Edward Waller ’47

Ned’s World War II Navy service as a radar specialist led to a year’s sojourn on Guam. Returning to Princeton, he graduated in 1948 as an honor student in SPIA. He began a career as a textile designer with Dan Mills Inc., and married “Frannie” (Frances Mason) in 1950.

Despite publishing some significant articles in trade journals and earning professional recognition, he heartily disliked rising at 6 a.m. for the long commute from Fanwood, N.J., to Manhattan — longing for retirement and a return to Danville, Va., and the Blue Ridge mountain country, where he previously lived.

Finally realizing that dream, he wrote (for our 50th) of the joys of small-town life “where a person’s life touches everyone else” and where one can reflect on “life’s pageant.” Ned was an accomplished guitarist and singer of folk songs — often displaying these talents on his front porch for his beloved hound.

A staunch conservative, he deplored the many changes at Princeton since our time. Still, Old Nassau’s mystique lived on, and he loved our class and later reunions as we all mellowed.

Ned died March 11, 2006. With fond remembrances of the bright mind, humor, and warmth of this Southern gentleman, we send our affection and sympathies to Frannie and the family.