William Himel, Linguist, 90
DGH
William Himel, a retired U.S. Patent and Trademark Office linguist who
founded and managed a children's multilingual choral group in the 1950s
and 1960s, and who lived in Kensington, Maryland, died of cancer
February 20, 2005, at the Charlestown Retirement Community in
Catonsville, Maryland, at the age of 90.
Mr. Himel, who was fluent in Japanese and proficient in French, German
and Spanish, started the Little Singers of Montgomery County to promote
an appreciation of foreign languages and culture.
The choral group, which at one point included 50 children, learned
songs in 10 languages and performed at the White House and at the 1964
World's Fair in New York. He also produced a series of foreign-language
instructional records performed by the chorus.
About that time, Mr. Himel became active in promoting foreign-language
instructional programs in schools.
He worked with language advocate Deane Murray Sherman and others to
push for the adoption of a foreign-language curriculum in Montgomery
elementary schools.
At one point, Mr. Himel's embrace of foreign culture landed him in hot
water. Active in Japanese American civic organizations, Mr. Himel was
called before a government loyalty hearing in the early 1950s while
working as a documents translator for the National Institutes of
Health. The investigation stemmed from his activities in Japanese
American civic organizations.
Mr. Himel kept his job and worked at NIH until 1965. He then spent 14
years at the Patent Office before retiring in 1979.
Over the years, he took language courses at American University, Howard
University and through NIH's continuing education program.
Mr. Himel, who had lived in the Washington area since 1946, was born in
Knoxville, Tenn., and graduated with a degree in political science from
Northwestern University.
He worked on a Civilian Conservation Corps crew before serving in the
Navy and then the Army during World War II. He trained to be a
Japanese-language translator and instructor at the University of
Washington, the University of California, Berkeley and the University
of Colorado.
He was a member of the Japanese American Citizens League, the Japanese
American Veterans Association, the National Japanese American
Historical Society and Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda,
Maryland.
His wife, Sakiko Himel, died in 1985; they were married 41 years.
Survivors include his wife, Mitsuko Furukawa, whom he married in 1999,
of Nishinomiya, Japan; three children from his first marriage,
Yoshinori Harlan Toso Himel of Sacramento, California, C. Marie Himel
of Falls Church, Virginia, and James Himel of Catonsville, Maryland; a
sister; a brother; and three grandchildren.
Washington Post