OBITUARIES, June 5, 2007

Stuyvesant B. Pell, Helen I. Gallagher, Richard A. Carroll Jr., Nancy Jean Alexander, Renee C. Kessler

Stuyvesant B. Pell


Championship rower
   
LAWRENCE — Stuyvesant B. Pell died Sunday at home. He was 75.
   He was a Lawrence resident since 1964.
   An insurance executive, Mr. Pell was an avid rower and consistent first-place medal winner in masters rowing races at local, national and international regattas for three decades
   Born in Pittsfield, Mass., he spent his childhood on the campus of St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Del., where his father, the Rev. Walden Pell II, an Episcopal priest, was headmaster.
   Mr. Pell attended the Rectory School in Pomfret, Conn., for a year before attending St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., where he rowed for three years.
   After receiving his diploma in 1949 he went to Princeton University, where he rowed with the 150-pound crew until spring break of his junior year when it was suggested he drop crew to pay more attention to his studies. He enlisted in the Marine Corps during his senior year and after graduating from Princeton in 1953, attended Officer Candidate’s School in Quantico, Va.
   Commissioned a second lieutenant, later promoted to first lieutenant, Mr. Pell was assigned to Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, N.C., where he served as commander of a heavy machine gun platoon that was part of a weapons company. His service also included a six-month stint in the Mediterranean attached to the Sixth Fleet.
   He was released from active duty with the Marines in September, 1955 and was married to Patricia C. Doom of Wilmington, Del. the following April.
   Mr. Pell and his wife lived initially in Sandy Springs, Ga., where he worked for the W.R. Bonsal Co., manufacturer of Sakrete and other cement products owned by his mother’s family. After 13 months he joined Chubb & Son insurers and moved to Bronxville, N.Y. It was the beginning of a long and varied career in the insurance business carried out in Chubb offices in Seattle, New York and Philadelphia, among others.
   The Pells lived on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound for four years before returning to the East Coast in 1964 and settling in Lawrence.
   Mr. Pell took early retirement in 1989 and began devoting himself to various interests, one of which was rowing. As a boy he had rowed a single shell at St. Andrew’s School and later rowed a single shell while living on Bainbridge Island.
   After moving to Lawrence, he initially ran marathons, half marathons and 10K races. In 1976, at age 45, he rowed his first Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, coming in 23rd out of 33 entrants, and a new career of competing in racing shells was launched.
   Over the years Mr. Pell placed first in his single at the Head of the Charles seven times and set the course record twice in his age group. He consistently won first place medals at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia and innumerable other head and sprint races along the East Coast, the West Coast and in Canada.
   In 1983 he won his first National Singles Championship in the grand master class. He competed in four or five International Federation of Rowing Associations (FISA) international masters races, including the FISA Masters Regatta held on Mercer Lake in September, 2006, winning his age group in the single. His strategy was to row hard at the start to get ahead of the competition and to stay ahead for the rest of the race.
   Mr. Pell was a member and secretary of the Princeton University Rowing Association, a member of University Barge Club in Philadelphia and a founder and former trustee of Carnegie Lake Rowing Association in Princeton.
   In addition to rowing, Mr. Pell volunteered with the Trenton After School Program. A skilled builder of model airplanes and boats, he often brought his latest project to class to add to their learning experience.
   Mr. Pell was a longtime member of Trinity Church in Princeton and a member of its Adult Choir.
   He was vice president and a trustee of the Fort Ticonderoga Association, a Pell family endeavor dating back to 1820 devoted to preserving, maintaining and operating the fort in upper New York state as an historic site open to the public.
   Husband of the late Patricia Pell, who died in 2003, brother of the late Melissa Thomson, he is survived by daughters, Alison C. Pell of Snohomish, Wash. and Sarah B. Pell-Stires of Trenton; sons-in-law Michael Helms and Wayne Stires; sister Mary Leigh Whitmer of Fairfield, CT and Quogue, N.Y.; grandsons James, Sam and Grayson Helms of Snohomish, Wash.; and friend and companion Louise G. Dunham.
   A memorial service will be held 3 p.m. Thursday at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer St., Princeton. A reception will follow at the Princeton University Boathouse on Faculty Road.
   Memorial contributions may be made to the Trenton After School Program, 801 West State St., Trenton, NJ 08608; Fort Ticonderoga Association Inc. Box 390, Ticonderoga, NY 12883; or Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540.
Helen I. Gallagher


