Eclipse

The scientist in me will discard the notion that the stars, planets or infinitesimal planetoids have anything to do with guiding my life, beyond the "butterfly effect".  However, as a human I can't help but notice how celestial events help us to solidify memory and stir reflection.  I can feel the cold and hear the gasp of my 4-year old son when he first sighted Comet Hale-Bopp with his binoculars.  We mark our lives by the return of the Earth to the same position it was on significant days: birthdays; wedding anniversaries; death anniversaries; work anniversaries; commemoration of other significant events; and holidays.  Our nearest star, the Sun, is the ultimate source of energy for life on Earth and a threat to our existence (for example cosmic rays; coronal mass ejections; gamma ray bursts).  We tend to wake with the Sun and sleep in the dark.  Inability to perceive light or working odd hours throws our body clocks into a frenzies such as non-24 sleep-wake disorder.

Beginning of partial solar eclipse 23 October 2014. Photographed
at Park University.The last three solar eclipses have been obscured
by clouds in NW MO

An eclipse occurs when one celestial body casts its shadow onto another.  A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth.  A solar eclipse occurs when the shadow of the Moon passes over the face of the Earth, apparently obscuring the disc of the Sun.  Eclipses are actually fairly common occurrences as viewed from SOMEPLACE on Earth, but rare in any ONE location on Earth.  You can expect to experience a solar eclipse in any one place on earth every 360ish years, on average.  Most of these events come and go with very little attention from the general populace.

Every now and again, one catches the public imagination.  These are usually total solar eclipses, since it is possible to look at the Sun without risking injury only during totality.  In the center of the path of totality, the sky will darken enough to see the atmosphere of the Sun (corona), planets and stars.  Diurnal animals will seek nighttime refuge and nocturnal animals will start to come out.  As the solar output dims, shadows change accompanied by a palpable cooling.  It is something that is totally out of the ordinary, and novelty sells.

Filtered view of the Sun

This is the experience being sold across the United States since at least 2015.  An eclipse with totality lasting about two and a half minutes.  The width of the total eclipse path in 2017 is about 70 miles and passes across the United States in a southeastward direction from the Pacific Coast of Oregon to the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina.  Some degree of partial eclipse is visible for thousands of miles on either side of the line of totality.  People from all parts of the world descended on little towns all across the United States.  Populations of areas along the path of totality typically doubled overnight.  Sales of all kinds of memorabilia were through the roof: branded eclipse glasses, t-shirts, posters, festivals...etc.

Take time to experience the world now, for you are a long-time dead

Setting up the camera to photograph the eclipse

One thing is for certain about almost any event that strikes a chord with a broad audience: that event will be over-hyped.  Especially if there is a dollar to be made.  While many experienced amusement at the hype, some individuals (even in the popular media) were openly disdainful of anyone that thought this was an interesting event.  There are always the contrarians, those who will go against popular sentiment just because.  There are those that are contrarians because it sells or is fashionable.  If you are not fascinated with eclipses, there is nothing that I can say to you to change your mind, and I won't try.  You have no sense of wonder about the natural world.

I don't have to convince my friend Ed, from Red Wing, Minnesota.  We have both recently lost close friends who were way too young to die.  Knowing that life is fleeting and wanting to experience the spectacle of a total solar eclipse, Ed hopped on a motorcycle with his daughter Marley and staged overnight looking for a break in the weather.  He ended up at the American Legion in Amazonia, Missouri.  Even though the clouds hid totality, he gave the eclipse a thumbs up.  I have some amazing friends.

Darkness falls on Park University as totality nears

There is a stark beauty to a rapidly changing natural canvas - a fantastic out-of-placeness.  More than that, I revel in the accomplishment of thinkers that can record and eke out complex patterns from data 2,500 years before the computer was a thing.  The Babylonians could predict within about 4 hours, when an eclipse would happen, somewhere on Earth.  Edmund Halley would further refine the ability to predict when AND where eclipses would happen.  The ability to predict the occurrence and extent of an eclipse to within a second of precision is a gigantic accomplishment.  Without understanding celestial mechanics and without computers, Babylonian astronomers could pull an astonishingly convoluted pattern out of a big data pile recorded in cuneiform on clay tablets.  It's all Greek to me.

