In trying to think what I might say this evening
about Tony the first thing that comes to mine is our friendship and the many
different sorts of things we did together.
Of course there were the outdoor activities, skiing, hiking, paddling,
multiday float trips, etc, but there are also the simpler things, the shared
dinners, both at Tony and Kathleen's house and at Linda's and mine. Many of these instances inevitably there
were friends and colleagues in attendance.
Tony attracted the best and most fun sort of people generating a
community without seemingly any specific intent nor maybe even realizing it.
But I mostly would like to say something about Tony
as a professional, my closest colleague.
Our friendship and work were intimately related. I have had trouble getting my mind around
the implication of his loss. The
hole he leaves is both wide and deep.
I am not yet sure I know how to get across it or out of it.
Along with Bob Crosson, who retired last year, Tony
and I were the Principal Investigators for the Pacific Northwest Seismograph
network. We all brought unique and
complementary talents to the table.
With their permission I gave myself the title of "Network Director" and
Tony that of, "State Seismologist".
His was actually a real position with some history behind it, mine was
just made up. But none of us put
much importance on titles and our work was truly collaborative. Few days went by that Tony and I were
not in consultation over something, sometimes as trivial as who will change
tapes or as important as the strategy for long term funding. Tony had a knack for spotting the things
that needed doing and just doing them.
He helped the staff and students of the network in countless small and
large ways. Particularly in the
last year when, because of the St. Helens activity, he took up residence in a
small, cramped office across from the lab and when not hammering out some new
analysis computer code (in Fortran) was a constant resource to the chaotic
comings and goings of staff and students and the press. Quite frankly I can't yet get a handle
on what it is going to be like without him in this capacity.
help me teach a class I had started in "applied seismology". Very quickly I realized he was a much
better classroom teacher than I and convinced him that the students shouldn't
be subjected to my lectures any more and he should just do the whole
thing. Of course he agreed. More impressively than his classroom
teaching was his mentoring of grad students; even those for which he was not
the advisor. He had the skill and
patience to assist with a variety of issues from technical to theoretical and
from immediate issues to counciling on long-term career choices.
Tony was not a prolific writer of scientific
papers. However, his interests were
very broad. He studied the seismic
structure of the inner core at the center of the earth and the noises glaciers
make as they move and calve. He
studied tectonic stresses as determined by earthquake focal mechanisms and the
seismic waves generated by meteors and the space shuttle entering the
atmosphere. About 10-15 years ago
he became interested in geodesy and helped to establish permanent GPS stations
tracking the minute motions of Washington under the influence of plate
tectonics. Perhaps his greatest
interest was in volcano seismology.
He was one of the first on the scene in the spring of 1980 when St.
Helens woke up and he has been very active in the seismic study of its
reawakening since last fall.
For a number of years his publication record has
been low yet he continued to be vitally engaged in scientific pursuit. This upset me. On several occasions in discussing his
ideas or work I would comment to him, "that's a really good idea. You should
write that up". He would hesitate,
think about it and with his small knowing smile, agree with me. But he rarely
did write it up. At first I was
annoyed, than I accepted it and more recently have started to admire that
attitude. While I never discussed
the rational with him for this in detail I did get hints from things he said
and from his personality. As I see
it there are two reasons for spending the time and effort to publish lots of
papers. One is because you have really
discovered lots of interesting new things and you want others to share those
discoveries or insights. The other,
and far too common reason, is to pad your resume for career advancement. Tony had absolutely no interest what so
ever in the latter. He was about as
non-competitive as you can get. His
work and ideas he was happy to share with others. He did present papers at
meetings from time to time, but he cared not a whit for tooting his own
horn. He contributed much to many
projects without any worry about obtaining any credit. The competitive world we live in has no
way of rewarding that attitude.
However, in the personal world of his family and
friends his unselfish giving of himself in a very matter-of-fact, fun, warm and
kind way will leave a legacy in our hearts far more valuable than anyone's
professional achievements could be.