In memoriam
Jack Breger, MA 1973, died March 20, 2004 in Miami from multiple sclerosis complications. He was 55.
He was born May 7, 1948 in Miami. He graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1966 and received his BA in English from UF in 1970. At UF, he was a DJ for the campus radio station. He also served as social director of Alpha Epsilon Pi.
James C. Congleton Jr., ADV 1970, of Port Charlotte died March 11, 2004. He was 83.
He was born Jan. 24, 1921 in Parkersburg, W.Va., to Bessie and James C. Congleton Sr. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, flying a B-17 bomber, and participated in one of the longest raids in history over Rabaul, in the South Pacific. He received the Soldiers Medal for bravery during the bombing run when he removed his oxygen mask to revive a wounded comrade.
Congleton worked at Seminole Community College in Sanford in the communications office.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and two sons, Bruce A. of Tallahassee and James P. of Orlando; two granddaughters, Paige Huffman of Tallahassee and Christy Staggers of Jacksonville; and great granddaughters, Jessica and Kimberly Huffman of Tallahassee and Melissa Staggers of Jacksonville.
Congleton was given a full military funeral and is buried at the military cemetery in Bushnell.
Rowland “Rollo” Medler of Gainesville died Jan. 12 in Gainesville. He was 87.
Medler was born in St. Louis and moved to Gainesville from Johnson City, Tenn., in 1958. He was the first engineer for WUFT, and signed the TV station on the air in 1958. He was known for his stories about the pioneer days of WUFT, when it was the first TV station in Gainesville and one of the first non-commercial TV stations in Florida.
H. Kessler Meyer III, JM 1961, died Aug. 25 in Melrose. He was 65.
Born May 16, 1939, Kessler attended P.K. Yonge before graduating from The American School in Managua, Nicaragua, in 1957. He was a member of Sigma Chi.
Following graduation, he joined the Navy, attending Officers’ Training in Pensacola prior to assignment aboard the carrier USS Kearsarge in the Pacific Ocean during the Vietnam War. He was an intelligence officer and remained in the reserves following his active duty, retiring a captain.
He owned Meyer Oil Company in Ocala and several food service businesses. He married the former Margaret “Peggy” Dawson of Ocala and they had three children: H.K. “Kert,” Lowelle, and Brandt, all of whom survive him. He is also survived by eight grandchildren, a sister and a brother.
Marshall Collier Prine, JM 1977, of Micanopy died Sept. 29 in Gainesville after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 53.
Prine worked for the UF Department of Information and Publications with Herb Press, MA 1982, from 1979 to 1985. In 1986, he joined the staff of the College running and maintaining the photojournalism labs and teaching various photojournalism courses.
He instructed the photojournalism course in the College’s Summer Journalism Institute from 1987 to 1998. He left the College in 1998.
“Marshall’s easy-going and friendly manner made him a popular professor. I was always inspired by Marshall’s ability to connect with students and his effortless way of putting others at ease,” said one of his former students, Roby Page, JM 1988. “This was a key to his teaching success and something that I always want to remember as I continue with my own teaching career.”
Survivors include his wife Teresa Prine of Williston; mother Jacquelyn Prine of Ocala; stepsons, Van Whitehurst of Archer, and Devin Whitehurst and Adam Whitehurst of Williston; and brother, Steve Prine of Washington, D.C.