A picture of my friend Ed and his daughter riding from MN to see the
eclipse in MO, taken by Marley and  thieved by me from Facebook

It is only during eclipse that we can really image the corona of the sun - which is key to predicting phenomena such as coronal mass ejections.  An eruption of mass from the Sun aimed at the Earth could bombard us with charged particles and x-rays that would fry our satellites, brick our electronics and destroy the electrical grid.  We got a very little taste of that on 13 March 1989, when a mass ejection hit Earth, causing a widespread blackout in Quebec, Canada.  Understanding space weather is paramount to maintaining our creature comforts, if not our very survival.

Observation of lunar eclipses made by Aristotle allowed him to conclusively state that the Earth is spherical.  He knew from projections of shadows from various geometric figures that a shadow with a rounded edge (such as that of the Earth onto the Moon) could only be produced by a sphere (suck it, Flat-Earthers).  Observations of solar eclipses revealing Bailey's Beads gave us our first indication that the Moon had mountains and valleys.  Eclipses are important because of what we can learn about Earth and its neighbors right here in the comfort of Spaceship Earth.

All That is Now

The eclipse begins

The much ballyhooed Great American Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 arrived to partially cloudy skies at 11:41:06 AM on 21 August in front of Mackay Hall of Park University in Parkville, MO.  The initial obscuration of the Sun's disc by the Moon occurred at about one-o'clock (30 degrees right of straight up).  Lunch was served on the Chapel Lawn, eclipse glasses were passed out and people dispersed over campus to view at various places.  I set up in front of the first building erected on the current campus on a solid, level surface.

Our last glimpse of the Sun in eclipse 21 August 2017

Good views of the eclipse were had all of the way up to the verge of totality.  As more of the Sun's light was blocked out, the shadows got longer, much like a winter's day.  Nadienne noticed that the butterflies had left the flower planters and I noticed that the mosquitoes were biting.  We all noticed that the cicadas started buzzing. About 10 minutes from totality the clouds became heavier, making it almost impossible to see the sun while wearing eclipse glasses or using solar filters, at times.  The clouds totally obscured any view of the sun at about 90 seconds before totality.  In the end, we were about 10 miles too far west.  The clouds held off for a long while to the east.  When totality occurred at about 1:07 PM, we were unable to see anything excepting clouds, but the skies darkened to twilight conditions and lights came on. 

After about a minute of darkness, it lightened up briefly.  Then it started lightning and thundering and the skies opened up, pouring down rain.  The deluge caused flash floods, water overtopped bridges and roads, and Mirror Lake reappeared at the National golf course.  In a time lacking technological savvy, this event would have been recorded with wonder as a Wrath of God event.

Sometimes you use Plan 9

Clouds over St. Joseph, MO on eclipse day

You can predict eclipses and they will come and go on time.  You can predict the weather, but can't do anything about it.  The weather leading up to the eclipse was beautiful.  Nadienne and I enjoyed a nice drive along the path of the eclipse through northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska on Saturday.  Nearly every community had some kind of viewing area set up or even a festival of some kind taking place.  I had scoped out the yard, figuring where the sun was going to be and making sure I knew how to use the solar filter with my camera.  I bought a 12-pack of Leinenkugel Summer Shandy to enjoy while I took pictures in my backyard - right down the center of the path of totality.

When morning broke, the view outside was dismal.  Hardly a hint of blue in the sky.  The eclipse weather was definitely going to suck.  After checking around for weather, we decided to head to Parkville, which was just at the edge of the path of totality.  We'd get about 60 seconds, but it was better than seeing nothing.

Here comes the Sun!  You can't see a thing with
eclipse glasses on!

Then the clouds rolled in while we waited for the eclipse.  The kick in the teeth came as it started to rain.  Dejected, I nearly got in the car and rolled back home to St. Joseph, halted only by the memory of the parking lot that was traffic from Platte City to St. Joseph.  Not really seeing anything good on the cloud map, we decided to stay put and watch a live stream using on the projectors in a lecture room.  Less than a half hour before things got interesting, a break in the clouds appeared and held off long enough for us to see about 49% of the eclipse. Right before totality, thick clouds blocked our view: eclipsis interruptus.  We were clock (and cloud) blocked.  This just proved my theory of life: Always expect the worst - that way you are never disappointed.  If things go badly, you expected it - no disappointment.  If things go well - it's a bonus - no disappointment.  We didn't get to see totality, but we didn't expect to see anything at all - WIN!


