July 23, 1941 – October 8, 2018
Doug was born in Buffalo, New York. In 1949, his family moved to Matanzas, Cuba. He graduated from Rustin Academy in Havana in 1960, greatly inspired to be an educator by his Rustin linguistics teacher.
In 1960, the Dewey family moved back to the U.S. to Johnson City, Tennessee. Doug enrolled at Carleton, where he met his college sweetheart Barbara Jean Brown. Doug and Barbara were married after graduation, and after enrolling in the Peace Corps, were sent to Nigeria to teach English. In Africa, they developed lasting friendships in the Niger River Delta.
After they signed for a second two-year term, a civil war developed between breakaway provinces attempting to set up the Republic of Biafra, causing the Deweys to escape to Cameroon and then back to the United States. In 1968, Doug attended graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill. After UNC, Doug taught Spanish, Driver’s Education, and coached the debate team at Chapel Hill High School for 20 years. He became a town icon, well known by students, teachers, and parents for his jovial, interactive teaching style.
In the 1980s, Doug became interested in personal computers, and an avid enthusiast of Clive Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum computer. Doug then worked at Total Computing Center for several years before transitioning to the US Postal Service Support Teams, EDS, TRW, and Northrop Grumman. Doug retired at age 67 in 2008. He is survived by his wife Barbara Brown Dewey, Carleton ’64. We all remember Doug as a friendly, gregarious, and positive classmate. He is remembered fondly.
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