Posted: 12:37 AM - Jun 30, 2006
(From The Wilmington News Journal dated Tusday 23 May 2006)
Wallace Tibbals Collett, 91, of Rosemont, Pa., died peacefully May 9, 2006, in Pennsylvania. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Carrie Hudson Collett, who died in 1987. They were married for 50 years. He is survived by his second wife, Stella Miller-Collett. They were married in 1989.
Mr. Collett was a Quaker leader and businessman. He was a member of the Haverford Friends Meeting. His family owns a farm in Clinton County that has been in Collett hands since the early 1800s. He led delegations to both South Vietnam and North Vietnam accompanying relief supplies on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee. He graduated in 1936 from Wilmington College, and received a master's of arts degree in English literature in 1937 from Haverford College. He served on the Wilmington College Board of Trustees from 1959 through 1974 and chaired the board from 1966 through 1974. He also served on the boards at Haverford and Earlham colleges. In 1981, he was awarded an honorary doctor of doctor of human reconstruction degree by Wilmington College. He earned his way through college with a route of candy machines. After teaching in public schools for three years, he joined his uncle in Cincinnati in a fledgling company operating vending machines in the surrounding area. As president, he oversaw the company's expansion. In 1960, he helped found the Servomation Corp. and chaired its board's executive committee. He was a long-time activist in civic organizations and was a founder and board member of Housing Opportunities Made Equal in Cincinnati and of Camp Joy, a camp for underprivileged children near Wilmington. As a member of Cincinnati's City Planning Commission, in 1953, he was involved at the height of the McCarthy era in a bitter political fight over his defense of the rights of a city planner who had been associated with a Marxist study group years earlier. He wrote a book in 2002, "McCarthyism in Cincinnati: The Bettman-Collett Affair," which discussed the incident. He was a board member of the Cincinnati Historical Society and played an important role in the creation of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. He combined his love of nature and civic pride in initiating a Cincinnati street tree program as chair of the Committee for Urban Greenery. He participated in mass demonstrations and vigils against the Vietnam War and led delegations to the White House to urge the war be abandoned. He also led Quaker delegations to China, the Middle East and Central America. He refused to pay war taxes for much of his life and chaired the Friends Committee on War Tax Concerns. He also was a board member for the Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. He wrote poetry throughout his life and recently published a collected volume, "This Enchanted Moment," which shows his range of interests and imagination from an account of an anti-nuclear vigil to his fascination with time. He also "painted" pictures, working with a typewriter and color. One picture, done in 1982, "They Fall Westward Toward the River," was exhibited at the Friends Center in Philadelphia, Pa. His work has been exhibited for several years in the Bryn Mawr Mile of Art show, where artists display their work in Bryn Mawr merchants' shop windows. He was certainly a man who lived his faith and convictions.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children, Jonathan (Charlotte) of Brooklyn, N.Y., Jane (Clark) Moeller of Towanda, Pa., and Stephen (Berit) of Lyngdal, Norway; 12 grandchildren, including Carolyn and Cosmo; and numerous great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in the fall in Wilmington.
(From Cincinnati.com Enquirer dated Wednesday 31st May 2006)
Wallace T. Collett, 91, strived to help others
Activist fought for community, peace
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Wallace Tibbals Collett, a Quaker civic leader and businessman who helped found the Cincinnati Museum Center, died of respiratory failure May 9 at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was 91.
Mr. Collett was committed to his beliefs and disciplined in working for his ideals, said his son Jonathan Collett, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
A pacifist, he opposed the Vietnam War, participating in demonstrations and vigils and leading delegations to the White House in the late 1960s to urge the Nixon administration to withdraw troops.
After the war, Mr. Collett risked jail and a fine to aid the reconstruction of Vietnam. He served as head of the American Friends Service Committee, which shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of farm equipment and fishnets to Vietnam in violation of the federal Trading with the Enemy Act.
By the 1980s, Mr. Collett was withholding a third of his income tax - the part he reckoned would go for military spending - and sending it to the American Friends Service Committee. The IRS fined him $500 in 1983 for filing a frivolous return. He also served on the board of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund.
Born in Wilmington, Ohio, on Nov. 14, 1914, to Howard and Mary Tibbals Collett, Mr. Collett received a bachelor's degree in education from Wilmington College and a master's degree in English literature from Haverford College in Pennsylvania.
He taught for three years before moving to Cincinnati to help an uncle run the W.W. Tibbals Co., which supplied candy for vending machines. Mr. Collett oversaw the expansion of the company and, in 1960, was a founder of the Servomation Corp., a national food service company. He retired in the early 1980s.
Mr. Collett also was involved in city government. In 1950, Mayor Albert D. Cash appointed him to the city Planning Commission.
Three years later, Mr. Collett was embroiled in Cincinnati's own McCarthyism scandal when he refused to divulge information about the earlier Communist activities of the city's planning director, Sydney Williams.
Republicans on the City Council asked Mr. Collett and his colleague on the Planning Committee, Henry Bettman - both serving under Charter commissions - to resign for defending Williams. Both men refused. Mr. Collett wrote a book about the incident, "McCarthyism in Cincinnati: The Bettman-Collett Affair," which was published in 2002.
Mr. Collett was a founder and a board member of Housing Opportunities Made Equal and served on the board of the Cincinnati Historical Society. He was at the forefront of the effort to turn Union Terminal into a museum center - an idea that at the time was met with skepticism, according to his son.
Mr. Collett was a member of the advisory board of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
His wife of 50 years, Carrie Hudson Collett, died in 1987.
