Search Archived Marriage Records
Marvin Becker
A leading scholar of medieval, renaissance and early modern European history, Marvin Becker, 81, born July 20, 1922, in Philadelphia and received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. He was a veteran of World War II.
During an academic career that spanned more than 45 years, Becker taught at Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the University of Rochester, among other institutions. He also was a visiting professor at various universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the universities of Arizona (Tucson) and Toronto.
Honors bestowed on him include a post-doctoral Fulbright research grant to Florence, Italy; a Guggenheim Fellowship; several American Philosophical Society Fellowships; and a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, all to Italy.
Becker was Harvard Fellow in Renaissance Studies at I Tatti in Florence (1963-64); a senior fellow at the JHU Center for the Humanities from 1966-67; and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University from 1968-69. In 1992 he was awarded membership in the Society for Scholars at JHU for Distinguished Research.
He was editor of the book series “Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Civilization” for U-M Press from 1988-2004. Under his stewardship, the press published 17 scholarly volumes. His major publications include: “Florence in Transition,” Vols. I & II (Johns Hopkins Press, 1967, 1968); “Medieval Italy: Constraints and Creativity” (Indiana University Press, 1981); “Civility and Society in Western Europe 1300-1600” (Indiana University Press, 1988); and “The Emergence of Civil Society in the 18th Century” (Indiana University Press, 1994).
In November 2000, two of his former graduate students, Professors Carol Lansing and James Banker, organized a conference in Becker’s honor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, inviting his former graduate students and many of his professional colleagues. As an outgrowth of the conference, a book of his writings was published as “Florentine Essays: Selected Writings of Marvin Becker” (U-M Press, 2002).
“Marvin had an astounding combination of factual mastery and philosophical sophistication. To talk to him was to enter a world of intellectual inquiry which was passionate and open-ended,” says Professor Victor Lieberman, a colleague at U-M.
Becker is survived by his wife of 60 years, Betty Becker, who assisted him with his research; two daughters, Wendy Cranfield and Professor Dana Becker; and three grandsons, Oliver Mill and Adam and Benjamin Cranfield. Becker has been cremated. A memorial service will be announced at a later date.
Debbie Thompson
Debbie Thompson, a legal secretary in the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel (OVPGC), born Oct. 19, 1958, in Meridan, Miss. Survivors include her fiancé, Charlie Stuart of Ypsilanti; her daughter, Brandi Thompson of Canton; and her mother and stepfather, Rebecca and Woodrow Holder of Tennessee.
John Morrison Armstrong
John Morrison Armstrong, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and a former director of the Michigan Sea Grant, born Nov. 11, 1936, in New Britain, Conn., to Howard and Ruth (Kiltz) Armstrong, joining older sister Susannah. They moved to Muskegon, where he grew up. The family expanded when his cousin Mary came to live with them after the death of Mary's mother, Lucille.
As a boy, he loved math, sports and playing outside. His Welsh terrier, Ginger, went with him everywhere, including to school. He was close to his parents, and his father passed along a talent for storytelling to Armstrong.
He met Patricia Ribecky in 1957 and proposed to her on Valentine's Day 1958; they died May 30, 2004 in Ann Arbor. He was 82.
died at home June 6, 2004 of liver and pancreatic cancer. She was 60.
She served for the last 15 years as assistant director of the Survey Research Center (SRC), the largest center in the Institute for Social Research (ISR).
Staples was born Nov. 14, 1943, in Boston, the daughter of the late Ward and Barbara (Rockwell) Messimer. She received her bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan University and her master's from Central Michigan while raising her family and working full time in demanding positions at U-M.
She began her career as an entry-level clerk in the admitting office at the University Hospital. There she learned the value of helping patients and others that became the cornerstone of her career. From 1964-89, she held a series of administrative positions in Hospital Financial Operations and Ambulatory Care Services Administration at the Medical Center.
Staples joined the SRC in 1989 as administrative manager and became assistant director in 1994. In 2002, she was awarded the Distinguished Research Administrative Award by the Office of the Vice President for Research for "exceptional and distinguished service, leadership and accomplishment."
Staples earned a reputation for her extensive efforts to improve both administration of the SRC and the work environment for the investigators and other staff. Her devotion to excellence extended to other parts of ISR and the University, and she contributed enthusiastically to many committees, through which she helped improve research administration across the institution, colleagues say.
After she become ill this spring, ISR friends and colleagues gathered for a standing-room-only celebration of her career, during which many of the people who had worked with her praised her humor, style, organizational savvy and fierce loyalty to the organization.
ISR emeritus research scientist Robert Kahn referred to her "administrative genius" and said, "Some administrators in large organizations seem to regard their function like that of zoo-keepers-keep the animals from doing any serious damage and train them by constantly reminding them what they must not do. And then there are those rare administrators who identify completely with the core mission of the organization, see their function as enabling people to do the things that advance those core activities, manage to do all that and at the same time, make sure that people don't get in trouble. Laurie is of that rare administrative breed."
Survivors include her loving husband James Bigwood, daughters Catherine (Lee) Gearig of Troy, Christine (Nicholas) Hatfield of Denver, step-daughter Dawn (James) Burton of Germfask, Mich., and grandchildren Carolyn, Jack, Catherine, Chelsea and Lauren, with another expected in November. Siblings Linda Nye of Sand Springs, Okla., Thomas Messimer, of Pinckney, Stephen Messimer of Escanaba, Mary Hayek of Brighton and Nancy Bailey of Scotland also survive her.
A memorial celebration of her life was held June 10. The family requests that memorial contributions go to Arbor Hospice and Home Care.
