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I should say a few words about some people I used to work with who have died recently.
Lisa Aucoin, one of Brian's newer graduate students, whom I had come to know and like during the semesters that we overlapped at SLU, perished in an automobile accident on August 2, 2001. She was 26 years old. Her boyfriend was also killed in the accident. They were the victims of a hit-and-run driver. Lisa was a warm, cheerful, and energetic person. She will be missed by many. Southeastern has set up a scholarship fund in her name here.
Joe Slowinski, curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences, was killed on September 12, 2001. He was the victim of the bite of a krait in Myanmar. He was there performing a comprehensive survey of the herpetofauna of the country for the CAS. I met Joe when he did a post-doc in the Crother-White lab at SLU. Joe loved herps and beer. Joe was particularly fond of venomous (or "hot," in the vernacular) snakes, so as morbid as it may seem, he died doing the thing he loved most. There is a nice obituary here.
Brian Crother and Mary White were two of my committee members during my time at Southeastern. Their collective research interests include theoretical aspects of phylogenetics, general herpetology, embryology, and molecular and cell biology.
Tom Ostertag was a labmate of mine at Southeastern, where he worked on Jamaican anoles. Tom is currently
working on a master's program doing research in wetlands ecology. He is living in Pensacola with his lovely wife Kathy and his brood
(Elery and his little sister, Amelie).
Maria Kelly-Smith was also a
labmate. She is working in a research lab at the LSU Vet School.
Travis Taggart worked on the problem of the utility of mitochondrial DNA in phylogenetics. Travis is
engaged in volunteer work as an assistant curator at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Fort Hays, KS.
He has shifted his attention to website creation, but he still takes plenty of
time to go herping.
Dorothy Scholl-Meeker
studied the possibly Lamarckian inheritance of thermal tolerance in Escherichia coli.
Dorothy is working as an instructor at SLU.
Jeff Stratford was a fellow archosaurologist at Southeastern. Jeff and Tom (see above) are both all-around good naturalists, and I have a lot to learn from them. Though he focussed his research on volant archosaurs, we taught Strato a few things about the really interesting reptiles.
Jeff is still working on his Ph.D., as these things take some time, but the
family has relocated back to Louisiana.
Kirsten Nicholson I designated an honorary labmate during my thesis defense. Kirsten's doctoral work involves developing a phylogeny of West Indian anoles, a prodigious feat considering the sheer number of taxa. She's been working on the molecular angle in the Crother-White lab, and during the time that our tenures overlapped at Southeastern, Kirsten and I became good friends. I admire her dedication and the quality of her work, and she seems to think I know one or two things.
Joyce and Hardy Warren are my parents. I won't say too much about them, because my father is sure the Government would use any information I put about him here against him. However, I will say that they are teachers in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, a job that seems to provide them with a great deal of satisfaction.
Hillary Warren is my sister. She's a Warren and that pretty much sums it up. We're all pretty strange, and she's no exception. To be fair, Hillary likes a lot of the things that many gals her age do, so maybe she is more normal than me at least.
Hillary is now attending SLU as an undergrad, and undoubtedly running across
many of the same strange characters I did!
Kevin Warren is my brother. Actually, now that I think about it, Kevin's more normal than I am, too. At least he likes sports, and guys are supposed to like sports.
Kevin is also a big history buff.
Jamile Hernandez
is a former student from one of my introductory zoology labs at Southeastern. We went out a few times after the close of the semester, and the rest is history. You might say our relationship is characterized by a certain friendly antagonism. We talk about anything and everything and just enjoy each other's company. To my continuing regret, she moved back to her home near Austin, Texas several months ago, but we stay in touch.
Jamile is working on a degree at a local community college and paying her bills
with a regular job.
Scott and Mattie Delaney recently moved to Baton Rouge, and are consequently closer to me now. Scott I have known since high school, although we lost touch and were reacquainted only about five years ago. I met Mattie about four years ago, close to the time that she became Mrs. Delaney. Since that time, I've enjoyed many interesting dinners and great conversation at their place. They are really nice people, and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to know them. Scott's working in Computing Services at LSU presently, a job he seems to enjoy, and Mattie is working
in food service, doing one of the things she enjoys most--baking.