Electrical Engineering

Tao-Chang Yu, whose violin has taken him across three continents, almost became an electrical engineer. "The moment I decided this was what I wanted to do was after my father passed away when I was 19," Yu said. He made the right decision. On Saturday night, the sassy notes of "Carmen Fantasy" leapt off the strings of Yu's violin, captivating listeners and earning him the first-place $5,000 Rising Star Award at Howard County Arts Council's Celebration of the Arts. Yu said his father, a musician, conductor, and teacher, helped establish a school for musically gifted children in his native Taiwan.

Herbert L. Morin Sr., a retired sales engineer and World War II veteran, died Saturday of cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Owings Mills resident was 88. Mr. Morin was born in Covesville, Va., and during the Depression moved to West Baltimore with his family. He graduated from Polytechnic Institute in 1937 and began electrical engineering studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and flew C-47s in the European Theater.

John Linton Walters, a retired electrical engineer for the Navy who survived a Japanese attack that killed hundreds of U.S. sailors in World War II, died of throat cancer Wednesday at his home in the Mercy Ridge retirement community in Timonium. The former Annapolis resident was 83. Born in Washington, he spent parts of his childhood in Ohio and Massachusetts before returning to the nation's capital, where he graduated from Eastern High School. He enrolled in the Naval Academy with the Class of 1945 but graduated a year early so he could serve in the war, his family said.

Appointments Janet Streit has been named director of volunteer development at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. Streit comes to St. Joseph's from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where she served in a similar position for seven years. Streit's mother and sister graduated from the nursing school that St. Joseph operated for many years., officials said. Dexter G. Smith, a member of the principal professional staff at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the laboratory's biomedicine business area executive, has been appointed the program chair for electrical and computer engineering in the university's Engineering Programs for Professionals.

A Naval Academy electrical engineering professor emeritus, who continued to mentor midshipmen after he retired, died and his wife suffered fatal injuries in a fire that broke out in their Annapolis home late Thursday. Reuben E. Alley Jr., 88, was pronounced dead at the scene of the fire in the 200 block of Halsey Road, city firefighters said. His wife, Helene, also in her 80s, was found in the front yard with burns over 75 percent of her body and died about 11 a.m. yesterday at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Ernest Gambrill Sr., a retired electrical engineer and educator whose career as a facilities supervisor for Baltimore public schools spanned more than two decades, died of heart failure Monday at St. Agnes Hospital. The longtime Catonsville resident was 97. Mr. Gambrill was born at home on North Carey Street - the eighth of 11 children - and was raised in the city's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. He was a 1927 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Howard University in 1931.

Forrest Hamilton Judkins, a retired electrical engineer who had been vice president of a South Baltimore insulator plant and had worked in atomic bomb production, died of congestive heart failure related to Parkinson's disease Jan. 12 at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Towson resident was 90. Born in Windham, Conn., he built his own television set in 1933 and picked up signals from two television transmitters that were in operation just two hours per week. Mr. Judkins earned his undergraduate and master's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he played first clarinet in the school band and was crew team coxswain.

After Wednesday's episode of Beauty and the Geek 3, we have one fewer somewhat-local contestant to keep an eye on. Piao, a 25-year-old tax accountant who lives in Washington, got kicked off along with his partner, Sheree. But we can still watch out for Niels of Silver Spring, who's studying for his doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. (A repeat of Wednesday's episode airs at 9 tomorrow night on WNUV, Channel 54.)

William Everett Hall, an electrical engineer and amateur radio enthusiast, died of metastatic colon cancer Sept. 18 at his home in New Windsor. He was 49. Born in Roanoke, Va., he graduated from Cave Spring High School in 1975. He attended Virginia Western Community College and went on to graduate from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va., in the early 1980s with a degree in electrical engineering. While in college, he began working at International Telephone & Telegraph, where he remained until 1986.

Robert Lucian Smith, a retired electrical engineer and consultant, died of cancer Sunday at his Severna Park home. He was 91. Mr. Smith was born in Washington and raised there and in Pine Bluff, Ark. He attended George Washington University and worked for Graham Co., Republic Steel Co. and the former Glenn L. Martin Co. before taking a position with J.E. Greiner Co. in 1944. During his 41-year career, he worked on the construction of both Chesapeake Bay bridges. After retiring in 1985, his consulting work took him to such places as Epcot Center and Miami International Airport in Florida, Logan International Airport in Boston and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.