the son of Glenn Wesley Hughes and Margaret Russell Hughes. After graduating from San Rafael High School in 1954, he spent four years as a Navy photographer, making his first trip to Antarctica. After being discharged, he studied photographic science at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., and graduated in 1960.

His first job was with ITEK in Boston, and later he worked for Mead Technology Labs in Dayton and for Lockheed-Martin in Sunnyvale, Calif. He was involved in imaging and satellites.

Jerry’s 32-foot Cheoy Lee sailboat, Odyssey, was an important part of his life. He lived aboard near Boston and in Sausalito, Calif., and he sailed through the Panama Canal, up and down the West Coast and across the Pacific. Lasting friendships were formed with the crew, particularly Ken Lannamann of Vero Beach, Fla., who sailed Odyssey through the South Pacific for a couple of years while Jerry worked, joining the ship occasionally. Later, sanding and varnishing were done by a procession of young world travelers who walked down the dock in Sausalito looking for work. Notable among them was Jez Grimshaw of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, who also became a staunch friend.

After retiring from Lockheed and selling Odyssey, Jerry lived for about six years in Forestville, in Sonoma County, Calif., with Martie Jensen and the yellow cat Pancho.

As soon as he had been retired from Lockheed for the year required by security regulations, he took his first trip to Russia. After that he traveled to China, India, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, Uzbekistan, England, Ireland, the North Pole, Germany, Switzerland, France, Ecuador, Peru, the Galapagos, Chile, Argentina, and back more than once to Russia. Martie accompanied him on most of those trips, and many were with the organization People to People, founded by President Eisenhower to promote peace by getting people to know each other.

In 2001 Jerry, Martie and Pancho moved to Yellow Springs, where Martie and Jerry were married. Jerry was associated with Presbyterian churches much of his life, but became involved with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, where he enjoyed photographing people and events. He also maintained an extensive Web page.

Jerry was always interested in education and recently in the potential of distance learning. He maintained a close connection with RIT and friends there. A few years ago he established the Jerry G. Hughes Scholarship for a student in imaging science. He has sponsored two Tibetan school girls in the province of Kham.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Martie Jensen, and by three cousins, Barbara Starr Diekmann and Lorraine Starr Poe of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Douglas Williams of Lanai City, Hawaii.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, Oct. 17, 3 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meetinghouse.

Dorothy Anne Somers

Dorothy Anne Bohanan Somers died Tuesday, Oct. 5, in Gallatin, Tenn. She was 71.

She was born in Massachusetts and lived there for 23 years. She worked for the Tap & Dic. She then moved to Michigan and worked for General Motors as an auditor for 32 years. In the late 1960s she moved to Yellow Springs, where she worked as a real estate agent for 12 years. She moved to Tennessee in 1998 and became a published photographer, an avid gardener and an Avon representative.

She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne Flick and son-in-law, Mark Flick, of Bethpage; five grandchildren, Mark Flick II of Hendersonville, Michael Flick of Bethpage, Melissa Hughes of Corinth, Mass., Matthew Flick of Bethpage and Chris Oates of Beaverton, Mich.; and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were conducted Friday, Oct. 8, at Grace Baptist Church in Bethpage. Interment was in Crestview Memorial Park. Alexander Funeral Home in Gallatin is in charge of arrangements.