On August 28, 2017, the meteorite world, Texas Christian University, his former students and his many friends celebrated the life of Dr. Arthur Ehlmann, a kind giant of a man, a man who called Texas Christian University home for 60 years.
People from all walks of life, academics, business people, former students and others came to honor him and to thank him for the influence he had on their lives.
Teaching was his first calling and the one most important to him. The campus of TCU was a place where he could be himself, encouraging people to learn, helping them to be their best with empathy and his enormous knowledge.
Denise Stone, a former student, said it well: He valued education and made teaching others his lifelong work. He called it “fighting ignorance and superstition”. He said, “People that are educated soak up all kinds of knowledge whether it’s on a test or not and whether they find it of immediate value or not.” His name in the geology department was “the King,” a name that suited him well.
Education was so important to him that even after his retirement, at age 80, he volunteered to teach GED classes to people who, as he told me, “had a difficult start in life.”
And in his own kind way he is still doing it.
His other great interest was geology. He loved rocks. After he met Oscar Monnig, meteorites became his favorite rocks and with the help of his long-time friend David New, he turned Mr. Monnig’s collection into one of the largest collections in an institution.
He never tired of looking at the new rocks being brought to him in his office. And even though only 3 out of the hundreds he examined turned out to be real meteorites, he was happy and excited every time.
He enjoyed going to mineral shows and often went to the Tucson Show. He loved to explore show rooms and displays, to discover new meteorites and to discuss meteorites with collectors and dealers.
I am one of those dealers and I still remember my first visit to Fort Worth and Art’s office. He wished aloud that I would find a buyer for one of the large masses of Travis under his desk, just so he could finally put his feet under his desk. I remember his gentle questioning as to why I wanted one specimen rather than another. I was green then, so new at this that I did not realize until much later that he was quietly teaching me how to think through and plan a trade with an institution. Thank you, Art.
On Saturday August 19, Art rode his bicycle, as always, from home to meet friends for lunch at TCU, and to see the large mass of Clarendon, the latest meteorite being added to the Monnig Collection. They had their usual lively conversation about minerals and meteorites near the Gallery.
Then Art collapsed.
We lost a King and a very gentle man.
Anne Black
With sincere thanks to Denise Stone, Ann Karol and Dorothy Norton Kashuba.
