Classsmate Passings May 2024 to August 2024

             Harry Meacham Brants died peacefully in the early morning hours of July 17, 2024 in Fort Worth, TX.  Harry was a lifelong resident of Fort Worth.  He was reserved and always a serious student.  Harry graduated from Yale University and the University of Texas Law School in Austin, where he was Editor of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.  Harry started his legal career working with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  He then moved back to Fort Worth and was a partner in the firms of Hudson, Keltner, Smith and Cunningham and McLean & Sanders.  Harry was a member of the Brackett & Ellis Law Firm for a number of years, and he officed with his sister, Lucy Brants, for the last two years of his practice.  Harry practiced law for over 50 years.  He was board-certified in estate tax, and his practice focused primarily on estate planning, wills and trusts, probate matters, and tax matters.  Harry was a highly respected member of the legal community in Fort Worth.  Harry was a lifelong hunter and fisherman.  He loved the outdoors, and he was an expert bow hunter and fisherman.  Harry loved to hunt in Wyoming and Alaska with his friends.  He spent many happy hours hunting and fishing on his family’s land at Eagle Mountain Lake.  Harry challenged himself by becoming a marathon runner when he was in his 50’s, and ran the New York City Marathon with his daughter Emily.  Harry believed in Fort Worth and served on various boards and belonged to many local organizations.  In 2013 Harry was honored by Historic Fort Worth’s Preservation Is the Art of the City for his many contributions to the Fort Worth arts community and his support of preservation efforts in Fort Worth.  Harry is survived by his children, Dr. Allan Brants, Emily Brants Templin, and David Brants; his sister Lucy Brants; four grandchildren; and five nieces and nephews.

            Gerrit Osborne recalls:  “During a visit to Fort Worth with Harry during our Sophomore Year we were cruising in his Ford convertible out in the countryside, and for some reason we had a shotgun with us.  Spying vultures circling what we assumed was a dead animal, we pulled off the road to see what was going on.  Approaching from opposite sides of the vultures’ target, we came upon a dead something with a very interested vulture about to feast on it.  As we approached, the vulture took a greater interest in Harry then he did in the carrion, and Harry, protected by his 12 gauge, raised it and blew the vulture out of sky.  I was directly in his line of fire, and I’m sure he missed me by more than it seemed at the time, but it makes a good story.”

             Elton Hathaway Follett died on July 24, 2024 at home in Ozona, FL.  As a youth he was known as Tony and attended Evanston Township High School in Evanston, IL, where he became highly successful as a swimmer, setting numerous state and national records.  He continued his career at Yale University, where he was captain of the Freshman team and a member of the All-American team that swam in Japan and at the Pan-American Games.  Elton married Nancy Ennis during college and they moved to California for a few years after graduation.  They then moved to England, where he started The Dolphin School, a Montessori-style college preparatory institution.  The Dolphin School is located in Berkshire, England, where it remains a thriving day school.  After his divorce, Elton moved to nearby Reading, where he studied both Cordon Bleu culinary arts and psychotherapy.  He became renowned both for his excellent dinners and for his mentoring to his psychotherapy clients.  Elton was always interested in sailing and sailed across the Atlantic with two friends.  He married Dagmar Strasser in 2004.  In 2014 they retired to Florida, where Elton continued his love of the water by daily snorkeling and messing around with small boats.  Elton leaves his wife Dagmar; his children Daena Lambert (deceased), Saul Hathaway, Morgane Tredway, and Thea Maia; and five grandchildren.

            Elton’s widow Dagmar remembers:  “In spite of his failing health, he was determined to attend last year’s Reunion, which he did and greatly enjoyed.  He was so proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of Yale.”  Bob Dickie recalls:  “Elton was fun to be around.  He had a real presence and curiosity.  He was open-minded and a natural-born learner.  He came up with an original way to approach secondary education, and to develop that further he founded and ran a school in England.”  Phil Stevens writes:  “I am saddened by the news of Elton’s passing.  Not only a great swimmer, a great guy, self-effacing, with a ready smile and sense of humor.”

Guy Miller Struve, Secretary

90 The Uplands

Berkeley, CA 94705

E-Mail:  guy.struve@davispolk.com

Class Website:  www.yale63.org