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UA journalism professor, whose dedication shaped program, dies
Philip Charles Mangelsdorf, a former foreign correspondent in pre-communist Cuba who spent 30 years helping to shape the University of Arizona’s journalism department, died Friday of cancer.
He was 74.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 5 p.m. at San Pedro Chapel, 5230 E. Fort Lowell Road.
Mr. Mangelsdorf served as head of the UA department from 1967 to 1973 and from 1984 to 1985. He designed the UA’s journalism graduate program, which began in 1971.
He also helped develop many journalism classes, including one that publishes the Tombstone Epitaph, for which he served as the first faculty adviser.
”The success of the journalism department is one of the achievements he was most proud of,” said his daughter, Elizabeth Mangelsdorf.
Before joining the UA journalism department in 1964, Mr. Mangelsdorf worked 14 years as a professional reporter and editor.
His career as a journalist included serving as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press in the Caribbean, South America, and pre-communist Cuba.
He also was an editor for The Arizona Daily Star, and a reporter for the Wichita Eagle (Kan.) and the Seattle Times.
After spending 23 years working for the journalism department, Mr. Mangelsdorf retired, only to return in 1991.
He served as graduate adviser until January when his cancer, which had been in remission for three years, returned.
In 1974 he was named the UA’s outstanding faculty member by the Bobcats, the senior men’s honorary.
In 1976 he was named Arizona journalism university teacher of the year by the Arizona Newspaper Association.
During his career Mr. Mangelsdorf persuaded many, including his daughters Elizabeth and Caroline, to join the field of journalism.
Mr. Mangelsdorf, born Sept. 26, 1923, in Atchison, Kan., served four years in the Navy during World War II. He then went on to receive his bachelor’s from the University of Oregon and his master’s from the University of Washington.
”He was a wonderful man and a wonderful human being,” Elizabeth Mangelsdorf said. ”He taught me so much about life and about living – how to grow old gracefully and always be interested in learning.”
He is survived also by his wife of eight years Ann Hughart Branham of Tucson; his daughters Caroline Mangelsdorf of Nicosia, Cyprus, and Katherine Mangelsdorf of Las Cruces, N.M.; his son Matthew and grandchildren Nicole and Alexander Mangelsdorf of Prescott; sisters Pat Jung of Phoenix, Alberta Geiger of Oakland, Calif., and Clara Jane Kerns of Eugene, Ore.; his brother George Mangelsdorf of Dallas; and many nieces and nephews.
His family asks donations be made to Maur Hill Prep School, 10th and Green Streets, Atchison, Kan. 66002; or to San Pedro 2000 at the San Pedro Chapel, 5230 E. Fort Lowell Road, Tucson, Ariz. 85712.
(Dated May 18, 1998)
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Joseph Elefante Jr., 49, restaurateur, dies
Joseph T. Elefante Jr., co-owner of Mama Louisa’s Italian Restaurant, died Monday after a three-month battle with cancer. He was 49.
Mr. Elefante died at his home at 4:30 a.m. with his family at his side.
”He was a prince of a man, he really was. It is a great loss because he was a great father and a great community leader,” said Dan Jacob, owner of El Parador restaurant and a friend for 15 years.
”Joseph was very giving and very optimistic. He was always happy,” said his wife’s sister, Theresa Mowery.
Mr. Elefante served as president of the Arizona Restaurant Association’s Southern Chapter and as governor of Optimist International’s Arizona district.
”He cared about the small mom-and-pop restaurants and always thought about how the restaurant association could help them,” Jacob said.
Mr. Elefante helped local restaurants become involved in Heart Healthy, a Heart Association program that encourages restaurants to offer menus for those suffering from heart disease.
Mr. Elefante also was a chairman of the Arizona Hotel, Restaurant and Lodging Association trade show in Phoenix.
Mr. Elefante and his wife, Suzanne Elefante, took over ownership of Mama Louisa’s, 2041 S. Craycroft Road, when his father retired three years ago.
