University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Montanan Magazine, 1969-2020 University Relations 11-1-1977 Profiles, November 1977 University of Montana (Missoula, Mont.: 1965-1994) Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanan Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation University of Montana (Missoula, Mont.: 1965-1994), "Profiles, November 1977" (1977). Montanan Magazine, 1969-2020. 58. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanan/58 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by the University Relations at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Montanan Magazine, 1969-2020 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Profiles University of Montana November 1977 Vol. 10, No. 1 Will the polar bear survive the energy crisis? by Ron Righter They flew each day, these men who study bears. Packed in a twin-engine Piper Navajo, they skimmed one hundred miles of floating ice and open water between the Norwegian island of Svalbard and Greenland. Bart O'Gara and his Danish and Norwegian companions scanned the ice below for polar bear tracks. They knew that the ice would drift south until it melted and they suspected that any bears still alive would be forced ashore and killed by Greenland's Eskimo hunters. The biologists had no hope of preventing bears from embarking on this dead-end drift of polar ice. Instead, they sought to discover the origin of the doomed bears. Did they come from the Soviet Arctic? Or did the pack ice carry some of them from as far away as Alaska, as some researchers speculate? These were—and still are—much more than purely academic questions. If polar resource managers are to maintain healthy populations of bears, they must Returning Golden Grizzlies•: (I) Margaret Booth (14) Lucille Rector Day; (15) Alice Van Pelt Turner; (32) M ae Campbell Peterson; (33) Isabel Laird; (2) Greta Shriver Seibel; (3) Dorothy Morrow unravel the patterns of the bear's Coleman; (16) Jack Ryan; (17) Wilfred Fehlhaber; Lentz.Staat; (34) Gertrude Dalke McCollum; (35) Gallagher; (4) Theodore E. Hodges; (5) W illiam T. movements throughout the Arctic. To (18) Roger M . Wyatt; (19) Harold £ . Blinn; (20) Margaret Sterling Brooke; (36) Margaret Maddock Hodges; (6) Heloise Vinal Wickes (Central Board George C. Floyd; (21) Addison Howard Overland; Anderson; (37) David ]. Maclay; (38) Dorothy help provide this vital information, UM Delegate); (7) Annabelle Desmond Cook (Secretary); (22) Robert E. Nofsinger; (23) Dorothy B. Taylor; Garey Wegner; (39) Herbert E. Robinson; (40) Edith professor O'Gara and his colleagues (8) Alex M . Stepanzoff; (9) Pauline Swartz Cogswell (24) Vernon C. Hollingsworth; (25) Betty Miller Dawes Lewis; (41) Maureen Desmond Flilner; (42) (Vice President); (10) Malcolm C. Morrow plan to continue their investigation into Hollingsworth; (26) Otho McLean; (27) Helen W. Stella Skulason Moe; (43) Hulda M iller Fields; (44) (President); (11) Sarah Mershon Neumann; (12) polar bear ecology. Zeh; (28) Betty Johnson Colby; (29) Lester A . Colby; Boynton G. Paige; (45) Andrew C. Cogswell; (46) William E. White; (13) Marie Neeley Reifenralh; (30) Earl L Anglemyer; (31) Hildegarde Weisberg Ivan S. Mechling. They aren't alone in their pursuit of knowledge of the polar bear. The bear ranges through the territories of the The class of ’27, 50 years later... five circumpolar nations—Canada, the by Lisa Walser USSR, Norway, the US and Denmark The rest of Homecoming weekend "We used to sing 'Old College Chums' (Greenland)1. Biologists from all five When 50 members of the Class of '27 brought them even closer together. At slowly and then walk away humming it. countries are tracking the bear across gathered at the University last month the Alumni Awards Dinner they sat It was very impressive." the polar ice and untangling its for Homecoming, they found that the with each other, forming wave upon "I was in Brantly Hall when it was relationships with other members of the campus wasn't the only thing that had wave of gray hair. When they were new. Today they still have some of the Arctic community. changed in 50 years—so had their presented their Golden Grizzly same dressers I had!" classmates. A sense of urgency drives these Certificates, given to all alums who "He certainly has aged." researchers. They know that the polar All Friday morning "Golden return to UM during their 50-year "It's been a good life. A lot of fun. I sea is no longer the sanctuary for the Grizzlies" trickled into the Alumni Homecoming, they rose ever so slowly couldn't have asked for