CLASSNOTES
52 / ’southern
2013. He attended BSC and Emory
University and graduated from
the Medical College of Alabama.
Wadeson served in the U.S. Navy
as a physician assigned to a Marine
unit during the Korean War. His
wartime experience motivated him
to select psychiatry as a medical
specialty. He began practicing
psychiatry in the D.C. area in 1958,
when he moved to Bethesda, Md.,
and joined the staff at the National
Institutes of Mental Health. Two
years later, he opened a private
practice in Bethesda and later in
Clinton, Md., and D.C., before
retiring in 2007.
Elsie McClain Clotfelter ’45
of Birmingham, formerly of
Columbus, Miss., on March 8,
2013. Clotfelter was a former
schoolteacher. Her loves were her
children, family, friends, flowers,
and reading.
Dr. John Akin Jr. ’49
of Mountain
Brook on March 1, 2013. After
BSC, Akin entered the University
of Pennsylvania Medical School,
which was interrupted by a two-
year stint as a captain in the
U.S. Air Force Medical Corps.
After service, he returned to
Pennsylvania for surgical training,
where he was chief resident of
the University of Pennsylvania
Hospital from 1960-61. Afterward,
Akin returned to Birmingham
and began private practice as a
surgeon. He was instrumental in
the establishment of the Baptist
Health System Surgical Residency
program. Survivors include his
wife and three children, including
Kathleen Smyly Parsons ’78
of
Birmingham. He is predeceased
by his son,
Dr. John Akin III ’84
.
Jerry N. “Buddy” Oxford ’50
of
Leeds on Feb. 24, 2013. Oxford
was a longtime principal at Leeds
High School and an active member
of that community. As one of
the top men’s basketball players
in BSC history, he was inducted
into the college’s Sports Hall of
Fame in 1985. He was a longtime
supporter of BSC’s athletics
program. Survivors include his
wife,
Sara Killingsworth Oxford
’50
.
Antonia Rizzo Reed ’50
of
Houston, Texas, formerly of
Birmingham, on Feb. 26, 2013.
After graduating from BSC, Reed
began working at the UAB Medical
Center. She loved music and
literature. Reed was a supporter
of the performing arts and loved to
attend theatre, opera, symphony,
and chamber music performances.
She sang in the choir at Houston’s
First Unitarian Church. She
traveled twice to Sicily to visit
relatives and trace her heritage.
Among survivors are two sons and
close cousin,
Lucretia Giattina
Anderton ’59
of Birmingham.
JamesW.Walker Jr. ’50
of
Carrollton, Ga., on Jan. 29, 2013.
He served as a lieutenant of
artillery in the U.S. Army during
World War II and during the
occupation of Japan. Walker
attended the Emory University
School of Law after BSC, and was
later honored by both institutions
as a distinguished alumnus. He
received a fellowship from Harvard
University. Among his career
highlights, Walker served as
general counsel of the American
Stock Exchange and was head of
the legal department for Merrill
Lynch in NewYork. He also served
as chairman of the American Liver
Foundation and was on the board
of directors of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art. After retirement,
he formed M.C. Investors, a
real estate investment firm. He
is survived by his wife and five
children, including
MichaelWalker
’74
of Pottstown, Pa. Michael’s
grandfather,
JamesW.Walker Sr.
’74
, was deemed the oldest living
BSC graduate before he passed
away in 1992.
In
Memoriam
’55
Dr. Robert Thomas Cargo
died on
Dec. 23, 2012, in Philadelphia, Penn.,
at the age of 79. He was a longtime
resident of Tuscaloosa.
After graduating from Birmingham-
Southern, Cargo earned a master’s
degree from the University of Alabama
and received his Ph.D. in French with
a specialty in 19th century French
literature from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He
was a member of the department of
Romance Languages and Classics at
the University of Alabama for 25 years
until his retirement in 1990.
Cargo was an avid collector of
Southern folk and outsider art and was
a supporter of many Alabama artists. He was the owner of the Robert Cargo Folk Art
Gallery, which remained in downtown Tuscaloosa for 20 years.
He and his wife began a quilt collection in the ‘50s. Significant portions of the
Cargo collection of African-American quilts are held in the International Quilt Study
Center in Nebraska, and their extensive collection of Alabama-made quilts is housed
in the Birmingham Museum of Art.
At the request of the family, memorial contributions can be made to the Helen
and Robert Cargo Scholarship for International Study at BSC through the Office of
Institutional Advancement, 900 Arkadelphia Road, Box 549003, Birmingham, AL
35254. He established the scholarship in 2009 to support students in study-abroad
programs in France and other Francophone countries for a January term, a semester,
or a year.