And All That is Gone

Start of lunar eclipse 27 September 2015 viewed in St. Joseph, MO

I saw my first eclipse on the 9th-10th of February 1971 in Honolulu, Hawaii.  My Mom woke me up at night, which was weird.  Even stranger was that she wanted me to go outside and look at the Moon.  As we watched, a rounded edge of darkness crept across the face of the Moon.  What the heck was that?  Then Mom told me it was an eclipse.  We watched to totality, when the moon brightened up to a coppery color.  As the Moon began to reappear, I went back in the house to bed.  A local TV station was broadcasting the event - something that is difficult to find unless you stream it over the Internet.

On the night of 25 May 1975, I was sitting at a picnic table outside of our camper in Minnesota waiting for the moon to go into eclipse.  I had found the dates of the eclipses that would be visible to me for the next few years, and was waiting for this one. This time it was my Dad that came outside and watched with me as the Moon was blotted out by the Earth's shadow and then became an intense, angry red as it passed through totality.

I cut class for the first time on 26 February 1979.  The nefarious reason?  To see the solar eclipse that was occurring that day.  While St. Joseph, MO was not in the path of totality, we would be able to see the Sun eclipsed about 85%.  The event did not generate a lot of buzz and our school administration held no viewing parties.   I made my pinhole projector, asked to be excused to the library (which had windows facing the Sun) to do research for a paper, and sat through a few classes to watch as the light dimmed perceptively and then brightened up as the Moon slid over and past our view of the sun.  I did research for a paper all right, just not the one that was currently assigned to me.

Crescent Sun peeking through the clouds

On 10 May 1994, an annular eclipse sorely tested a marriage.  An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is just far enough away from the Earth in its elliptical orbit that it can't quite obscure the disc of the Sun, resulting in a dark center with a light edge.  The day was very cloudy in Keego Harbor, MI that day.  Just as the eclipse hit annularity, a break in the clouds occurred and through the haze came a filtered image of this ring of sunlight around the Moon.  I asked Nadienne to get my camera, and between us we managed to drop it, shattering it into several pieces and exposing all of the film that had been in it.  The perfect picture...shot to hell.

I have observed close to 20 lunar eclipses and 6 solar eclipses.  Each one is locked away in memory.  I can close my eyes and see, hear and smell what that day or night was like.  What I was looking forward to, what the last and next disappointment would be.  This was my first real chance to see a total eclipse of the Sun, but the weather nicked me by 90 seconds and 10 miles.  Better luck next time.


And All That's to Come

The next lunar eclipse will come soon - a total lunar eclipse will occur the morning of 21 January 2018 and the setting moon will be in total eclipse as viewed from northwest Missouri.  The next North American solar eclipse will be an annular eclipse on 14 October 2023.  The next Great North American Total Solar Eclipse will be on 08 April 2024.  You will find me somewhere on the path from Dallas to Little Rock to Carbondale to Indianapolis to Cleveland to Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls?  Slowly I turned....).  Book your seats now, seven years is sooner than you think.

Great American Eclipse figure for 2024

Solar eclipses are due to a string of coincidences.  We have a moon, the orbital path of which crosses a path directly between us and the Sun from time to time during the new moon, throwing the Moon's shadow onto Earth.  The disc of the Sun is 400 times as large as that of the Moon, but the Moon is almost exactly 400 times closer to Earth than is the Sun.  This geometry makes it possible for the disc of the Moon to totally block out the disc of the Sun, especially if eclipse happens close to perigee (when the Moon is closest to Earth).  If the eclipse happens close to apogee, the increased distance between Earth and Moon decreases the apparent size of the Moon's disc just enough that the Moon cannot totally cover the Sun's disc, resulting in an annular eclipse. 
  

NASA figure of solar eclipse configuration

The force interactions between the Moon and Earth result in the Moon acting like a brake on the Earth.  As the rotation of the Earth slows, the momentum change causes the Moon to slip a little bit further away.  The rate of change in the Earth's daily rotation slows down by about 4 hours every billion years and the distance to the Moon increases by about 3.78 centimeters per year.  In 1.2 billion years (give or take an hour), the Moon will be distant enough from us that its apparent size will always be smaller than that of the Sun - and eclipses will be a thing of the past, replace by transits of the Moon across the Sun's disc.

