In Memory

Louis A. (Jim) DeCatur

CapeGazette.com

Friday, June 27, 2014

Louis "Jim" De Catur, illustrious professor

Louis Aubrey De Catur, known throughout his entire life as Jim, passed away suddenly of natural causes Monday, June 9, 2014, in Gdansk, Poland after enjoying a wonderful trip to Scandinavia.

Born April 27, 1931, to the late Ethel Mossburg De Catur and John De Catur, and raised in Washington, D.C., as the eldest of three children, he graduated through the ROTC program with a degree in English literature from the University of Maryland, returning later for his M.A. and Ph.D.

While writing his thesis, he taught English at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1968-70.

He taught Shakespeare and world literature for 30 years, from 1970-2000 at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., and supported the arts by acting in college and singing in the college choir. Jim developed a love of Chinese and Japanese literature, and studied Chinese language, as well as teaching as an exchange professor at Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai, Japan in 1989 and 1994. He also spent summers studying at Columbia, Stanford, and Oxford, England.

In retirement Jim studied German, poetry, opera and the recorder, and taught Shakespeare at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

He sang in church choirs and participated on parish vestries; was three points shy of a grand master title in Bridge; and always had a group of friends with whom he played Bridge and poker.

Jim developed a hobby of collecting early American funiture, culminating in the business venture Louis of Lewes at Practically Yours Antiques.

Jim served two years in the Air Force during the Korean Conflict, in Minnesota and Arizona.

In the 1960s he taught English for the Department of Defense through the University of Maryland program in Libya, France and Germany, and met his future wife, Carol Davis, at the Munich Oktoberfest, the beginning of nearly 50 years together.

He returned to Germany with his family several times over the course of his life and enjoyed traveling extensively in Europe. He is survived by friends, loved ones and family -- his wife Carol Davis De Catur; a son, Michael De Catur of Mill Valley, Calif; a daughter, Coroline De Catur Putnam and son-in-law Christopher Putnam of Berkeley, Calif.; a sister, Diane De Catur Nelson of Haymarket, Va.; a niece, Judy Nelson Eldawy and  daughter Camile Eldawy of Littleton, N.C.; a nephew, Daniel Nelson; and dachshund Elsa.


 
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08/18/14 07:28 PM #1    

Doug Lemmon

Comments from John Golembe:

Jim was an annual traveling faculty member in English during the mid-1960s.  He then returned to Europe to teach as an LSTA faculty member (if I am remembering correctly) in 1980-81 and again in 1988 or 1989.  The DeCatur family were very close friends of ours. We first met in 1968-69 when Jim and I were instructors at the U.S. Naval Academy.  After Jim completed his Ph.D. at University of Maryland, College Park he went on to an extremely distinguished career at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA.  His European Div teaching stints during the 1980s were while he was on sabbatical doing research in Germany.  In 2000 Jim and his wife Carol retired to Lewes, Delaware where he continued to offer courses for the University of Delaware's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
 
I vividly recall Jim's love of teaching for UMUC's European Division.  The best story I have about Jim's dedication took place during the very last course he taught for the ED.  It was Term V, Jim had already met his LSTA contractual obligation and was scheduled to depart before the end of the term. Out of the blue, the ENGL Coordinator Martie Shull got a last-minute request for a literature course at the British base at Menden, nearly 300 kilometers NW of Heidelberg.  Martie, desperate to cover the class, proposed that Jim teach the first half of the course and she would teach the second half after he left.  Jim accepted immediately, even though it was a new prep with a terrible commute.  When he told me this I was flabbergasted and asked, "Why are you going to put yourself through that wringer?" He looked at me as if I had lost my mind and simply responded:  "John, Martie takes such wonderful care of her faculty that I will teach any course she asks me to do."

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