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JOHN THE CURATOR THIERET, W. Robert RC. Naczi Claude Herbarium Phillips E. Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources Delaware State A US ware 1990 1 ! [email protected] way mark John Thieret complex and remarkable personality had a of leaving its s who who came know him on encountered him; those met Jolm and even to all many am and memories one who, ways, briefly have rich lasting of him. the in I had to step into John's shoes soon after his retirement from Northern Kentucky my University, where began academic career in 992. Of course, could never f 1 1 my NKU Johns and soon learned new-found colleagues on shoes, to tell fill I meeting them that was occupying the position John had vacated, but first 1 I knowmg was not John's "replacement." Most of the tune, received chuckles in 1 such response self-introduction. to a meant was Occupying academic appointment John had held the the also I to assume a curatorship for the herbarium that John built. After his arrival first NKU John Chairman Department no time in f973 as of the Biology lost in at my NKU John establishing a herbarium there. During tenure as curator at re- mained very active— in effect John and served as co-curators of the herbarium 1 my me makes uniquely for nine years, to great benefit. This relationship quali- fied to remember John The Curator, a side of John to which will limit the rest 1 my remarks. of NKU John excellence everything concerning the tierbarium. strove for in and and mounting, put his heart soul into collecting, identifying, labeling, fie Though more filing plant specimens in the herbarium. he collected far speci- was mens than most botanists (in the several tens of thousands), he never in was he competition with others to beat their collecting records. Rather, inter- ested, above in quality over quantity. Instead of complaining about the te- all, mounting dium of pressing plants, typing labels, or gluing specimens on paper, many botanists John took sincere pleasure in executing these tasks that field on assistants. Once a specimen was in the herbarium, he insisted on the foist NKU Many when highest standards curation. times hosted visitors to the for its I remark tierbarium, or traveled to use other herbaria in Kentucky, heard the 1 1 m NKU that the Herbarium was the best curated herbarium the state of Ken- Within Joh an experience continues Joh that to -23.2006 SIDA 21 22(1): 22 BRIT.ORG/5IDA 22(1] amaze me. In the late spring of John entered the herbarium the day after 1996, I had retmmed from a long field trip tlirough the southeastern United States for my me John found puzzhng specimen had Though research. over a collected. I was familiar with most lowering plants present in the springtime in decidu- I f m ous forests of the Southeast, had found something one Alabama forest that 1 completely stumped me. had never seen know this species, didn't family, its 1 and couldn't even be sure was a monocot, thougli somehow thought Turn- it so. 1 ing to John, admhted that didn't know^ where to begin with this one, but 1 I suspected w^as something "really good." After w^hat else could say to cloak it all, 1 my my ignorance? John gazed at find, hesitated only a moment, didn't say a and marched word, to one of several bookcases present in the herbarium. There, many he removed one one which we had issue of ol the scientific journals for long Soon, he produced photograph, and asked me, your series. a this plant?" "Is With that photograph (Whetstone 1984: reahzed had found the rare 133), I I Croomia pauciflora (Nutt.) Torr of the obscure family Stemonaceae. In response my to query he had seen the plant, John responded, "No, but remembered if 1 many seeing that photograph appear in this paper years ago." When came was to desiderata for the herbarium, John utterly ecumeni- it cal. Whether the lowliest, most inconspicuous, most downtrodden w^eed or the lol tiest tree, John was interested in learning its name, how to identify wJicther it, was poisonous, and he had any specimens of in the herbarium. His en- it il it thusiasm w^as infectious and quickly endeared him to other naturalists, par- When ticularly in the he encountered plant species he hadn't seen field. a in My several years, he would treat the plant as he'd run into a long-lost friend. if most recent field trip with John was last April, wJien he came to Delaware for a on him was brief visit. insisted taking to a nearby racetrack that full of vernal 1 unmown weeds in all their glory. Within minutes, John showed me Sihara knew vir;^inica (L.) Rollins, a mustard species he well from Kentucky. Further showed undocumented investigation be previously Delaware, though to for it m botanists have been hunting green treasure this state since the earliest 1800s. m Such was days work your combination knowledge, keen all a if of vast eye, memory and unclouded what madejohn w^ere Thieret the unparalleled botani- he cal talent was. John was very generous with imparting knowledge had him taken years it From to amass. him, learned a tremendous amount, and have benefited im- 1 Though mensely. John could be demanding, uncompromising, and prickly at he was uncommonly human. times, also So often wdien expressed frustration I at ill-prepared students, particularly ineffectual bureaucracy, or the insuffi- ciency of a 24-hour day, John would sigh and remark, "In a hundred years, no one will care a thing about Yet, he cared about curation, cared about her- it." NKU and baria, cared especially deeply for the Flerbarium, one of John Thieret's hundred great legacies. FlopefuUy, in a years, people will care about John. NACZIJOHNW.THIERET, THE CURATOR 23 ^U r^-^-^.-i:-^. T.v^^^. -.--j.T.-J;---- ."\ John Thieret collecting herbarium specimens, Elko County, Nevadajl August 1993. REFERENCE 31-137 Whetstone, 984, Notes on Croomia pouciflora (Stemonaceae). Rhodora 86:1 R.D. 1

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