And Everything Under the Sun is in Tune

I'm being followed by a Moon shadow, Moon shadow, Moon shadow
But the Sun is Eclipsed by the Moon

This time I was armed with a DSLR camera, telephoto lens and eclipse filter, courtesy of Nadienne, Breena and Christian in all.  Thanks to Randy for the film!

Composite view of Sun during eclipse 21 August 2017

And all that is now

And all that is gone

And all that's to come

And everything under the sun is in tune

But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

Pink Floyd - "Eclipse"

Birds of a Feather: Double-Crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron and Double-Crested Cormorants at NAS Pensacola

On a dreary January day strolling the waterfront at Naval Air Station Pensacola while waiting on my son to check-in for the week, I was treated to a variety of birds going about their daily business.  On one pier, a heron and a bunch of double-crested cormorants were trying to stay dry.  Cormorants have no oil glands to help waterproof their feathers, so they have to air dry their feathers after swimming and are often seen spreading their wings to do so.  The double-crested cormorant is named for the two tufts of feathers on its head during breeding season.

Double-Crested Cormorant in the Eagle Pool at Loess Bluffs NWR

Cormorants are very distinctive swimmers.  Riding very low in the water, their heads and upper backs are the only things visible in the water.  They dive quickly and can stay submerged for up to 70 seconds and reach depths of about 30 feet.  Small fish can be swallowed under water, but most are brought to the surface before they are swallowed.  In addition to fish, they may hunt frogs and salamanders, as well as crayfish and crabs.  Indigestible materials such as bone and crustacean shell are regurgitated in a pellet like those of owls.

I first remember hearing/reading about cormorants on Captain Kangaroo in "The Story About Ping" by Marjorie Flack and illustrated by Kurt Wiese.  It stars Ping the Duck, who lives on a wise-eyed boat with his family and human master on the yellow Yangtze River.  The master lets the ducks out to feed and when they come home, master swats the last duck on the backside.  Ping, being chronically late, decides to hide rather than go home and get his spanking.  The next day he sees a lot of boats, but not the wise-eyed boat.  One of these boats has black fishing birds with hooked beaks.  These are cormorants.  The bird would catch a fish, then return to the fishing boat, where the human master would give them a bit of fish for pay.  (What the book isn't telling you is that the fishermen tie snares around the necks of the cormorants or place rings around their necks to keep them from swallowing big fish - learned that in elementary school).

Ping dove for fish, but surfaced far from the cormorants, and followed a trail of crumbs to a houseboat, where Ping was promptly caught, trapped in a basket to await becoming supper.  SUPPER?!! No wonder we were so screwed up as kids.  I can understand a witch eating bad kids, but cute little ducks?  Yeah, I know.  As an adult, I found out that ducks are delicious.

Anyway, the little boy on the boat felt sorry for Ping, and let him go.  Ping found his way home, and swam towards his family, only to find he was going to be last again.  This time, however, he accepted his swat. Not real clear about the moral of the story, but it made an impression.  I remember this story from almost 50 years ago.  It has real staying power - first published in 1933 and made the National Education Associations "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" list in 2007.

Narrated Story of Ping

Double-crested cormorants overwinter in the United States south of Missouri, especially coastal areas.  These birds breed in the north-central United States and south-central Canada.  In the mid-central United States, these birds make stopovers at waterholes during Spring and Fall migrations. 

Range Map of Double-Crested Cormorant

Double-Crested Cormorant Sunning at Loess Bluffs NWR

Monumental Memories: Iron Mike of Parris Island

The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917 and its involvement would last through the end of the war in 1918.  While not our longest war and certainly not the war with the greatest loss of American life, this conflict suddenly forced America to confront the realities of new scales of destruction wrought by rapidly advancing technology.  Soldiers in this conflict were on a three-dimensional battlefield, with attack coming from the air and beneath the sea surface, as well as horizontally.  Airplanes served first as reconnaissance and observation platforms, then carried machine guns and dropped bombs. The guns were bigger, more accurate, artillery more explosive, cavalry was replaced by armored vehicles with guns.  Submarines were systematically employed in naval battle and attacking commerce.  And then there was the poison gas - chlorine gas, mustard gas - death on an industrial level.

