Department of Geological Sciences Newsletter No. 20, September 1971
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Department of Geological Sciences Newsletter THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN NO. 20, September1971 FredBullard Honored at Dinner On the evening of May 9 about 200 friends and former Azores, the Philippines,New Guinea, Slovakia,and of course, students gathered to pay tribute to Fred Bullard at a dinner Italy. Out of this have come uncounted fascinating lectures at the Villa Capri in Austin. Fred has reached the age of and a book on volcanoes so popular that it is in its fourth mandatory retirement from full-time teaching, and in spite printingandbeingrevisedcurrentlybyFred. of his continued ability andyouthful appearance,he is bring- Fred Bullard was Chairman of the Department of Geology ing his record performance as a professor to a close. His for eight years (1929-1937), and for many years he taught charm and talent as alecturer are truly superb, as everyone the courses in mineralogy, petrography, field geology and learned again that evening. several other subjects as needed. His lectures in freshmen Fred has been in the teachingprofession for 47 years, and geology were always popular but he never made the course he hasprobably taught elementary geology to morethousands easy, as many will recall. Fred helped create and sustain a of students than any other professor in the world. In recent great tradition in this department: senior professors and years he has grown accustomed to discovering the children permanent staff members do nearly all the lecturing to fresh- of his former students attending his current classes, and one men, and they take pride in the task. As Professor Emeritus, young student at the dinner, Carolyn Keyser, was preceded Fred will no longer lecture to large freshman classes, but he by both her mother, Jean Funkhouser, and her grandfather, can probably be persuaded to teach a graduate class in vol- Ernest Funkhouser,inFred'sclasses. canology at intervals. Fred's father homesteaded on the Kickapoo reservation in At the dinner Fred was accompanied by Bess and one of Oklahoma and Fred first attendedschool with young Indians their two daughters,Fredda. Toastmaster for theoccasion was as his classmates. He graduated from high school in Okla- Frank Gardner,International Editor for the Oil& Gas Journal homa City and entered the University of Oklahoma where and a former UT geology student whoobtained his Ph.D. at he happened to get a part-time job during his sophomore Texas in 1942. Among the distinguishedguests from the Uni- year with the state geological survey. That soon led to a de- versity administrative staff were Chancellor Emeritus Harry gree in geology and more work for the state survey, where Ransom andMrs. Ransom, President Bryce Jordan andMrs. another employee with a geology degree was his classmate Jordan, Vice-President Peter Flawn and Mrs. Flawn,Provost Miss Bess Mills. About this time the state legislature cut off Stanley Ross, and of course the newly designated Dean of thesurvey funds,and Fred Bullard joinedthe survey director Natural Sciences, Sam Ellison,accompanied by Mrs. Ellison. and BessMills in a geological consulting firm. The consulting A very special place at the head table was occupied by Mrs. venture fell through, but from it grew a lasting partnership Hal P. Bybee. for Bess and Fred, theirmarriage. Inhis delightful address to the guests,Fred recalled many About this time Dr. Hal Bybee invited Fred to teach at events from theearly days of his career and introduced many The University of Texas, and Fred has been teaching here of hisformer students. Amonghis remarks... ever since.But Fred was not one to be tied down too tightly It seems to me than when Ijoinedthe faculty 47 —years ago to any one spot on this globe, and managed to travel, study there were more colorful characters on the faculty Irecall and lecture elsewhere during summers and periods of leave. Dean Harper withhis red tie;Dean T. T.Taylor; Judge Sim- He has taught also at the University of Michigan, Columbia kins, and others. However, Ithink wehave some prospects: University, theNational University of Mexico,Vassar College, SamEllison plays the fiddle and he is a Dean— if Sam would the Peruvian University of San Arequipa,and NorthernAri- lethishair grow.... zonaUniversity.It was at Michigan in 1928 that hereceived Ithas been statedthat Istarted geology at The University his Ph.D. degree while on a teaching scholarship. Fred's of Texas, and even though my tenure does extend back into travels have taken him all over the world on geologic expedi- thePleistocene,this is incorrect.Icame to Texasas aresult of tions and excursions also, especially after an early field sea- a series of fortunate coincidences. As a freshman at the Uni- son with