I am lucky enough to have both of my biological parents still alive but my academic father died almost 18 years ago, and I missed him dearly every day. It’s perhaps odd to write about this in this blog that have been hibernating for a long time, but I had a dream last night that I was talking with Steve and we were discussing Xanthopygina beetles like nothing has happened over these 18 years. It's weird how brains work sometimes.
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| Steve (middle) with Zack Falin (left) and me (right) in May 2004 during the PhD hooding ceremony. |
My interactions with Steve of course were limited to the interactions between a professor and a graduate student but Steve was such a kind person. I miss his guidance so much.
I think I was a “high maintenance” graduate student, in the sense that every day or every other day I will stop by his office and chat about what was going on: research, news, KU, whatever. I guess it did not occur to me then, but now, with the eyes of a professor, I was probably interrupting Steve’s work more often than I should had. But he never complained and he was always there for his students.
When I first arrived at KU, I was scheduled to be financially supported as a TA. But I failed the English-language test given to TAs and Steve had to scramble to find me funds. I was able to work as a curatorial assistant for a semester and then became a TA. This is a story I have not told too many times, and knowing a bit about how universities work now, it could not have been easy for Steve to pull that trick.
When Steve died, only two Xanthopygina genera had been revised and Steve was working on Ocyolinus. Now I think there are 20 or so revised genera and if Steve had been alive, he might had done most of that work. Finishing the revisions for all genera in this group is my way of saying thanks.