There were 15.5-18.4 million deaths due to the fighting in WWI.  Of the dead, 117,465 were Americans.  The US military suffered 204,002 wounded in battle and 53,402 killed or missing in action.  For the US Marine Corps, there were 2,457 killed or missing in action and 8,894 wounded in action.  Many of these Marines had passed through Parris Island, which began functioning as a Marine Corps Recruiting Depot on 1 November 1915.

The mass mobilization of 4.7 million troops, a war involving most of the world's major powers, fighting on foreign battlefields, the large number of Americans buried in foreign cemeteries and the sheer horror of the fighting prompted memorialization of the Great War on a scale rivaled only by the US Civil War.  These ranged from the strikingly large Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO, the temple like Soldiers Memorial in St. Louis, MO to more simple markers and statues.  Some of these statues were of the uniformed "doughboy" from the war and became more informally known as "Iron Mike".

Parris Island's "Iron Mike" is one of the more striking that I have encountered. A battle-ready figured with a water-cooled Maxim machine gun slung over his right shoulder and the his left hand raising aloft an M1911 .45 caliber pistol.  Measuring nearly 8-feet tall from heel to pistol tip and placed on a 5-foot 6-inch Stony Creek granite pedestal in front of the Parris Island Headquarters and Service Battalion's barracks, this Marine figure is imposing.  The base bears the inscription "In memory of the men of Parris Island that gave their lives in the World War, erected by their comrades".

Officially known as Monument to the United States Marines, the bronze statue was created by Robert Ingersoll Aitken, who also designed the pediment of the US Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC.  Not only was Aitken a well-known sculptor, he had served as a captain of a machine gun unit in the US Army's 306th Infantry Regiment. The funds for the monument were apparently being raised informally by officers and enlisted men during the war to memorialize their fallen comrades.  Brigadier General Eli Cole, who commanded Parris Island before going to France in 1918 and returned to Parris Island September 1919.  With $8000 raised, Captain Aitken was commissioned to design the monument.  By October 1922, a site had been selected in front of the Post Inn (Hostess House) with an unobstructed view of the parade deck (which lacked grandstands at the time) and Boulevard de France.

Aitken had a wax model ready for examination in February 1923, and the design had been approved in March by Major General Marine Commandant John A. Lejeune and the Commissioner of the US Commission ofFine Arts.  Aitken's plaster model was viewed by and met the approval of Generals Cole and Lejeune in April 1923.  The statue was cast in bronze by Rowan Bronze Works and was ready for dedication on 25 July 1924.  General Lejeune gave the primary speech, and Mrs. Nellie Glen (whose two sons were Parris Island men who were killed in WWI) unveiled the statue.

Dedication of the Memorial to US Marines in 1924

Many who have been to Parris Island (visitor, volunteer or draftee) will no doubt note that this is NOT where "Iron Mike" stands today.  Expansion of MCRD Parris Island in the run up to WWII necessitated the extension of Panama Street to the west during construction for the 2nd Recruit Training Battalion,   The current location is in front of Building 144 at Boulevard de France and Santo Domingo Street.

Getting There

There is only one way onto Parris Island.  From US-21 take Malecon Dr. to the Gate.  After passing through the gate, you will encounter a traffic circle.  Take the third exit (Vieques Rd. to Malecon Rd.),   Just keep going straight and Malecon will turn into Boulevard de France.  Iron Mike is past the parade deck and Iwo Jima Monument.

You will need a REAL ID compliant drivers license or passport to enter the gate (Missouri, Minnesota, Montana and Maine drivers licenses are not compliant with the REAL ID Act and may not be accepted at federal facilities).  Visiting hours are 6 AM to 6 PM.  After 6 PM, you must have a military sponsor.  If you are visiting a recruit planning to graduate, you will only be able to enter base after 6 PM if you have reservations at the base inn.

Waypoint: Latitude: 32.349221 N; Longitude: 80.675302 W

Street Address: Boulevard de France and Santo Domingo Street, MCRD Parris Island, SC 29905

Further Reading

Visitor Instructions for Parris Island

Postscript

Nadienne and I were eating lunch at Bricks on Boundary in Beaufort, SC before the college graduation.  A newly graduated Marine in uniform and his family were leaving and the hostess said "Congratulations!  Hope we see you again soon,"  The young Marine replied 'Thank you, Ma'am, but I hope to never see this place again".  I imagine there are many young Marines that feel that way.  But he'll change his mind, some day.  Maybe.

