16.xii.'11
Hello All,
In 1956
and 1957 I lived on Hawthorn Street in Cambridge, Mass. Prof. R. A.
Daly, whose house then was kitty-corner on the same street, learned that
he was terminally ill. Specifically he requested not to be
visited. He wished to die only in the company his family and
closest of friends. A few months later, in September 1957, he was
gone.
I did not
know JBT well. We first met on an NEIGC fieldtrip in 1956 or
1957. A few years later, as a graduate student from 1960-1961, I
audited his "Phase" course which was an extraordinary
experience. Our subsequent meetings were rare - an occasional NEIGC
trip or at GSA. Aside from being a superb lecturer, JBT was always
friendly and accessible. He was, in short, an inspiring
mentor.
The
celebration of JBT's (upcoming) 90th was a fine event that brought
together many of us older-timers, of whom some truly "came out of
the woodwork." What saddened me, however, was the Skype
link. To have a last view of the great petrologist who influenced
us so profoundly, dressed in a hospital gown and on his deathbed, was
deeply disturbing. It diluted all those wondrous memories from the
outcrop to the classroom. It is those latter memories that I shall
evermore recall. Thank you for them Jim, they are well
anchored.
Tomas
Feininger
Québec