Besides his son Jonathan, survivors include: his wife, Stella Miller-Collett; another son, Stephen Collett, of Lyngdal, Norway; a daughter, Jane Moeller, of Towanda, Pa.; 12 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com
Wallace Tibbals Collett
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Mr. Collett was a Quaker leader and businessman. He was a member of the Haverford Friends Meeting. His family owns a farm in Clinton County that has been in Collett hands since the early 1800s. He led delegations to both South Vietnam and North Vietnam accompanying relief supplies on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee. He graduated in 1936 from Wilmington College, and received a master's of arts degree in English literature in 1937 from Haverford College. He served on the Wilmington College Board of Trustees from 1959 through 1974 and chaired the board from 1966 through 1974. He also served on the boards at Haverford and Earlham colleges. In 1981, he was awarded an honorary doctor of doctor of human reconstruction degree by Wilmington College. He earned his way through college with a route of candy machines. After teaching in public schools for three years, he joined his uncle in Cincinnati in a fledgling company operating vending machines in the surrounding area. As president, he oversaw the company's expansion. In 1960, he helped found the Servomation Corp. and chaired its board's executive committee. He was a long-time activist in civic organizations and was a founder and board member of Housing Opportunities Made Equal in Cincinnati and of Camp Joy, a camp for underprivileged children near Wilmington. As a member of Cincinnati's City Planning Commission, in 1953, he was involved at the height of the McCarthy era in a bitter political fight over his defense of the rights of a city planner who had been associated with a Marxist study group years earlier. He wrote a book in 2002, "McCarthyism in Cincinnati: The Bettman-Collett Affair," which discussed the incident. He was a board member of the Cincinnati Historical Society and played an important role in the creation of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. He combined his love of nature and civic pride in initiating a Cincinnati street tree program as chair of the Committee for Urban Greenery. He participated in mass demonstrations and vigils against the Vietnam War and led delegations to the White House to urge the war be abandoned. He also led Quaker delegations to China, the Middle East and Central America. He refused to pay war taxes for much of his life and chaired the Friends Committee on War Tax Concerns. He also was a board member for the Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. He wrote poetry throughout his life and recently published a collected volume, "This Enchanted Moment," which shows his range of interests and imagination from an account of an anti-nuclear vigil to his fascination with time. He also "painted" pictures, working with a typewriter and color. One picture, done in 1982, "They Fall Westward Toward the River," was exhibited at the Friends Center in Philadelphia, Pa. His work has been exhibited for several years in the Bryn Mawr Mile of Art show, where artists display their work in Bryn Mawr merchants' shop windows. He was certainly a man who lived his faith and convictions.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children, Jonathan (Charlotte) of Brooklyn, N.Y., Jane (Clark) Moeller of Towanda, Pa., and Stephen (Berit) of Lyngdal, Norway; 12 grandchildren, including Carolyn and Cosmo; and numerous great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in the fall in Wilmington.
(From Cincinnati.com Enquirer dated Wednesday 31st May 2006)
Wallace T. Collett, 91, strived to help others
Activist fought for community, peace
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Wallace Tibbals Collett, a Quaker civic leader and businessman who helped found the Cincinnati Museum Center, died of respiratory failure May 9 at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was 91.
Mr. Collett was committed to his beliefs and disciplined in working for his ideals, said his son Jonathan Collett, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
A pacifist, he opposed the Vietnam War, participating in demonstrations and vigils and leading delegations to the White House in the late 1960s to urge the Nixon administration to withdraw troops.
After the war, Mr. Collett risked jail and a fine to aid the reconstruction of Vietnam. He served as head of the American Friends Service Committee, which shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of farm equipment and fishnets to Vietnam in violation of the federal Trading with the Enemy Act.
By the 1980s, Mr. Collett was withholding a third of his income tax - the part he reckoned would go for military spending - and sending it to the American Friends Service Committee. The IRS fined him $500 in 1983 for filing a frivolous return. He also served on the board of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund.
Born in Wilmington, Ohio, on Nov. 14, 1914, to Howard and Mary Tibbals Collett, Mr. Collett received a bachelor's degree in education from Wilmington College and a master's degree in English literature from Haverford College in Pennsylvania.
He taught for three years before moving to Cincinnati to help an uncle run the W.W. Tibbals Co., which supplied candy for vending machines. Mr. Collett oversaw the expansion of the company and, in 1960, was a founder of the Servomation Corp., a national food service company. He retired in the early 1980s.
Mr. Collett also was involved in city government. In 1950, Mayor Albert D. Cash appointed him to the city Planning Commission.
Three years later, Mr. Collett was embroiled in Cincinnati's own McCarthyism scandal when he refused to divulge information about the earlier Communist activities of the city's planning director, Sydney Williams.
Republicans on the City Council asked Mr. Collett and his colleague on the Planning Committee, Henry Bettman - both serving under Charter commissions - to resign for defending Williams. Both men refused. Mr. Collett wrote a book about the incident, "McCarthyism in Cincinnati: The Bettman-Collett Affair," which was published in 2002.
Mr. Collett was a founder and a board member of Housing Opportunities Made Equal and served on the board of the Cincinnati Historical Society. He was at the forefront of the effort to turn Union Terminal into a museum center - an idea that at the time was met with skepticism, according to his son.
Mr. Collett was a member of the advisory board of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
His wife of 50 years, Carrie Hudson Collett, died in 1987.
Besides his son Jonathan, survivors include: his wife, Stella Miller-Collett; another son, Stephen Collett, of Lyngdal, Norway; a daughter, Jane Moeller, of Towanda, Pa.; 12 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com