It's Our Thing: The Pelicans of Pensacola

Having traveled over a million miles in this country, I have noticed that many communities have adopted some kind of theme or mascot for branding or advertisements.  A small group of these have gone all out, creating team-building experiences for businesses, community esprit de corps, art in public spaces and tourist traps (I say that affectionately).  It might be cows or bears or even big boots.  As you walk around Pensacola, Florida you notice the abundance of pelicans.  Pelicans on signs, pelicans flying overhead, and pelican statuary.

The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a year round visitor in Florida.  It is warm enough during the winter that they can fish and after nesting season is over, the birds may fly up to North Carolina (they fly as far north as Nova Scotia, but only rarely).  Pelicans then return with the New Yorkers for the winter.  They are at once peculiar and graceful in flight, adopting a posture of head resting on shoulders.  They stay in large groups of both sexes throughout the year and tend to fly in groups.  They may adopt a v-formation, but are usually in a line.

It is a real treat to watch brown pelicans fish.  Flying over the ocean looking for prey, these birds pull their wings back and dive headfirst into the water, knocking fish unconscious with the shock wave generated when they hit the water.  They scoop the fish up in their pouch, return to the surface, dump water out of their pouch, swallow their prey and fly off again.  They have to watch the darned kleptoparasites - gulls, skuas, and frigatebirds have been known to swipe food from pelicans.  Pelicans can become conditioned to approaching humans for a food handout at seaside restaurants and fishing piers.

The GrandPelican - "Press"ton
2 N. Palafox

One of the most successful public art project is CowParade.  A contest to place a design on a fiberglass cow (standing, reclining, or grazing) is held and the winning designs produced and displayed throughout the host cities.  The first CowParade took place in Chicago in 1999.  Over 75 cities, about 5000 cow and 250 million viewers later, CowParade is still going strong.  After the event, cows are auctioned off as fundraisers.  The 2002 Portland event was seen by Pensacola News Journal president and publisher Denise Ivey, who thought that something similar would go over well in Pensacola.  Since Florida is not really associated tightly with cows, they came up with something unique - Pelicans in Paradise.  A Pelican Parade.

Twenty-one pelicans made up the original "flight" from 23 June - 3 July 2004.  The second flight of 15 launched November 15-19 and another flight of five were installed in 2005.  Many more have been added in the years since, totaling about 70 in all.  These fiberglass statues stand about five feet tall, weigh about 70 pounds and stand on bases that are about 450 pounds.  Most of these statues are concentrated into downtown Pensacola, although there are many in far-flung locations around the area.  Finding all of the pelicans has become a kind of scavenger hunt, and several people have created maps with photos of the various pelicans.  If you find a new one, you can add it to the maps along with your pictures.

Semper Fi - The Marine Pelican
N. Palafox and E. Garden

The first group that I saw were those honoring the US Armed Forces at the intersection of North Palafox and East Garden Streets.  It would take some doing to find and see all of the Pelicans on Parade.  Some have been vandalized, damaged or moved through the years.  Recently, the concrete base of many of these statues have been replace with pier pilings, giving them a much more nautical look.  If you visit downtown Pensacola - see how many you can catch!

Getting There 

Downtown Pensacola is most easily approached from the east (Tallahassee) or west (Mobile) from I-10.  The Downtown Pensacola exit (I-110 South) will take you into downtown onto Garden Street.

Waypoint: Latitude: 30.413097 N; Longitude: 87.215351 W

Street Address: N. Palafox Street and E. Garden Street

Further Reading

Do Pensacola Page
Visit Pensacola Page
Roadside Wonders Page

Marine Detail - Bac

Wild Blue - Air Force Pelican
N. Palafox and E. Garden

Wild Blue Back

Blue Angel-1: Navy Pelican
N. Palafox and E. Garden

Blue Angel 1 - Back

Salty - Coast Guard Pelican
N. Palafox and E. Garden

Salty Back

Army Pelican
N. Palafox and E. Garden

Wentworth Museum Pelican
S. Jefferson and E. Zarragossa

Florida Tourism Pelican
213 Palafox Place

Lighthouse Service Pelican
Pensacola Lighthouse

Grave Matters: The Best Friend - Mark Branaman

Mark Branaman Memorial Service
19 May 2017
Brian Hoffman

If you examined the trajectory of your life, I doubt that you would think that we would be here, at this time, for Mark.  In fact, I thought that in the end, Mark would be here for Rodney or Branton as the last man standing.  But death is no respecter of plans or schedules.  In fact, it’s darned inconvenient.  It’s a tribute to Mark, his family and his family of friends that you are all here today.  If everyone who wanted to be here, but were unable to do so, showed up, we’d not have enough space here.

