My dad lived a very full, but all too brief a life. He is sorely missed by all who knew him. He was a humble, kind, funny and wonderful husband, father, outdoorsman (planting thousands of trees), writer, sports fan (diehard Boilermaker) and world renowned scientist.
To qualify for this Virtual, you will need to answer these 2 questions. Please messge your answers, DO NOT LEAVE ANSWERS IN YOUR LOG! A photo is optional.
1) How many benches surround the memorial?
2) What is the last line on his memorial plaque (4 words)
Here are some excerpts from his writing...
"I have no one in my immediate family who travelled (or even went to college for that matter). I grew up expecting to do neither, expecting to be a farmer, with the usual (for my time) limited horizons of up the road 6 miles to Fish Creek and down the road 5 miles to the feed store at Ramona." (Oklahoma)
"As a direct result of my international research I have been able to go around the world twice, and to visit some rather unusual and interestingly places. I've seen the wonders of the world: the Taj Mahal, Victoria Falls, the Pyrimids and Sphinx, the Alps, the pampas of Argentina, the jungle of Brazil and Nigeria, the desert in Sudan and Egypt. I've ridden the overnight train from Nairobi to Momasa, the day train from Cuzco to Machu Picchu and small boat across the Uruguay River from Brazil to Argentina. I've experienced the terror of night on safari with seemingly ferocious creatures just ourtside the tent, and the equallly terrifying traffic of Cairo. I've ridden a camel, driven an oxcart, hunted hippos, eaten ostrich and crocodile. I've shopped in local markets everywhere I've gone, from Hyderabad to Singapore to Khartoum. I'm not bragging or being blase about the travel. I've survived enough precarious travel situations to last several lifetimes. I'm ready to go again..."
"More interesting than the places are the people one meets. Children, especially. Selling live ducks along the road or weaving carpets in Egypt, wearing old men's hats in Lima or a Michael Jackson tee shirt in a remote Sudanese village, caring for livestock, begging for the cooked bird eggs I was reluctant to eat in Rio, desperate to have their picture taken everywhere. Women doing heavy construction work while men posed or served drinks for tourists; women walking while their men rode the donkey. Arab men attempting to arrange marriage with our daughter. Even those who see to preserve their own heritage are usually interested in what life is like in the USA. Meeting the people, eating their food, sharing their problems; these are blessings which arise out of working with them, which one might seldom experience as a tourist."
"But at least equally important are the opportunities we have for bringing people here, helping them get the skillls they need to solve their own problems back home far better than we could. Working with international students has become such an important aspect of my career that I accept domestic students only if they can convince me that they have a genuine interest in international research. There is certainly no dearth of qualified international students anxious to join our research group. Currently we have a visiting scientisit from the People's Republic of China, a postdoc from Ethiiopia, graduate students from Sri Lanka, Zambia and India, and undergraduate researchers...from Vietnam and...Tanzania... When they were at our home recently with their spouses (which included a German and a Luxembourgain) it was quite an international event. All of them are leaders in their own countries and they adapt fairly well to being somewhat less of a leader while they are here (otherwise we'd all fight instead of getting on with the work.)..."
"I strongly believe that one of the most beneficial things we can do for international students (and international relations!) is show them how a free democratic society works. Much more important than where I've been able to go is where I came from. Even coming from that farm in a backward Oklahoma community with a barely adequate school system, the opportunities were limitless. We tend to see the shortcomings in our system, but our international students can see the possibilities. Once infected with the spirit of freedom, they are now emboldened to challenge their own systems, and we are seeing some of the results in Eastern Europe now."
Quotes after his passing...
"Clearly Larry Butler's work, through a career that ended all too soon, is bringing significant improvements to the quality of life and livelihood to people in many regions of Africa." G. Edward Schuh, Chair, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development
"Larry was top quality, and you and he deserve much credit for achieving a fine professional career and rearing an apparently loving and caring family" Paul D. Boyer, recipient in 1997 of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (research he was doing when he was my father's PhD major professor)
"We were told about Larry's death one day before the annual meeting of participants of the trialatheral - Egypt-Israel-USA project...At the opening of the first session near the sea of Galillee, we all stood up for a moment of silence to honor and respect Larry's memory." Dr. Reuven Jacobsohn
"Larry was a very complex man. He struggled in his scientific endeavors to utilize the modern advances and devices (which he often deplored) to somehow link them to a sincere purpose of achieving success. Larry once described success as "achieving a reduction in human misery". His work with sorghum was his way of achieving success by decreasing the misery of hunger throughout the world..." Craig Lysinger (friend)
"My grandpa Larry touched the lives of many people. Everybody will remember him for something different...But me, I'll remember him as a down to Earth guy. He was in love with trees and wildlife. I can see him trodding through the woods in his overhalls right now..." Derek Butler (grandson)
Dr. Butler's research was directed toward sorghum (the major traditional cereal crop of Africa) and the constraints on its production and utilization in Africa. Dr. Butler and his collaborators have identified and/or characterized several new compounds and new classes of compounds that play crucial roles in the interactions between sorghum and its pests.
In 1991 he received an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sorghum Utilization, by the National Grain Sorghum Producers Association. His research won the World Food Prize but the award was given to his plant breeder because they don't give it posthumously.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.