more—^-except to bear it once was. New eyes are turning Center to register for Homecoming from their seats. That was the only sign have had my Phil with me longer." to the Arctic Ocean; eyes that hunger activities and pick up the large name tags of their age all weekend. "Remember when we put those old for the oil and gas buried beneath its icy they had requested. The 50-year class is Later that evening they watched the rags in the Phi Delts' beds? Boy were waters. While men prepare the honored each year during Homecoming, lighting of the "M" and listened and sang they mad!" armaments of exploitation, biologists but never before had the Goldens been with the University Choir on the steps so well represented. "Young people are the same always, such as O'Gara, who is also acting leader of Main Hall. After that, they broke off but there is a change today—a much of the Montana Cooperative Wildlife At two that afternoon the Golden into small groups to hear medieval freer life. There are many fine young Research Unit, ponder the bear's future. Grizzlies met on the Main Hall steps for music at the John Biggs Consort, to have people and I think there always will be." "Until now the bears have been safe," a group picture. It had threatened to rain wine at a wine-tasting party at the "Even though I knew some of my all day so no one was surprised when O'Gara said, "J>ut with all these people President's home or to visit with old classmates really well in college I would heading north for the oil and gas we're raindrops forced a retreat into the Main friends. On Saturday the Homecoming , not have recognized them without their finding we just don't know enough Hall foyer. Caught in a crowd of Parade, the Grizzly football game and name tags." about the bears." unfamiliar faces, the Golden Grizzlies the Glenn Miller Orchestra Dance filled were like strangers, until one man Even some of the old buildings have No one knows how long the polar bear their schedule. changed." has lived in the Arctic. Man, his only peered closely at another's name tag. His If you listened closely throughout the "He used to have more hair." competitor, first reached the shores of eyes lit up with recognition as he weekend, you could overhear some of the polar sea between ten and fifteen pointed his finger at his classmate's "Spooning Rock? Why that's the rock the stories and traditions that the years in the Oval where we used to, you know, thousand years ago. During most of that chest. "You're the one who played that could not tarnish and you could get a make out." time the bear weathered well the storm trick on me in '26," he said. That started glimpse of the world they lived in, a "1927 was a very quiet year." of man's presence. The Eskimo's it. The old college buddies, many who world very different from today: primitive weapons—spear, and bow and had not seen each other in 50 years, When it was over, when they went back to their private lives, they knew arrow—were inadequate against its size started to rework the old stories and tell and ferocity. Although a few Eskimos some new ones. And from then on, the that physically they had changed, but inside, they were still Old College hunted the bear, most simply learned to Golden Grizzlies were never quiet Chums. live with it. again. continued on p. 4 right—marginal, but all right. Carol was androgynous in velvet Lord Fauntleroy wearing Marie Antoinette milkmaid, suits, were also his. but with her usual infallible chic, had Martha recited a passage on marriage embellished it with her trademark "from the Spanish poet Federico Garcia jewelry: an authentic squash-blossom Lorca." Last time she was married, she'd necklace, three free-form rings bought said "Frederico." Kate thought the fact from a creative artisan at the Mill Valley that Martha had got it right this time Art Festival on her right hand, and her was a good sign; and she adored the old high school charm bracelet updated Lorca. with the addition of a tiny silver coke When Bill recited in turn, he was spoon. almost inaudible, but.Kate thought she Reverend Spike Thurston, minister of recognized The Prophet, which was not a the Radical Unitarian Church in Terra good sign. She dug her fingernails into Linda and active in the Marin Sexual Harvey again; he was shifting his feet Freedom League, was presiding. Kate restlessly. This wasn't a sign of was thrilled as the ceremony began and anything, necessarily, since Harvey Thurston raised a solemn, liturgical simply couldn't get used to his new hand; she really got off on weddings. Roots, but it was best to be safe.