the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska introduced versity of Oklahoma Itook a course in geology— under Dr. him to his first live volcano. A few years later he served Vie Monnett. Idid well and liked the subject but Iwas on temporarily as an assistant to Dr. Jagger at the Hawaiian my wayto become alawyer.Ihave a brother two yearsolder Volcano Observatory, and he was teaching in Mexico when and from childhood my father told us that one of us would be the volcano Paricutin burst through a cornfield. Fred lived a doctor and the other alawyer. My brother was studying with that volcano through much of its nine-year span of ac- medicine, so Iwas to be the lawyer.However, at the end of tion,and heinvestigated other volcanoes in Centraland South my freshman year Ineeded a summer job and Ifound one America. Ultimately he studied volcanoes in Iceland, Japan, at the Oklahoma Geological Survey. My duties varied but Turkey, Greece, Africa, the Canary Islands, Madeira, the they included sweeping out the offices each evening. In the 2 September, 1971 Fred,BessFreddaand Bullard with dinner guests summer of 1918 a young professor from The University of being open in the fall.... (which was subsequently offered Texas was employed to work on the Billings-Garber oil field and accepted) ... in north-central Oklahoma, to see if there was a relationship Ithink one of the satisfactions one— receives from teaching of the production to the surface structure. This was a new is seeing his students make good rise to the top of their technique, using a plane table and alidade to map the struc- profession, and in this respect the graduates from our depart- ture. It had been used, especially in the Cushing Field where, ment have been outstanding; one of the best prerequisites to perhaps, for the first time the structure was mapped in ad- become apresident, chairman of the board, etc., is to be a vance of drilling. This was around 1910—1912. The Texas Texas graduate. geologist was Hal P. Bybee, the Director of the Oklahoma Another satisfying experienceis to encounter your former Geological Survey was C. W. Shannon....Dr.Bybeeneeded students in far-off corners of the earth and be warmly re- a field assistant, so they found someone else to take over my ceived. On one occasion Iwas not sure whether to be happy sweeping chores,and Iwent to the field withDr.Bybee.This to encounter one of my former students: it was back in the began an association which was largely responsible for my 50's when Iwas studying the volcanoes of Central America. going into geology, and ray coming to Texas.Dr. Bybee re- It wasmy practice toselect flights oncommercial airlines that mained a close friend, teacher, advisor and later a colleague would pass volcanoes at the best time of the day for photo- throughouthis life... graphs.It was also my custom to send a noteto the pilot say- The nextsummer Dr.Bybee was teaching a field course— in ing Ihoped to have a view of this or that volcano. Iknew geology at Texas.This wassomething of aninnovation even they had some leeway in their course and frequently they perhapsone of the first such coursesoffered, andMr.Shannon— could arrange to pass by the volcano in question. Iwas a felt that it would be worthwhile for me to take the course so member of the Pan American Commission on Volcanology Ienrolled. Itis on the basis of this course that Iamlisted as a and had someletterheads withmy nameimprinted tomake it Texas-Ex... appearmoreofficial. Inearly May, 1924, when our spirits were low, Dr. Bybee One morningin August Iboarded a Pan American flight called from Austin and askedif Iwouldlike tohelp him teach in Guatemala City enroute to San Jose, Costa Rica. As soon a field course at Gainesville,Texas during the summer.Fur- as we were airborne Isent a note by the stewardess to the ther he stated that there was apossibility of aninstructorship pilot saying Ihad taken this flight in the hope of having a September, 1971 3 view of Izalo,Momotombo, etc. Ina fewminutes the steward- Mr.andMrs.Leon E. Long Mr.andMrs.DeWitt C- Reddick ess returnedsaying thepilot would like tosee me in the cock- Mr. Howard Lowe Mr. andMrs. BobRedfield Mrs. J. H. Mackin Provost Stanley R. Ross was a up my cameras went pit.This DC-6. So Igathered and Mr. andMrs. W. A.Maley Mr. andMrs. W. M.Rust,Jr. up to the cockpit. When Iarrived the pilot turned around, Mr. andMrs. GeorgeMarshall Mr.andMrs.RafiqSalem withhelmet,headphones, etc., on, togreet me. Since Ishowed Mr. andMrs-Robert Mather Mr. andMrs.Daniel Schofield no signs of recognizing him, he said: "You don't recognize Mr.andMrs. John C.Maxwell Mr.andMrs. VernonT. me— I'mJimmy Newmanand you oncefailed me ingeology." Mr.andMrs.Ross Maxwell Schuhardt Mr.andMrs.Holland C. Mr.andMrs. Alan J.Scott no response so continued, Icould think of appropriate he McCarver Mr.Wilton E.