As a young kid, I just loved dinosaurs, an affair which never left me even unto today. In fact after twenty years of teaching public High School, I took the plunge and entered a PhD program, one of the most challenging things I ever undertook and after three brutal years became a paleontologist with a Dr in front of my name. Immediately a tall (6’3”) Half Chinese friend of mine, donned a baseball cap and followed me around shouting “Dr Jones, Dr Jones”, since I had the hat, all I needed was a whip. But I digress. My first grade teacher overseas in Newfoundland was an absolute gift. She taught all of us how to write our names in Japanese, a few phrases in it. She knew my reading level was WAY beyond “See Spot Run”, so she gave me more and more advanced books, for spelling words; I had to spell dinosaur names. The reason I bring this up is as some of you may know, I discovered several clutches (nests) of dinosaur eggs from 72 million years ago from a brand new species. As the describer of the species I get to name it, I would very much like to honor that first grade teacher soooo very long ago who fostered my interest.
Marie Anderson was my teacher’s name.
In an “ice-olated” location like the Strategic Air Command (SAC) base at Goose Bay, Labrador, the arrival of a planeload of new teachers was a Big Occasion. The airport lobby was packed with parents, children, and a few single Air Force officers looking over the mostly single women hired by DoDDS. Our appointed sponsors waved signs with our names and greetings of welcome.
