Bessie B. Nixon, Barbara G. Hill, Joel B. Johnson, Raymond E. Douglas, Clarence L. Atchley
Bessie B. Nixon
Lifelong Princeton resident
Bessie Beatrice Nixon of Princeton died Monday at University Medical Center at Princeton. She was 87.
Born in Princeton and educated in Princeton Regional Schools, she was a lifelong Princeton resident.
She worked as a cook at the Nassau Club, University Medical Center at Princeton, Princeton Nursing Home and Princeton Nursery School.
She was a member of Mt. Pisgah AME Church.
Daughter of the late Winnie Harmon, mother of the late Robert J. Thompson, and Joan M. Briscoe, special cousin of the late Nancy Scott, she is survived by daughters Cynthia Thompson and Bertha Romaine; grandchildren Richard Daniels, Nancy Thompson, Vantina Thompson, Parris Daniels, Berlyn Daniels, John Thompson, Chad Briscoe, Minyette Thompson and Ashante Thompson; 15 great-grandchildren; and many other relatives.
The funeral will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Pisgah AME Church, 170 Witherspoon St., Princeton with the Rev. Vernard R. Leak officiating.
Calling hours will be 11 a.m. Saturday until time of service at the church.
Interment will be at Fountain Lawn Memorial Park, Ewing.
Arrangements are by the Hughes Funeral Home, Trenton.
Barbara G. Hill
Lifelong Princeton resident
Barbara Gwendolyn Hill of Princeton died Sunday at home. She was 81.
Born in Princeton, she was a lifelong Princeton resident.
She was educated in the Princeton school system, graduating from Princeton High School.
In 1944 she married Willie Joseph Hill and from this union five children were born.
Daughter of the late Walter Lee and Wilma Rhoden Kennedy, wife of the late Willie Joseph Hill, sister of the late Johnnie Lewis, Wilton Kennedy and Patsy Kennedy, she is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Willie "Billy" and Grace Hill of East Windsor; daughters and sons-in-law April H. McElroy of Princeton, Johnnie and John Hill-Hudgins, Michael Marie Hill, and Denise H. and Paul Wooten of Trenton; sister-in-law Dannie F. Kennedy; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; two goddaughters, and many nieces, grandnieces and cousins.
A memorial service will be held 3 p.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Princeton, Paul Robeson Place and John Street, Princeton.
Joel B. Johnson
RCA patent agent
NEWFANE, Vt. Joel Benjamin Johnson died Sunday at Grace Cottage Hospital, Townshend, Vt. He was 97.
Mr. Johnson was a senior patent agent for RCA Corp., and built the family’s first television set with his elder son in the 1950s.
Born in Kuling, China, he grew up with his missionary parents, three brothers and sister. He was a Princeton resident over 40 years before moving to Vermont.
He attended Kuling American School and graduated from Princeton High School in 1928.
Upon graduation from Princeton University in 1932, he taught science at a mission school in Mt. Zion, Ga., where he met his future wife, whom he married in 1934.
An avid tennis player, he also belonged to the Carnegie Sailing Club and Princeton Archaeology Club.
He and his wife were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, where he served as elder.
In 1977 he and his wife served as Peace Corps volunteers teaching on the small Caribbean island of Barbuda, off Antigua. They later lived in Salzburg and Faistenau, Austria, and traveled extensively.
They returned to Princeton, where Mr. Johnson volunteered as a Princeton University track meet official and at the Historical Society of Princeton.
In May he attended his 75th Princeton University reunion, accompanied by many family members.
Husband of the late Elizabeth Zibby Fink Johnson, he is survived by his sister, Laura Woodliff of Marietta, Ga.; daughters and son-in-law Joyce and Robert Kirkpatrick of Middletown, Conn. and Patricia Johnson of Newfane, Vt.; sons and daughters-in-law Joel and Molly Johnson of The Woodlands, Texas and Peter and Marie Betts Johnson of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; grandsons Robert and Stephen Kirkpatrick, Heidi Buschang, Joel Johnson and Neil Johnson; 10 great-grandchildren; two step-great-grandchildren; 13 nephews and nieces; and his AFS Swedish daughter Ann-Sofie Gumaelius.
Burial will be July 21 in Cambridge Springs, Pa.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to Grace Cottage Foundation, P.O. Box 216, Townshend, VT, 05353, or to the charity of donors choice.
Raymond E. Douglas
New York Times executive
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. Raymond "Ray" Edward Douglas died June 29. He was 58.
A former West Windsor resident, he was the corporate chief information officer at The New York Times before retiring.
He played a major role in introducing color to The New York Times news pages and the addition of daily sections during the 1990s.
Prior to joining The New York Times in 1990, he was systems director at USA Today. He was one of the founding members of USA Today.
He was influential in the design of the initial publishing and color systems when Gannett Corp. launched USA Today in 1981.
Following retirement from The Times in 2001, he moved to St. Augustine, Fla., and started the monthly St. Augustine Community Journal and a photography business.
He also volunteered a great deal of his time on the homeowners board, as resident member of the board of directors, chairman of the finance committee and member and board representative of the security committee for the neighborhood.
His interests included gardening, technology and golf.
Born in Honolulu and a graduate of Michigan State University, he served in the Air Force and was the recipient of a Purple Heart during his service in Vietnam.
Son of the late Raymond E. Douglas, he is survived by his wife of 20 years, Nancy Douglas of St. Augustine, Fla.; mother Blanche Costa Douglas of Leesburg, Va.; brother and sister-in-law Robert and Marla Douglas of Leesburg, Va.; mother-in-law and father-in-law Henry and Pearl Kwiatkowski of Bremerton, Wash.; sisters-in-law Carol Hill and her husband Michael and Diane Hoxie and her husband Derrick, all of St. Augustine, Fla.; nieces and nephews Drew, Amber, and Parker Douglas, Laramie, David, and Matthew Hill, and Derrick, Kathryn and Jillian Hoxie.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the charity of the donors choice.
Arrangements were by Hardage-Giddens Mandarin Chapel, St. Augustine, Fla.
Clarence L. Atchley
Foreman at seminary
MONTGOMERY Clarence L. Atchley died Wednesday at University Medical Center at Princeton. He was 91.
Born in Harbourton, in the Hopewell Township area, he had resided in Harbourton for many years before moving to Montgomery.
He was a grounds foreman at the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Son of the late Jesse and Lizzie Lowe Atchley, husband of the late Cleo M. Atchley, he is survived by daughters and sons-in-law Shirley and Richard Goudie of Rhode Island, Peggy and Bob Kennedy of Hillsboro, and Carla and Bill Borden of Harbourton; brother and sister-in-law Charles and Esther Atchley of Montgomery; seven grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
The funeral will be 2 p.m. today at Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington, with the Rev. Susan Fall, associate pastor of the Pennington Presbyterian Church, officiating.
Burial will be in the Harbourton Cemetery.
Calling hour is 1 p.m. until time of the service at the funeral home.
Condolences may be left at www.wilsonapple.com.

