Louis Rest Du Van De Velde ’37

ROTC trainer and Army veteran, Louis van de Velde died Feb. 24, 1998, in Chapel Hill, N.C. He is buried in Arlington Cemetery. Louis left daughters Catherine and Suzanne and three grandchildren. His wife of 41 years, Nell, died in 1989. His brother, Bob '33, died in 1996.

Van prepared at Cochran-Bryan in Annapolis. He entered Princeton with $50 and a $300 loan, majored in history, and was manager of Terrace.

After three years in NYC publishing, he went on active duty teaching ROTC at Princeton, becoming an honorary member of the Class of '44. He served in Korea, Hokkaido, Japan, the Rhineland, and Central European campaigns until he was captured; he spent the last 33 nights of the war walking to Salzburg, winning a Bronze Star. He left the Army in 1961, as lieutenant colonel. Van spent 13 years as an engineer with IBM, marketing complex, non-military computer systems for various governments. He retired to Rhode Island in 1975, where he and Nell completely rebuilt an old house. They traveled to Kenya, Peru, Costa Rica, and Europe.

After Nell's death he moved to Arizona, where he tutored a young man in ESL. Dissatisfied with the ESL materials, he devised readings in American history and politics to enrich his instruction. He moved in Oct. 1997 to Chapel Hill.

The Class of 1937