His father, Joseph Elefante, bought the restaurant in 1972, and Mr. Elefante began working for him a year later.
”He was my key man and very respected in industry,” his father said.
Mr. Elefante, born in Wantagh, on New York’s Long Island, met his wife-to-be in 1969 while he worked as a printer for the Miami Dolphins and attended junior college in Miami.
He played bass guitar with the Florida chapter of Up With People, and Suzanne sang for the group. They married in 1971.
Mr. Elefante is survived by his wife; children Stacy Elefante, 21, Joseph T. Elefante III, 18, and Michael Elefante, 12; sister Patricia Lombardi of Tucson; nephews Greg, Thomas and Terrance Lombardi; his parents, Genevieve and Joseph Elefante; and many uncles, aunts and cousins.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 215 S. Craycroft Road.
A viewing will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at St. Joseph’s, with a rosary recited at 8 p.m.
The family asks that remembrances be made in the form of donations in his name to the Arizona Restaurant Association’s Scholarship Fund, 300 W. St. Mary’s Road, Tucson 85701; or to the Optimist International Foundation, 4494 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63108.
(Dated May 21, 1998)
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2nd-most-decorated GI of WWII dies here at 81
George C. ”Tex” Ferguson, the second-most-decorated American soldier in World War II, died of heart failure Saturday at the Tucson VA Medical Center. He was 81.
”He was wounded (in combat) in excess of 20 times. He was just an all-American hero,” said a close friend, Jack Hooker.
A Yuma resident, Mr. Ferguson served in the Pacific Theater with the Yuma Bushmasters, an arm of the Arizona National Guard, and then in Europe.
He was with the 5th Ranger Battalion when it stormed the shores of Normandy on D-Day, Hooker said.
When Mr. Ferguson retired from his 23-year military career in 1960 with the rank of sergeant major, he had been decorated numerous times.
The decorations included 12 Purple Hearts, a Silver and a Bronze star, a Distinguished Service Cross and medals from France, Belgium, the Nether lands, South Korea and the Philippines.
”He used to tell me he had a job to do. And he’s done it,” Hooker said of his friend’s illustrious record. ”But he didn’t talk much about it. He was very quiet about what he had done.
”His wife would wear the medals for jewelry, and the kids would play with them.”
But Michael Ferguson said he never played with his father’s medals.
”I’m sitting down right now,” he said. ”If that was true, I still wouldn’t be sitting down.”
Mr. Ferguson was born in Hamilton, Texas, June 10, 1917. He worked as undersheriff for Yuma County for two years after he retired from the military. He also served as fire chief at the Yuma Proving Grounds and in Delta Junction, Alaska.
Mr. Ferguson toured the world as an expert marksman and trained others, including Olympic athletes. He belonged to numerous organizations, including the Masons.
Mr. Ferguson is survived by six children: Michael, Rose and George of Yuma; Sarah Phillips of Mesa; Cathey Bernard of Tempe; and Bill of Flagstaff; 13 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.
He received full military honors at his funeral today in Yuma.
(Dated May 21, 1998)
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Former superintendent at mine, ‘Jack’ Coile, dies
James J. ”Jack” Coile, a former superintendent of the Twin Buttes copper mine, died Sunday at his Green Valley home from complications of diabetes. He was 72.
Mr. Coile’s expertise was moving rock by conveyer belts.
Although Mr. Coile reached an upper-management position, his wife, Helen Coile, said her husband’s best times in the industry were as a mine manager at Twin Buttes, where he would go down to the pit in his pickup truck and watch the conveyor belt in action.
Helen Coile said her husband was a man of great integrity who could never tell a lie to her in the more than 40 years they were married.
”He was very loyal and faithful to his friends and family,” she said. ”His whole goal was to do the best he could without adversely affecting others.”
Mr. Coile was born in Tennessee in 1926. He moved to Washington, D.C., but seemed destined to find his way to the Southwest. His wife said his childhood book collection was centered on cowboys and other aspects of the West.