So where do you begin?  How do you sum up Mark in a few minutes?  I’m told that we are supposed to be done by 6.  So here goes.

Throughout my adult life, I have heard how rare it is for men to form long-term friendships,especially with other men.  You couldn’t prove it by me.  I met Mark in August of 1977 in 8^th grade Spanish class.  I was the new kid, serious about school, trying to really learn Spanish.  Mark was trying out being the class clown, probably being the only time he really acted out in school.  I still laugh when I think about Mark smart-alecking Se̴ñora Hurst and ending up doing time in the puppet theatre.  When he still caused problems, she pushed a couple of books in on him.  I can still hear “Ouch!”  When he found out that I was interested in running (we had a cross-country and track team in 7^th grade in Minnesota), he told me “My brother Robbie is a runner at Central and he could beat you any time!” – he loved and respected his big brother.  Outwardly, I was cool.  Inside, I thought “Well yeah, I can run forever, but not very quickly”.  I thought that this kid would never like me.

That was the only class we were in together.  

We bonded entirely through running, which might interest people who don’t think that sports in high school are important.  We ran summer track together, then cross-country, snowman/polar bear club and track.  After running literally thousands of miles together, you learn a few things about a guy – and it was all good.  As teammates, we became inseparable.  We ran the railroad tracks out to Missouri Western (and back) together.  We ran in the same training groups and pushed (or pulled) each other to become better runners.  When we were in a race, if one passed the other we gave a pat and said “Let’s go!”  More than anyone else that I have known, Mark could find joy in the success of others.  If he beat you, and you did well, that meant that he had done that much better.  If you beat him, had a good race and he was close, that meant that he had done well, also.  Our high-school cross-country team didn’t have a real standout runner. But we had a lot of really good runners.  We found that the more runners we could stack together, the more races, trophies and medals we would win – and Mark was the cheerleader that made us all believe it.

Before I knew it, or knew how it happened, we added friends from across every socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and academic level.  Stonecrest, South Park, Midtown, Deer Park, Hillcrest…all running together (literally and figuratively).  We had known of Rodney Pixler in middle school, but really got to know him in track.  We picked up Danny Butterfield along the way.  Those guys form the core group that I really hang with from high school.  We split up in college – all of the other guys went to SMS and I went to Park College, but we stayed in touch and come summer, we were running together again.  The SMS cross-country and track guys became my friends as well.

Mark was my best friend.  That is not a unique claim.  He was Rodney’s best friend.  He was Danny’s best friend.  I am sure that many of you out there will stand and say, “Mark was my best friend”.  One of the amazing things about Mark was his capacity to love and be everyone’s best friend.  When I look across this room at the people I know and those that I don’t but may have heard of, the one thing we have in common is Mark.  That man is the glue that bonds all of us, and made sure that we met up and enjoyed good times together.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.  I hate running.  Running is uncomfortable.  Running hurts.  Why do I run?  Because it was the only sport that I was any good at.  Because it is the only exercise that keeps any kind of weight off me.  But mostly because of the guys.  I so look forward to the weekends running with Mark, Rodney and Branton and the times we have had at races, that the pain is worth it.  That is what has always made running worth it.  The racing, the achieving together, the pizza, pinball, video game arcades, baseball games, the music, the beer.  The being together.  We are training for a 10 mile race at Garden of the Gods in Colorado next month.  Mark was really looking forward to the trip and was the last thing we talked about.  It is going to be strange to toe the line without him.

At first glance, you may not have thought of Mark as a great athlete.  He was always a bit bigger (not necessarily taller) than most of us.  Coach Chavez called him Tank because of his size.  In college, he became “Barney” (as in Rubble).  First a baseball player, then a runner, he was a fierce competitor.  That was a contradiction, because he never seemed to take the competition too seriously.  But once locked in, he was nails.  When the stakes were highest, he ran his best.  He usually moved up one or two positions (six our sophomore year) on the cross-country team in the last three races of the season, when we needed it the most.   I haven’t seen many with his tolerance for pain.  I can still see him blond-haired, red-faced, breathing hard and spraying sweat with every step on his way to an All-State finish at the 1981 State Cross-Country Championships and our then school high 4^th place finish.  It was his signature look.  He was not the fastest short distance runner, but his grit kept him on the 4x800 meter relay team that became district champions in 1982.  We stood on the podium together often and it was always my honor.

