Rocknocker: A Geologist’s Memoir. George Devries Klein

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      I met Dietz at 7:00 am at the Pittsburgh airport and checked him into the Pittsburgh Hilton. He hung his clothes, left his brief case in the room, and took his slides with him. He visited different faculty in the department, gave his talk, and we returned to the Pittsburgh Hilton. I dropped him off to park my car, walked back, and waited in the lobby. He didn’t come. I picked up the house phone and called. Bob asked me to come to his room. When I arrived he explained he returned to the room, took his clothes off to take a shower, and after drying off, opened the closet to pick a different suit. His clothes and luggage were missing. He was on the hotel’s case, but luckily, he kept his slides.

      I called the restaurant where PGS had its meeting and asked to speak to the PGS President, Scotty Affleck, to let him know we were running late. Eventually, Dietz gave his talk, and met everyone. I connected with Dietz two weeks later at the GSA meeting in Houston and he told me everything was found. The hotel mistakenly switched keys giving him keys to the room next to the one where his luggage was.

      GSA that fall was in Houston and I went on a field trip led by H. A. Bernard (BS, PhD, LSU, sedimentology; Shell Research), Rufus LeBlanc (BS, PhD, LSU, sedimentology; Shell Research) and Charles Major (BS, MS, Illinois, geology; Shell, Pennzoil) to the Holocene sediments of Galveston Island and the Brazos River Valley. It was the same trip used by Shell for its training program. It was the best part of the meeting. I took numerous slides of both sedimentary features, and all their color diagrams. These were used for many years in my courses.

      On my return, I noticed the atmosphere changed. First, Mrs. Kinch was fired. Freddy hired a Mrs. Orso to replace her and she was barely up to the job. One day, Joe Lipson chewed me out about a trivial matter I can’t recall. There was tension between me and Buckwalter over the way I taught mineralogy because he had to revise his petrology course. Frederickson suddenly cooled towards me. A friend in Tulsa called to alert me to some news I did not know. Pan Am Research fired Harry Werner and he was looking for a job. I was warned that at Pan Am Research, Harry was Frederickson’s lap dog.

      Originally, Fred tried to hire Werner to teach petroleum geology, but the administration declined because of the recent hiring of Alvin Cohen. Because I was untenured, my position became vulnerable.

      In December, Martin Bender died. Frederickson asked me to teach his historical geology for one semester on an emergency basis and I agreed. When I heard Martin died, I anticipated such a request so was prepared to help out.

      In early February, Frederickson called me in and told me my faculty appointment would not be renewed. The tenure committee of Frederickson, Buckwalter, Lipson and Flint chose to turn me down. This came as a surprise because I was never asked for an up-dated CV, reprints, or other supporting documents. I asked why and he told me people found me difficult, students complained about my teaching, high standards, and my demanding workload in courses.

      I visited my colleagues to get feedback and got little help.

      Some of the graduate students were shocked by this turn of events. They were satisfied with their course experiences with me. One with whom I became friends over time was Dick Gray (BS, Engineering, Carnegie Tech, MS, Geology, Pittsburgh, various engineering consulting firms, past member of GSA Council). With an engineering background, he keyed in on sedimentary processes quickly and led both my graduate classes. He had an exemplary career with various engineering firms including his own, served on the GSA Council, and was North American President of an international engineering geology association. From my perspective, he could have made it anywhere, something I found true of many students every place I taught as a permanent and visiting faculty member, or when teaching industry short courses.

      I contacted people around the country to get job leads so I could apply for other positions. I contacted John Sanders, and Carl Dunbar who was spending a year at KU as a visiting professor. In his letter back, Dunbar wrote “once emeritus, stay emeritus.” I also contacted Moore, Foley and Hambleton. Soon, I had a list of leads, but they did not interest me. I applied anyway.

      A week later, Frederickson wrote a memo ordering me to cancel my summer plans because I was to teach summer school. I went to David Halliday, Dean the College of Science to object. Halliday explained course staffing was the responsibility of the department head and he could not intervene. He asked me to keep him informed as developments occurred.

      I was also advised by friends to move key papers, rock collections, and personal items from my office to my apartment, which I did nights and weekends.

      During late-February, a box was delivered to the entrance door of Freddie’s office but left in the Hall. One night I read the visible packing slip and it was a tumbler for polishing jewelry. The packing slip showed that the tumbler was charged to Frederickson’s PRF (Petroleum Research Fund) research grant. Two Sundays later, while packing things in my office, I heard a noise in the hall from Freddie’s office. As I left the building and passed his office, I noticed the box was missing. Frederickson was loading it into the trunk of his car while I entered the parking garage. I said, “Good Morning Dr Frederickson.” He jerked up, hit his head on the trunk lid and turned around red in the face, but said nothing. Clearly, this item was bought for personal use and I let Dean Halliday know.

      I made arrangements to attend AAPG in Houston. I interviewed for a position at San Diego State University, but it was a poor match.

      On my return, Frederickson sent a memo about my trip to AAPG. I decided there was a simple solution. I wrote a letter to the Dean with a copy to Frederickson resigning my appointment a week after the semester ended, and attached a copy of Frederickson’s latest memorandum. I did so even though I did not yet have a job offer. The Dean wrote back accepting the resignation.

      Frederickson, however, was opposed and the dean reminded him one doesn’t ask someone who was just denied tenure to give up their summer research plans, and because a termination notice was given to me, the resignation was accepted automatically. Halliday told me later he also informed Frederickson that he would have to investigate one of his equipment purchases because there was a complaint. Halliday disclosed to me earlier that Frederickson had become a problem because he became close to Litchfield and was going past Deans and Vice Chancellors to get things outside normal protocol.

      When I returned from AAPG, I received a phone call from Howard A. Meyerhoff (BS, Illinois, PhD, Columbia, geomorphology; Smith College, U.S Manpower Commission, Pennsylvania) about my application for a faculty appointment at the University of Pennsylvania. Howard was appointed chairman in January, 1963, cleared the decks, and fired all but one person. He invited me to interview. I flew to Philadelphia early on a Thursday in mid-April.

      I arrived and we talked for two hours. Meyerhoff taught for many years at Smith College, mapped Puerto Rico for the U.S.G.S. and during World War II, moved to Washington to head the US Manpower Commission where he remained until December, 1962. He was recruited by Penn’s president, Gaylord Harnwell, to return to academe that winter. He explained that because he had no faculty for me to meet, I would meet with a special search committee consisting of the Provost, David R. Goddard (PhD, UCB; botanist; Univ. of Rochester, Penn, Member of National Academy of Science), Ray Nichols (Dean of Graduate School, Pulitzer Prize Historian), and Otto Springer (Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, PhD. Gottingen; Germanic literature).

      We walked to College Hall where the offices of the College of Arts and Sciences were housed and went to the Dean’s conference room. Springer was already there and we were soon joined by Nichols. Goddard arrived five minutes later.

      The provost did the interviewing and after explaining he knew a number of paleobotanists and learned about geology from them, he asked me to explain sedimentology. I talked about four components of sedimentology: clastics and carbonates, and ancient and Recent sedimentology. He understood.

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