The farther West he was, the more he enjoyed it, his wife said. Mr. Coile loved the Mexican influence on the West, particularly the music and food.
”It was so different from what he knew, and it seemed so exciting,” she said.
Mr. Coile spent two years in the Air Force and later graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1950 with a degree in geology.
The Coiles were married in 1955. After several years in Canada, Colorado and New Mexico, the Coile family moved to the Tucson area, where Mr. Coile eventually worked his way up to general superintendent of the Twin Buttes mine.
Mr. Coile was a charter member of the Optimist Club of Green Valley and enjoyed the social interaction with his neighbors.
In the 1970s, the club had a food wagon that would be taken to community ballgames. When a little boy was lost near Amado, Mr. Coile brought out the wagon to cook hamburgers for people searching for the child, his wife said.
Mr. Coile loved to give back to the community, she said. One of the things he was most proud of was his idea for a metal Christmas tree at Twin Buttes that still lights up the sky every December. Mr. Coile also designed the tree.
Above all, Helen Coile said, her husband put his family first and adored his two daughters.
Beside his wife, Mr. Coile is survived by daughters Norma Coile of Tucson and Eileen Wavra of Portland, Ore.; sister Martha Copeland of Lakeridge, Va.; and niece Cathy Copeland-Linker of Blacksburg, Va.
A memorial service was held at 10 a.m. today at Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino del Sol in Green Valley.
Remembrances may be made to the American Diabetes Association, 40 N. Swan Road, Suite 856, Tucson, Ariz. 85711; or Carondelet Hospice of Green Valley, 1055 N. La Cae±ada Drive, No. 101, Green Valley, Ariz. 85614.
(Dated May 22, 1998)
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Teacher, volunteer dies at 54
• Patricia (Tang) Crowley, of Kino School, helped various civic groups.
Funeral services will be held Thursday for Patricia Karen Crowley, a Kino School teacher and community volunteer who died Friday. She was 54.
Mrs. Crowley – like her mother, community leader Esther Tang – was active in community affairs.
She volunteered much of her time to organizations such as the Newman Catholic Student Center, the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, UA Presents, Angel Charity and the Southern Arizona Arthritis Foundation.
Mrs. Crowley, a native of Tucson, had taught at Kino School, formerly Kino Learning Center, for 24 years.
”I think Patti’s real life was expanding children’s imaginations,” said her husband of 28 years, Paul Crowley.
Mrs. Crowley had rheumatoid arthritis. ”It got in the way, but it didn’t stop her from doing what she wanted to do,” her husband said.
”When she couldn’t paint the children’s faces into butterflies and dragons with her right hand any longer, she learned how to do it with her left hand.
”The amazing thing about her was that the arthritis was always a major factor in her life, but she never let it drive her.”
Mrs. Crowley (then Miss Tang) attended Tobé Coburn’s School in New York, studying fashion design and merchandising. She later was a woman’s sportswear buyer for Macy’s New York.
”She did such an incredibly good job that a national boutique company hired her to run their very upscale boutique in New York City,” her husband said.
The two first met in Tucson, and began dating in New York. They decided to return to Tucson after marriage because they wanted to raise their children here, Paul Crowley said.
Mrs. Crowley received the alumni service award from Salpointe Catholic High School for her volunteer work.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at SS. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, 1946 E. Lee St. Burial will follow at Holy Hope Cemetery, 3555 N. Oracle Road.
Survivors include her husband; two children, Casey Crowley of Phoenix and Brian Crowley of Tucson; her parents, David and Esther Tang of Tucson; two sisters, Cherry Simoes and Liz Tang, both of Tucson; and a brother, David Tang Jr. of Tucson.
The family suggests remembrances be made in the form of donations to the Arthritis Foundation of Southern Arizona, 6464 E. Grant Road, Tucson 85715; Kino School, 6125 N. First Ave., Tucson 85704; or the Salpointe Educational Fund, 1545 E. Copper St., Tucson 85719.
(Dated Jun 23, 1998)
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