Richard Bernard Wathen ’39

Dick died Mar. 14, 2001, near his longtime summer residence in Maine. Born in Jeffersonville, Ind., he served for 18 years in that state's legislature as a Republican who routinely won elections in heavily Democratic Clark County. Known for lack of partisanship and his hard work on behalf of all the community, he was serving as minority whip when he retired in 1992. He graduated from Indiana U. law school before joining the Navy during WWII, where he participated in the capture of submarine U-505 and later commanded LST 864 in the Pacific campaign. He worked for the CIA for four years before returning to Jeffersonville to take over the family home.

Always a man of letters, he once served as editor of Story magazine and authored three books, the last of which is Wathen's Law, a nonfiction account of his experiences in the legislature.

His first wife, Viola James, died in 1974. He is survived by his wife, Amelie Walmsley, sons Richard and John, daughter Viola Sheehan, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandsons. We offer them our sympathy.

The Class of 1939