Memories from Newfoundland

I was a student at Harmon High School from January 1964 until May 1966, and was the last graduate (alphabetically and otherwise) of the last class of the school before the base closed and was returned to the Canadians. The building itself was fairly new and modern. Our principal was Mr. Cecil Haddox, who was over both Harmon and the DODDS School up at Goose Bay Labrador (a part of Newfoundland).  Our Assistant Principal was Mr. Robert Kefauver, the brother of Tennessee Representative and Senator Estes Kefauver.  My favorite teachers at Harmon were Miss Judith Okada, Miss Johanna Scharmen, Miss Margaret Clinton, Miss Sara Younts and Mr. Russell Cobbs.  (more…)

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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.

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