Local artist
   
MONTGOMERY — Helen Irwin Gallagher, a longtime resident of Princeton and Nantucket, Mass., died May 24 at home in Stonebridge at Montgomery. Her death, after a long illness, followed by 15 days the death of her husband, Henry M. Gallagher. She was 81.
   A painter, her work, mostly in acrylic, include abstracts, landscapes, still life and portraits in a style some described as "unique contemporary post-impressionist." Art critics used words like "luminous," or referred to the "deep warmth" and "unabashed optimism" in describing her work.
   After moving to Princeton in 1964, she was active in the Princeton Art Association and studied privately under artists Nelson Shanks, Jacques Fabert and Sam Feinstein.
   She exhibited her work widely in the Princeton area including the 1860 House in Montgomery, the Coryell Gallery in Lambertville, Philips Mill in New Hope, the Nassau Club, Rider University and Mercer County Community College. Several one-person shows were held at galleries in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
   Born and raised in Ohio, she received a bachelor’s degree from Antioch College, where she met her future husband, whom she married in 1950. After college she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Nebraska. She worked for a period with weaver-designer Dorothy Liebes in New York City.
   She is survived by her daughters, Jane Gallagher, Ann Gallagher and Marian Gallagher Zelazny; grandchildren Lilah and Clara Steece, Patrick and Andrew Furlong and Iga, Kaya and Ian Zelazny.
   A joint celebration of the lives of Helen and Henry Gallagher will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, 11 a.m. June 16.
   In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the 1860 House/Montgomery Center for the Arts, 124 Montgomery Road, Skillman, NJ 08558 or the Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203.
Richard A. Carroll Jr.


Memorial service Thursday
   
A memorial service for Richard A. Carroll Jr., 88, of Princeton, who died Sept. 21, will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Trinity Church, Crescent Avenue, Rocky Hill.
   A private burial will be held immediately following the memorial service in Princeton Cemetery.
   In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Trinity Church, P.O. Box 265, Crescent Ave., Rocky Hill, NJ 08553.
   Arrangements are by Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
Nancy Jean Alexander


Massage therapist
   
LAWRENCE — Nancy Jean Alexander died April 27.
   She lived in the Princeton and Lawrence area for 20 years and touched many lives through her massage therapy, personal training and exercise classes.
   He had a private massage therapy business which included work in many area senior centers.
   She is survived by her husband Cosmo Pagano of Lawrence; daughters Lisa O’Driscoll of San Francisco and Kathryn Seale; sisters Connie Lewis of Atlanta and Lee Lawson of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and granddaughter Kylie Seale of Delaware.
   Memorial contributions may be made to the American Institute for Cancer Research, 1759 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009.
   Arrangements were by Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, Pennington.
Renee C. Kessler


Handwriting expert
   
HIGHTSTOWN — Renee Cohen Kessler, whose professional name was Renee C. Martin, died Thursday. She was 79.
   Born in Brooklyn, she has lived in East Windsor and Hightstown area since 1966.
   She was founder and owner of Questioned Documents Inc. and Forgery Forensics in Princeton where she was a forensic handwriting expert and graphologist.
   She was involved with the East Windsor Democratic Club and the Princeton Chamber of Commerce.
   She was the co-founder of the National Association for Document Examiners and was a member of Mensa and Intertell.
   She served in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II and was a longtime member of Beth El Synagogue. She was past president of the Mercer County American Cancer Society and past president of the Mercer County chapter of Business and Professional Women’s Association.
   During her youth in Brooklyn, she was a member of a light opera company and Yiddish theater repertoire. She was very fond of her two cats, Tiger and Morocco.
   Predeceased by her parents, brothers and daughter, Elena, she is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Ken and Cheryl Kessler of Raymore, Texas; daughter and son-in-law Laurel and Al VanBlarcum of Waxahatchie, Texas; daughter Julia Kessler of East Windsor and her ex-husband Howard Kessler of New York; grandchildren Robert Covert of Missouri, Raymond Covert of Texas, and Martin and Victoria Covert of Princeton; and many nieces and nephews.
   The funeral was Monday at Glackin/Saul Funeral Home, Hightstown.
   Her family began Shivah following the Monday service.
   Memorial contributions may be made to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250, Dallas, TX 75244.