[meteorite-list] In Memoriam Darryl Futrell

From: Paul Harris <paul_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Aug 14 16:59:41 2005
Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.2.20050814135835.03d45ae0_at_vipmail.earthlink.net>

Thank you Bernd.

Dear List,
Below is our page in memory of Darryl.
http://www.meteorite.com/Darryl_Futrell/

We were blessed by only being about an hour away from Darryl.
He's farther away now, but he'll always remain in our thoughts.

Paul and Jim



At 02:05 AM 8/14/2005, you wrote:
>On Monday, August 13, 2001, our esteemed list member and tektite expert,
>D a r r y l F u t r e l l passed away after years of suffering But his
>love for tektites, and his enjoyment of this list "kept him going for over
>a year and a half as he suffered many things", wrote his daughter Kathy Lee
>Barrio to our list on Wednesday, August 15.
>
>I still miss him sorely,
>
>Bernd
>
>
>Excerpts from the Montebello News, Vol. 70, No. 112, Sunday, March 3, 1985:
>
>He follows science's rocky road to moon (by Mary Ann Bolyea)
>
>When he was 6, Darryl Futrell had a dream. He was walking down the southside
>of Whittier Boulevard east of Goodrich, past what was then a giant vacant lot
>when he saw the page of a newspaper blowing along the ground. He stooped to
>pick it up, and it began putting him toward the moon, and the moon kept
>getting
>bigger and bigger and ... He woke up.
>
>Could the nightmare have been prophetic? Did it indicate even then that
>Futrell's
>future would revolve around newspapers and the moon? Certainly, in a
>sense, that's
>what happened.
>
>.. he's been intent on verifying a theory that is moon-focused: he wants
>to help
>prove that tektites - natural glass stones that are found in some
>geographical areas,
>but nowhere else - come from silicic volcanic eruptions on the moon.
>
>If you're not "into" geology like Futrell, the tektite question probably
>doesn't seem
>too earth-shaking, but in the scientific world it's a controversy that has
>been the
>subject of several books, more than 1,000 dissertations (Futrell owns 500
>of these),
>theses and many barbs.
>
>"With many, it's become an emotional issue," Futrell said, "just like a
>fanatic
>attachment to a certain make of automobile and their disdain for all others.
>
>Now, Futrell is not an official member of the world of geology. He holds
>no degree,
>he is not a professor, but he is an acknowledged expert on the subject of
>tektites,
>and owner of one of the top five or 10 tektite collections in the world.
>
>Anybody can hand you a bagful of tektites, but Darryl's first rate. He's
>an intelligent
>and fascinating person. When he gives you specimens they are carefully labeled
>and tell you what to look for. He's read and understands the literature.
>
>I saw him at a meeting at Alfred University in 1983 at which he showed his
>specimens
>and it was a very impressive presentation. His collection is better than
>anything the
>Smithsonian has. A lot of people, including myself, owe a lot to Futrell.
>
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Received on Sun 14 Aug 2005 04:58:44 PM PDT