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This was a giant of a man. Intellectual giant. A left over from a by-gone era that was populated by erudite, sophisticated, authentic, self confident men and women. I feel privileged even today to recall that I was met him and was his friend, that I was able to experience the remnants of an era where the privileged and educated men and women were true renaissance men and women. They don’t make people like that any more - nor would it be possible if there were the desire and money. Globalization and the explosive growth in information have narrowed the scope of ‘stuff’ that one person can handle so playing a recorder, being a physicist and watching movies & TV is about the limit for most people.
Dr. Romer quickly estalished a friendship with Jim that went beyond the professional relationship that congenial co-workers establish. The effect of this attention was foundational to Jim’s development. It encouraged him, as did Arnie, to grow and learn and to use his talents and abilities. In so doing, Jim was prepared for jumping out of the nest and taking his place in the world of Paleontology on his own.
Dr. Romer dominated the professional side of our lives in Boston. “Al.” That’s what he told dad to call him, that’s what Ruth Romer told dad to call him, but dad never did. His respect for “Al” was too great. “Al” was forever “Dr. Romer”. Not surprising when you consider the gulf, the abyss really, between them in terms of education, erudition and background.
Dad was raised on a dirt-poor farm, a high-school drop out.
Dr. Romer, attended Amherst, earned a Ph.D.,
Dr. Romer eventually became internationally known for his excellent work, and was the author of the standard work for college zoology courses entitled “The Vertebrate Body.” I have a copy that I stole from a professor in the Radiology Department at BSU. Really.
Dr. Romer always treated me well. I appreciated that. I understood that he was important and the dominant figure of the museum but he was courteous. He didn’t lavish attention on kids but he was aware we were around and would talk kindly to us if we asked a question. But he was one of the lower gods so I didn’t test the limits in any way. I liked him and admired him and never had any complaints or concerns about him. He impressed me
Dinner in Provo many years later illustrated Dr. Romer’s erudition. He talked comfortably with me, an opinionated undergrad minoring in Classical Greek, about classical subjects, I thinking snottily that I really was the more knowledgeable of the two of us. At one point I remarked something about the Sack of Troy and stating the date when it allegedly happened. “Oh,” he said, “Didn’t that happen in such and such a year?” “No, I corrected him, It was (whatever I had said).” He looked down at his dinner, took a bite of food, started talking to dad, and let it go. That made me uncertain. I checked the date later. He was right. Well. But note. Not only did he know more than I did, from his undergrad days several decades previously, but he did not correct me, he didn’t argue with me. He knew the answer better than I, but he didn’t need to win an argument with a brash young man who overstepped the boundaries of his own knowledge. That smarts more than if he’d argued with me. Then, at least, I would have been able to be indignant that he had argued. I don’t know whether I think it was a good thing or not that mom and dad didn’t know the situation.
At that same dinner with the four of us at the long dining room table at 2821 North, Dr. Romer told many interesting funny things. His comments didn’t feel like he was showing off. He was just chatting, bringing in to the conversation things from his past that were apropos to whatever the topic was at that moment. He talked about his undergrad days at Amherst and then recited a long poem - in Latin. Later in the same meal, he recited a long Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem about “Kubla Kahn”, a gorgeous poem I had never heard of it. He spoke both with humor and security, a most remarkable performance, there in the dry sparsely educated Utah desert.
Well, that’s the man and his background. His education was enormous. He was one of the truly grand, broadly educated men from a by-gone era when that was possible, when well-heeled men -usually men- were able to get themselves around most of the natural sciences, a bit of philosophy, some current events and speak intelligently about them all. This type of figure is gone today, the result of many forces, not least of which are (1) the geometric growth in knowledge and (2) the concomitant shrinkage in the scope of an individual’s area of specialization. It is impossible, today, to keep abreast of developments in the natural sciences, philosophy, cosmology, sociology, political science and so on. So it is sort of unfair to lament the disappearance of a type that was destined to be extinct. But I do. It is such an impressive thing to see a person with such a large scope of abilities.
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