If you knew Mark, you’d know that he valued family above all.  He came by it honestly.  Dean, Ruth, Rob and Mark took in countless young men and gave them wonderful models of unconditional love.  The Branaman house on Monterey in St. Joseph was runner central.  My own parents were not able to attend more than a few meets, but Ruth and Dean were always there.  They welcomed us into their lives, treated us like their own, and treated us like adults.  More than one person will tell you that they know what a great family is from knowing the Branamans.  I learned that your family was not defined by birth, but could be formed by choice.

My advice to young men is to find a woman that is out of your league, get her to like you and convince her to marry you – before she finds out what a horrible mistake that she has made.  Mark took that advice well.  He met Stacey at college in 1982.  He told me about this beautiful, wonderful woman he met and I HAD to meet her.  Stacey was absolutely the love of Mark’s life.  She is the only woman that I knew him to try much to better himself for and really find out what she liked and find out as much as he could about that stuff and experience it.  They were peas in a pod, through good times and bad.  Their nearly 30 year marriage is a testament to their love (and her patience).  Her friends became his friends and many of them became my friends.

The thing that people remember most about Mark is his fun-loving nature.  It was his most endearing quality and perhaps his biggest shortcoming.  Anything fun that was worth doing was worth overdoing, and that sometimes landed us in trouble.  Mark got me thrown out of a bar – twice.  I earned my way out once, pouring a pitcher of beer on a bouncer’s feet.  I like to think that we were balancing influences on each other – my uptightness tempered by and tempering his outgoing personality.  Stacey provided balance to Mark, as well, providing him the greatest reason to reign in that impulsiveness.  Mark was a great person.  Stacey made him want to be better.

Mark was born to be a Dad and he and Stacey had to overcome tremendous obstacles to have Dean. We shared that joy as we and the Pixler’s also had sons within the span of six weeks.  Dean soon became the focal point of their family.  Mark and Stacey encouraged him to find himself and became involved in his interests.  Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, band….everything.  Mark and Stacey spent the time driving, going to meetings, camping, hiking and sent Dean on the path to become the stellar man that he is today.

How many of you ever did something that you thought you wouldn’t – go to a concert, go on a hike, camp, run, go to a ballgame – because of Mark’s invitation?  How many of you saw Mark do something that you never thought he’d be interested in?  How many times were there people there that Mark knew that became your friend, as well?  That was how Mark showed love.  He involved you in his life and he in yours.  If he loved you and you had an interest, he spent time to learn about that interest and enjoy it.

So many things to say and so little time to say it.  In thinking of this, I tried to think of things like “What were Mark’s hobbies” and “What did Mark collect?”.  You know what Mark collected?  He collected friends and family.  He would go out of his way to be there for anyone he considered family.  That is why this is so hard.  Do you cry because Mark is gone?  I sure do.  Do you feel an emptiness?  Yep.  That is a good thing.  The amount of pain you feel is directly related to how much love you shared with him. Good times, bad times, victories, losses, successes, failures, headaches and heartbreaks.  As time goes by, the sharpness will diminish.  You will laugh and have good times.  That is good, too.  That means that the void left in our lives is being filled back up by memories of the times that we have shared together.  Mark would appreciate that.  We may never feel whole again, but we are better for having known Mark.

Do you have a favorite memory of Mark? I encourage you to write them down on paper and send them to Stacey, Dean, Ruth or Robbie,  or post them on Facebook so that they can be shared. Each of us knew a slightly different Mark.   I have hours of material that I had to trim down.  Mark always made fun of how long I could talk,  so I’m going to wrap this up, leaving too much unsaid.

One of Mark’s biggest desires was to be remembered as a good man.  You succeeded my brother by choice.  While too short, yours was a life well-lived.  I will love you forever.  Take heart my friends, Mark will always be a part of you.  May the same be said of us when life goes on in our absence.

Humpin' it up Big Momma!

Mark Branaman Obituary