Classsmate Passings November
2023 to April 2024
Duncan
Adrian Girad Footman
Douglas
Moore Graybill
Carl
Vitez Normandy
Heber
C Pierce
Charles
Edward (“Chad”)
Snee III
Duncan
Adrian Girard Footman passed
away peacefully in his home in St. Helena, CA on April 8, 2024.
Duncan hit a turning point while attending Yale when he spent his
Junior Year in Madrid, learning Spanish and studying literature and
art. After graduating from Yale, he at
tended the University of Chicago Law School and spent three years in
the Peace Corps in Venezuela. Duncan then worked in Chicago for
three years as a lawyer for Legal Aid. In 1972 he began working
at the Legal Aid outpost in Napa, CA. A few years later he
formed a two-man office in St. Helena, and later became a partner
with Coombs and Dunlap. He was a creative trial attorney,
creative, reliable, and concerned about his clients’ outcomes.
While working in Napa, he met the love of his life, Ana Vigil, who
later became the proprietor of Ana’s Cantina in St. Helena.
Ana was his devoted wife and supportive companion. Duncan was a
father to Ana’s children, Roxana and Michael Rallis and Catalina
and Vanessa Gonzalez, and they loved him back in the same way.
The highlight of his days was to have the whole family gathered to
savor Ana’s cooking and regale them with tales of his adventures.
Despite his ailments requiring his wife Ana’s near-constant
attendance, Duncan retained his engaging, positive demeanor until his
earthly departure, which occurred peacefully during an extended nap.
Duncan is survived by his wonderful wife Ana; his children Louisa and
Alex Footman; Roxana and Michael Rallis; Catalina and Vanessa
Gonzalez; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
John
Tuteur remembers:
“Duncan and I were both from the San Francisco Bay Area and
traveled occasionally to and from Yale. In 1972 Duncan moved to
the Napa Valley and we kept in touch over the past 45 years.
Duncan was quiet but determined and used his attorney skills on
behalf of the disadvantaged in our community. At one point
Duncan joined a movement that had him wearing long, flowing white
robes. He was certainly a hit when he wore those to our rather
conservative courtrooms.”
Douglas
Moore Graybill died
on April 2, 2024 at his home in Vero Beach, FL. He was
surrounded by his family and passed peacefully. Doug received
his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Yale
University. From there his career took him to IBM for 30
years and then to a consulting company he cofounded. Throughout
his life, Doug was fun-loving, kind, and generous. He loved the
outdoors, all animals, and the water. His thousands of pictures
are reflective of this. He was a strong supporter of helping to
save the lagoon, the Indian River Trust, the Environmental Learning
Center, and Quail Charities. He was an extraordinary husband, a
devoted father and grandfather, and a loyal friend. Doug is
survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Lesia; his daughters Susan
Totten and Dawn Sirras; his son Steven; and five grandchildren. Bill
Couchman writes:
“Doug was my roommate at Yale for three years. We both
majored in Electrical Engineering and had many classes together.
Much of what we did together was in simply bullshitting in our rooms
while drinking Budweiser. Doug did much of his ‘philosophizing’
sitting cross-legged on top of the refrigerator. One time we
had a contest to see who could give the most blood in a semester.
The winner got to ‘keep’ the goldfish we had been growing.
When Doug won, he decided that the winner should actually drink the
goldfish, which he promptly did. I last visited Doug on March
14, 2024. At the time, he seemed in good spirits and little
pain. But Lesia told me later that he was a good actor, and
probably had a lot of pain and was quite pessimistic about living for
long. We had both shared having lymphoma for ten years or so.
Mine had expanded to include leukemia, but I had been successful in
finding treatment that put me in remission (now five years).
Unfortunately, Doug’s expanded into cancer of the bladder and
liver, which seemed untreatable.” Chuck
Hellar recalls:
“Doug Graybill was always a joyful and friendly person from the
first time I met him at Lawrenceville until the time he passed away.
