57
Pasadena, Calif. He married and raised
three children with his wife, who prede-
ceased him. The Parmenters eventually
built a vacation retreat in Bolinas, a coastal
community in Marin County, Calif., where
Mr. Parmenter enjoyed spending time with
his children. After the death of his first
wife, Mr. Parmenter remarried to Marian
Newhall and moved to nearby Mill Valley,
Calif. The couple enjoyed hosting friends
for joyous gatherings, opportunities for
Mr. Parmenter to entertain guests with
his humor and quick wit. They purchased
a small cabin on the Bitterroot River in
Montana, where they enjoyed fly-fishing
and generally being outdoors.
In retirement, Mr. Parmenter, who was
divorced from his second wife, enjoyed
walking his dogs, spending time in nature,
and volunteering in his community. He
was a regular at the Mill Valley Dog Park.
Mr. Parmenter was committed to his
family, including his three children and
two grandchildren. He was known to his
family and friends for his “understated
elegance, integrity, generosity, compan-
ionship, never-ending curiosity, and
marvelous sense of humor.”
At his request, Mr. Parmenter’s ashes
were scattered on the mountain over-
looking the Bolinas lagoon and in his
fishing hole on the Bitterroot River.
Mr. Parmenter is survived by his three
children; two grandchildren; and his
beloved dog, Mike.
1942
William Charles Behn
an Army Captain,
who participated
in the 1944 inva-
sion of Normandy,
and went on to a
career in interna-
tional business,
died on April 19,
2015, in Saint-
Jean-de-Luz,
France. He was 91 years old.
Mr. Behn was born in New York City on
February 1, 1924, the son of Sosthenes
Ricardo Ludovic Behn and Margaret Dun-
lap Behn. He was one of three children,
including brother Edward ’41 and sister
Margaret. Mr. Behn studied at The Buckley
School in New York and the McJanet
School in Neuilly, France, before arriving
at St. Paul’s as a First Former in the fall of
1936. He participated in Le Cercle Fran
ç
ais
and competed with the fencing team. When
not at school, Mr. Behn enjoyed spending
the summers abroad with his family.
Following his SPS graduation, Mr. Behn
attended Harvard, but was drafted into
the U.S. Army in 1943, serving until 1946.
In June of 1944, he participated in the
invasion of Normandy at Omaha Beach
and was decorated with a Purple Heart
and several other commendations. He
was in the reserve service from 1946 to
1962, attaining the rank of Captain Signal
Corps USAR.
In 1952, Mr. Behn married Maria
(Conchita) de la Conception Gal
á
n
Bradamante and the couple raised three
children, William Sosthenes, Aphra, and
Monica Maria.
Mr. Behn served as president of the
Havana Docks Corporation and as a board
member of the Radio Corporation of Cuba
until Fidel Castro confiscated American
businesses and property in Cuba in 1960.
Having lost everything, including his
St. Paul’s School diploma, which was later
reissued, Mr. Behn moved his family to
Madrid, Spain, and then to Miami, Florida.
He served on the board of Behn Brothers,
Inc. He could speak and write fluently in
English, Spanish, and French, and moved
fluidly among several nations.
After moving again – this time to Paris,
Mr. Behn, along with a few fellow Amer-
icans living abroad, established the
International Self Service Incorporation,
the first automatic laundry machine com-
pany in France. He retired soon after to
Saint-Jean-de-Luz with Conchita, his
children, and grandchildren.
After Conchita died in 1995, Mr. Behn
continued to live in France, near his son,
and traveled often during his retirement,
mostly to visit his daughters and their
families in Spain, and Florida.
Sadly, Mr. Behn was also predeceased
by two of his children; his daughter,
Monica, in 2004 and his son, William
Sosthenes Behn, in 2006. He is survived
by his daughter, Aphra B. Lesocur; five
grandchildren; five great-grandchildren;
and many friends and relatives.
1943
John “Bassett” Moore Place
a loving husband,
father, brother,
and friend, who
enjoyed a success-
ful career in the
banking industry,
died peacefully,
surrounded by
his family, on
November 7, 2015.
He was 89 years old.
Mr. Place was born on November 21,
1925, to bank executive Hermann G. Place
and Angela Moore Place. He grew up in
New York with his brother, Hermann C.
Place, attending the Lawrence Smith
School in New York City and the Harvey
School in Katonah, N.Y., before enrolling
at St. Paul’s School as a Third Former in
the fall of 1939. His father had registered
him for St. Paul’s on February 16, 1926,
when Mr. Place was just three months old.
At SPS, Mr. Place was well liked. He was
known as a vigorous athlete, particularly
in tennis and boxing. He played hockey
and football for Delphian and captained
the School tennis team. Mr. Place also
qualified as a junior marksman and was a
member of both the Concordian Literary
Society and the Missionary Society.
Initially destined for Yale, Mr. Place
decided in the spring of his Sixth Form
year to instead enroll at the Citadel in
Charleston, S.C. He attended the Citadel
for three months before enlisting in the
Army Training Course, which took him
first to Princeton, N.J., and then to Camp
Swift in Texas for training. According to
a detailed letter written by his father in
1945 to Rector Norman Nash, Mr. Place’s
eyesight prevented him from qualifying
for officer training school, so he worked
on tank destroyers before being deployed
to Germany, where he saw “active duty
with General Hodges’s Second Army Unit
until the capture at Leipzig, at which time
he was transferred with his unit to Gen-
eral Patton’s Third Army.” Mr. Place ended
up in Pilsen, in the former Czechoslovakia,
before returning to the U.S. in August of
1945. He attained the rank of Sergeant
and continued his service at Camp Atter-
bury in Indiana. He was discharged as a
Second Lieutenant.
