Hugh Campbell Wallace Obituary
Born to Melville Fuller Wallace and Ruth Patterson in Koblenz, Germany, US Army of Occupation. Predeceased by brother Melville and sisters Patricia and Ruth. Graduated St. Mark's School, Southborough, MA in 1940. Attended Yale University for two years, played varsity football and ice hockey. Enlisted US Air Force 1942. Commissioned bombardier navigator 2nd lieutenant. Assigned to 9th Air Force, England/France. B-26 medium bomber, 397th group. Flew 65 missions including two on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Carried a baseball signed by the 1943 Brooklyn Dodgers on each of the 65 missions. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 11 Oak Leaf clusters, and the European Theatre of Operations Ribbon with 4 Bronze Battle Stars for his service, as well as the Legion of Honor Chevalier on November 10, 2010. Joined Laird and Co, member firm of NYSE, in 1946 where he formed an institutional research department. He then founded Wilmington Capital Management, a registered Investment Advisor, in 1969. Retired in 1984.
An enthusiastic athlete throughout his life, he was an original member of the Wilmington Wheels hockey team, scoring the only goal in the infamous 16-1 drubbing at the hands of the University of Pennsylvania, noting it was his "first goal in 25 years of Ivy League play". Later traded to the Chester County Skating Club for a player-to-be-named-later in the "twilight of a mediocre career".
Long time participant in racquet sports - tennis, squash, and racquetball - until his knees drove him into cycling, where he enjoyed many years in organized local rides, such as Bike to the Bay, Mason Dixon, Amish, and others. Also traveled to Europe for solo rides in Ireland, Scotland and France, and organized rides in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Israel. Thank you Skip, Wendy, and Richard.
A member of Alcoholics Anonymous since 1973, he carried the message of recovery to correctional facilities at Gander Hill and the Delaware Correctional Center since 1980. He was strengthened and inspired by this experience, and respected his fellow alcoholics.
He was also a Thresholds teacher in correctional facilities since 1982, and the Volunteer Coordinator for Delaware Correctional Center. Thresholds teaches decision-making skills to inmates. He felt honored to be a friend and colleague to many inmates, teachers, and even Yankees fans. Russell Steedley, Mike McClaskey, Clarence Gould, and George Gray (AA), are honorary pallbearers.
After a trip to Calcutta, India, as a volunteer of Mother Theresa's order and the Missionaries of Charity, he subsequently made four trips to Haiti to work in orphanages and relief centers.
Hugh was a long time member of the central YMCA and later PRMI. He was a strong supporter of the Delaware Center for Justice, Common Cause, Brady Bill(gun control), Pacem in Terris, SURJ: Stand Up for what is Right and Just, the United Way, the Democratic Party, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Boston Red Sox.
In later years he attended classes at the University of Delaware, Oxford, Cambridge and the Academy of Lifetime Learning. Thanks to John, Susan, Irene and many other great teachers, as well as Dick, Bruce, and a host of stimulating classmates.
He is survived by the mother of his children and stepchildren, Constance Hamilton Wallace of Boca Grande, FL; his son, Hugh C. Wallace, Jr. of Locust Valley NY, his children, Lucy and Hammy, and their mother Elyse; his daughter, Sissy Wickes, of Unionville, PA, her husband Timothy, and children Patrick Manahan, Hugh Manahan, Baylor Wickes and Sam Wickes; his daughter Polly Bance of Palmyra, VA, her husband Teddy, and their children Molly, Tosh, and Hayley; his stepdaughter, Judith R. de la Gueronniere of Cape Elizabeth, ME and her daughters Anne, Helen and Grace; his stepson, Godfrey A. Rockefeller, Jr. of Lexington, MA, his wife Regina, and their daughters Tory Rockefeller and James Hallowell of Homer, Alaska, and Lisa Rockefeller Sebelius and husband, Ned Sebelius, of Washington, D.C, and their son George Rockefeller Sebelius; and his niece, Elizabeth Wallace, of Boston, MA, and her son, Sébastien Melville Raphael Safar.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, September 12, 2014, at 1:00 PM at Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Buck Road, Greenville, Delaware. Interment will be private.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to "Thresholds of Delaware", care of Lee Croxson, Treasurer, 939 10th Avenue, Wilmington, DE 19808, or Limen House, Inc. 600 West 10th St, Wilmington, DE 19801.
Published by The News Journal from Sep. 8 to Sep. 10, 2014.
Married Constance V. Hamilton in 1956.