After college, we did not see much of each other, except for reunions
at both schools, until I started going to Vero Beach, FL for three
months in the winter starting about ten years ago. And there he
was, a permanent resident of Vero. We played golf, took
excursions, and saw each other often. He had not changed over
that time, always being joyful and friendly. Over the last few
years, when he was fighting cancer, he began sending emails to his
friends, five or six at a time two times a week. They were political,
comical, jokes, and about everything else he found interesting.
I will always remember Doug by his personality and those emails.”
C
arl Vitez Ormandy died
on January 11, 2024. Carl was born in Hungary, and escaped to
the West by h imself in 1957 by traveling to East Berlin and taking
the subway to West Berlin. After graduating from Yale, Carl
attended graduate school at Columbia University, and taught at
Wilbraham and Pingry. In 1967 Carl became an agent with
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. In our 50th Reunion Class
Book, Carl wrote: “Access to the intimate personal, family
and business affairs of my policyholders has been an awesome
privilege and responsibility, and this kept me in business through
the bad times as well as the good.” Carl is survived by his
partner, Lorna Ganit, and their daughter Lea. Tom
Bailey remembers
Carl as follows: “When I think of Carl it is with deep
admiration for the courage it took for him as a teenager to escape
Hungary and forge a life and career in America on his own. He
walked to the beat of a different drummer, suffered no fools, was
quick to smile, was firm in his opinions, was a fierce competitor on
the Yale swimming team, and was one of the most self-confident
fellows I met at Yale. He may not always have been right, but
he was never in doubt. And it was Carl who got me a job as
night watchman at the Jewish Home for the Aged in New Haven when I
desperately needed a job!”
Heber
C. Pierce passed
away on December 28, 2023 in Mercy Walworth Hospital, Lake Geneva,
WI. In our 50th Reunion Class Book, Heber wrote that the 50
years since graduation had passed like a blur: “Leaving New
Haven, joining a [Navy] ship, sailing half way around the world,
losing friends and family in Vietnam, going to work in the real
estate business in Chicago, and surviving the ’70s, ’80s, and
’90s seemed like a movie in fast forward.” More recently,
Heber retired to Williams Bay, WI, and enjoyed renovating his new
house after living in a Chicago apartment all his adult life.
Heber is survived by his wife, Suzanne C. “Gigi” Pierce; his
children Amanda and Charles; and one grandchild. Paul
Field writes:
“Heber and I were close since our undergraduate days. He was
in my wedding in New York and I was in his in Chicago. With the
blessing of texts we stayed very close, even living half a country
apart. He was smart, caring, funny, and a very good friend.”
Charles
Edwards “Chad” Snee III passed
away on November 28, 2023, surrounded by his wife and children,
following a difficult battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Chad
earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from Yale University in
1964. Chad then served four years in the United States Navy,
achieving the rank of Lieutenant. In 1972, he earned a Juris
Doctorate from Georgetown University Law School. Chad and his
first wife, Karolen Bacon Linderman, were married in 1965 and had two
sons, Charles Edwards Snee IV and Peter Clark Snee. Chad met
his second wife, Janet Celeste Cox, when they were both working at
the U.S. Patent Office in 1971. Their marriage of 50 years
began on September 1, 1973, and they had two children, Henry “Mackie”
Thom McClelland LeFevre-Snee and Julia “Beth” Elizabeth Sanchez.
After graduating from law school, Chad worked as an intellectual
property lawyer at the U.S. Patent Office and in private practice in
Washington, DC. In 1985 Chad moved with his family to Lebanon,
NH, where he worked as an in-house attorney for AMCA International.
From 1989 to 2005, Chad was an in-house attorney for Eastman Kodak
Company in Rochester, NY, retiring as General Counsel. Chad was
a voracious reader and avid jogger, and enjoyed riding his motorcycle
on the Blue Ridge Parkway during his retirement in Lynchburg, VA.
Chad is survived by his wife, Janet; his children Charles and Peter
Snee, Mackie LeFevre-Snee, and Beth Sanchez; and ten grandchildren.
Guy
Miller Struve,
Secretary
90
The Uplands
Berkeley,
CA 94705
E-Mail: guy.struve@davispolk.com
Class
Website: www.yale63.org