Holmlund > Anton and Matilda > Harry Holmlund > William Burwell

Obituary for WILLIAM OWINGS BURWELL:

Bill died Aug. 6, 2003, in Savannah.

Born in Seattle, he prepared at Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Princeton with honors in architecture. He was a member of Tower Club. After seven WWII submarine war patrols as electronics officer on the USS Gurnard and a Bronze Star, Bill married Harriet "Toni" Hopper in 1945. He returned to Princeton and received an MFA in architecture in 1949. He and Toni had two children, Pamela and Michael.

For 13 years, our creative classmate practiced with John Graham & Co. in Seattle. His pride and joy was the Ala Moana Center in Hawaii, which featured the first-ever rotating restaurant. Bill’s diversified community services included command of the Seattle submarine reserves, and his work as commanding officer of two peacetime submarine patrols. He retired as commander in 1962 when he moved the family to Rochester, N.Y., to begin his own architecture practice.

In Rochester, Bill served on the beautification committee, was chairman of the urban design commission, and was an Episcopalian vestryman. In retirement at Falmouth, Mass., Bill left a legacy of beautification and protection of the environment and public land.

Heartfelt sympathy goes to Toni; Pam and Michael; five grandchildren, including Amy Haenel ’93; and seven great-grandchildren.

The Class of 1942

Source: http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW03-04/07-0128/memorials.html

Notes for HARRIET HOPPER:

Obituary in the Savannah Morning News, April 15, 2004:

A faithful Christian, devoted wife and mother, Toni Burwell died April 11, 2004, Easter Sunday in Savannah, Georgia at Savannah Square under hospice care. Born in Staunton, Illinois, August 18, 1923, she was the daughter of the late Harry Edward Hopper and Hannah Dohr Luker Hopper. Toni married William Owings Burwell, June 6, 1945 in Christ Church, Pittsford, NY. She was widowed in August of last year after 58 years of marriage. The Burwells formerly resided in Falmouth, MA, Rochester, NY and Seattle, WA. Toni attended William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri and was a 1945 graduate of Northwestern University. She was a psychology major and mathematics minor and a sixty-year member of Kappa Delta sorority. Moving to Seattle, Washington as a young mother, Toni devoted herself to raising her two children. She was an avid gardener and member of the Seattle Arboretum Society. She and Bill were founding members of a new Church, St. George's Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday School, worked with the Church women's group, and served on the altar guild. In 1962, when the family moved to Rochester, New York, Toni continued her work with the women of the Church as a member of fifth chapter of the Episcopal Church Women of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. In addition, she began a career as an elementary school teacher at The Allendale School and worked as a volunteer for the Landmark Society and the Rochester Museum. After retirement she and Bill moved permanently to the family home on Cape Cod. An active member of the Church of the Messiah in Woods Hole, Toni was a lay reader, member of the altar guild, served the homeless and AIDS victims, and was a great supporter of home Church. She spent her life helping others. She loved gardening, sailing and traveling with her husband, reading, stock market investing, and she always loved a good party and a good joke. Mrs. Burwell is survived by her brother, Harry Edward Hopper, Jr. and sister-in-law, Florence Mazenko Hopper, another sister-in-law, Barbara Gates Burwell of Woods Hole, Massachusetts; children and spouses, Pamela Burwell Benton and Barrett Gilbert Benton of Savannah, Georgia, Michael Hopper Burwell and Sally Joyce Carricaburu of Anchorage, Alaska; grandchildren and spouses, Brooke Owings Burwell, Amy Benton Haenel and Hal Herman Haenel, Jr., Barrett Gilbert Benton, Jr. and Katherine McGarity Benton, Kenneth James Phillips and Jennifer Owings Phillips, Jessica Marie Duncan and Will Platzek, and great grandchildren, Walker Lee Platzek, Elizabeth Grace Platzek, Chase Michael Platzek, Sofia Lynn Phillips, Nicholas James Phillips and Talia Phillips and Katherine Barrett Benton. A memorial service will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Jack Dyer and the Rev. James M. Dorn III at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Wednesday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 2 St. Thomas Avenue, Savannah, GA 31406, Hospice of Savannah, Inc. P.O. Box 13190, Savannah, GA 31416, The Church of the Messiah, 12 Church Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 or a favorite charity. Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors Hodgson Chapel

Savannah Morning News, April 15, 2004