Show y"i n r'My ni w Mr V I3 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Monday October 26 1987 Q 4 Valley Seniors 1 1? i‘ i' v t ' ri :n oii) ri- - Vifl -- t tm S£ '" By John J Wise staff writer There are things that have been bugging one local senior for more than half a century And at age 77 this River Heights resident isn’t about to give up nis love and curiosity for the fascinating field of macro and micro invertebrates It really is bugs that "bug" TO Thatcher but not to the point that he is ready to slap his neck or smash an unsuspecting insect Pinning one of the small arthropods to a pad or drawing a scientific illustration of it is more what Thatcher has in mind for the bugs he works with You see TO is known as a bug doctor He earned that title in 1948 after graduating' from the Univerity of California-Berkel- y with a PhD in s a have been and personal professional entomology Bugs interest for him ever since Thatcher lives in River Heights where he grew up with his wife Zella and daughter Evelyn When he isn’t drawing scientific illustrations of bugs for journals and periodicals orshelping a group of Scouts with their insect collections gardening and tinkering around the house keeps this retired university professor busy In 1972 Thatcher retired from Colorado State University after teaching efttamology and forest ecology there for 25 years In that capaSHy he spent time in North Africa studying insect pests and how to best store grain to reduce insect damage From 1960-6- 2 he and his family lived in Pakistan where his assignment was to establish a a biological science curriculum at the University Peshawar in West Pakistani Those were years Thatcher said he enjoyed "The three tours I spent in North Africa were some of the best The people there were so eager to learn so curious about everything We also made a lot of friends along the way especially in Pakistan" he said Friends were also made over the years as Thatcher saw some of his students become professionals and leaders in the field of entomology Some of those students he said were in the first classes held west of the Mississippi that offered instruction in drawing bugs He said he developed the illustration course at CSU Illustrating bugs for journals and scientific publications isn’t like other art in that the artist doesn't have to capture a mood Thatcher safd "Mood and emotion is noflmportant in scientific illustration like it is in other art An illustrator’s job is not to present a mood it's to present accurate information" he said Thatcher is also helping to supply some historical information on the newly created Great Basin National Park in Nevada Before being called to serve in the Army at the outbreak of World War II Thatcher was the first park superintendant of the present park’s forerunner Lehman Caves National Monument Great Basin National Park was formally dedicated earlier this year and Thatcher was invited to speak at dedication ceremonies held last August When Thatcher arrived at the small isolated national monument on a cool March day in 1937 he was fresh out of college He could barely distinguish the park from the surrounding landscape he said "There wasn't much there back then A few log cabins and a few other buildings There was no electricty but Researchers assess needs of local seniors By Edith Morgan older’” staff writer Kim and his associates did study of the various services available in Box Elder and Cache counties to find out what seniors need where they are and what services they use he said The study also looked at what services seniors anticipate using in the future "Needs will multiply faster in the older old and they will need more care This will be the major challenge for the next 20 to 30 years” Kim said This problem comes when money Is tight and there is a growing gap between those who need care and those who get it Dr Kim said "This is a serious issue — the difference between what the government will provide a "As the number of older persons in the country increases we have changed the way we think about them and the needs they have" Yun Kim PhD said as he talked about his study on the Social Service needs of the elderly in Northern Utah which he has recently with Maria Wilson etsuko Chiba and Cindy Greenwood of the Utah Slate com-lete- d University Department of Sociology and the Agricultural Experiment Station and Susan L Amman of the Bear river Association of Governments "We no longer talk about everyone uver the age of 60 as senior citizens We are dividing them now into the ‘younger older and the ’older See STUDY on page 9 TO Thatcher with some of his bug illustrations there was a phone I was one party on a party line" Thatcher said "Today it doesn't look like it did 50 years ago most of the old buildings have been removed or torn down" One of his first assignments of the new US Park Service superintendant was to survey the boundary and mark it out ty on the ground With only the help of a few seasonal employees the survey and mapping work was completed But Thatcher said that most of the time he was all alone at the remote national monument Peak visitor activity was usually in the summer months He said although all the roads leading to the park today are paved they were dirt and gravel back then It was a lonely bumpy ride in the model-- Ford truck he said "I was the only man there I was seven miles from Baker (Nev) That’s where I went for groceries gas and for mail" he said Later he was joined by his wife and it was during the couple's stay there that daughter Evelyn was born ne added Thatcher still recalls how impressed he was with the T caves' features "You can get real close — intimately close — to the flowstone in the caves It is one of the most highly ornamented caves in North America" Back then the site also had a small trout pond a remnant from earlier times when the caves were in private ownership and the area was operated as a resort d After four years of wearingthe hat and "chokebore trousers" of the Park Service Thatcher said he had to trade in that uniform for another In January 1941 after serving at Lehman Caves for four years he was called to active duty in the Army and was later sent to Europe After the Army discharged him in 1946 Thatcher returned to school to earn nis doctorate Later he went back to Park Service but he was told that the only job then available was at California’s Death Valley National Monument He declined the job "I hated the heat so I know I would not have liked working there I applied for jobs at other places and finally decided to accept a teaching position at Colorado State in Fort Collins I stayed there for 25 years" he said After retiring in 1972 the Thatchers returned to Cache Valley and their former River Heights neighborhood broad-rimme- Gout can be effectively treated Amethyst is my birthstone I’ve seen it and enjoyed it in all of its settings A rich dark crystal of amethyst in its natural setting of a rock or geode is a nice find for any rock hound The colors can vary from a pale lavender that’s almost white to a deep dark royal purple A pretty amethyst gem placed in a ring setting by itself or with other stones can be a real eye-catch- er The purity and geometry of the crystals have fascinated people through the ages Anton Van Leeuwenhoek was one of these people You will probably remember him as the individual who invented the microscope Actually he didn't really invent it he merely refined it with his skill as a superb lens grinder He was using his microscrope in the study of body fluids and was the first to give accurate descriptions of red blood cells in men and various animals In 1679 he was examining fluid taken from the joint of the foot of a person suffering from a disease which at that time was called "podagra" We know it now as gout Under the magnification of the microscope he was undoubtedly surprised to see tiny crystals that appeared just like tiny needles like miniature slivers of glass Dr Douglas Hyldahl Healthwise Equally surprising though was the appearance of white blood cells in that fluid actively attacking the crystals in a vail attempt to gobble them up and remove We beg: A new era had begun discovering a whole new set of disease diseases caused by crystals Who wou have thought that those pretty geometr flakes could be capable of producing much pain and disability What a painf setting for these unusual gems! Yet our fascination with minerals pr duced by the body increased All kinds crystals of uric acid or calcium phosphate were discovered in and aroui all kinds of joints in many people It's common knowledge now that cal: urn can build up in joints and produi much pain and even loss of motion Gout is a wonderful example of he crystals cause discomfort Three hundri years ago a physician named Thom Sydenham described the painful great toe of a person suffering with gout in these descriptive words: "So exquisite and lively meanwhile is the feeling of the part affected that it cannot bear the weight of the bedclothes nor thejar of a person walking in the room The night is passed in torture sleeplessness turning of the part affected and perpetual change of posture" Along with the discovery of gout and its crystals came in time discovery of its causes and treatment We know that gout is caused by many things In some it is hereditary But in many it is caused by another associated disease or commonly a drug that is being taken for some other condition Gout usually begins as a painful red hot swollen joint most often in the great toe or elsewhere in the foot or ankle Attacks occur with regularity and become more frequent until over the years the joint may become severely damaged ana deformed Uric acid the substance the crystals are made of becomes deposited in tissues around the joint after many years and also SeeGOUTonpage9 |