IN MEMORIAM: Louise T. James, 103;
SUNY Plattsburgh Registrar Lived Here
ONEONTA – Mrs. Louise (Howard) James, 103, former SUNY Plattsburgh registrar who lived in Oneonta for three decades, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, at the Health Pavilion in the Masonic Care Community of New York with the ones she loved most in her heart.
Born in Stewartsville, N.J., on March 6, 1915, Louise was the daughter of the late Perry E. and Edith N. (Thwaites) Howard. She had lived until this year in Acacia Village in Utica, moving there in 1996. Prior to that, she lived in Oneonta for 31 years and before that was a longtime resident of Plattsburgh.
On Aug. 25, 1938, she married Walter Raymond James and celebrated 59 years of marriage before his passing on Nov. 14, 1997. As a couple, they were family oriented and very close. They did everything together.
Louise received her early education in Washington, D.C., graduating from Central High in 1933. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1937 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
During her high school and collegiate years, she was a competitive athlete on the women’s swim team, earning various commendations and recognitions of achievement. Louise was especially proud when she received a varsity letter from the University of Michigan at the age of 94! The honor was one of several awarded in late 2008 to female athletes who competed for the school before Title IX gave women’s sports equal footing with men’s.
In the 1940s, Louise taught English at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Va. During World War II, she worked as a civilian for the Army Signal Corps as a cryptography instructor. She was also a registrar at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh where her husband was a faculty member.
She enjoyed reading, traveling, swimming, watercolor painting, friends, and family. She had a gentle appreciation for nature and bird watching. For many years she was a member of the American Association of University Women and was active in the book group. In recent years, she took pleasure in many activities and friendships at Acacia Village.
Louise is survived by her son, Mark H. James and his wife, Helene Ragovin James and her grandson, Victor Luis James. She also leaves many cousins, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. She is predeceased by her sisters and brothers-in-law, Elizabeth and Walter Arp and Helen and Lee Mannakee; and her father-in-law and mother-in-law, Clark and Lilly James.
The family honored and commemorated Louise’s life at a Service of Remembrance held at Acacia Village.
Louise battled glaucoma for many years. Those wishing to express an act of kindness in her memory may donate to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, 251 Post St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108, online at www.glaucoma.org or a charity of choice.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Eannace Funeral Home Inc., 932 South St., corner of Hammond Avenue, Utica.
Online tributes at www.EannaceFuneralHome.com.