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| Charlie Drewes -- 1946-2005
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On July 8, 2005, ABLE members learned that Charlie Drewes, ABLE member and Professor at Iowa State University, died on July 4 of a massive coronary shortly after returning home from jogging. Bill Glider, ABLE President, sent a floral arrangement on behalf of ABLE members. The EEOB Department at Iowa State University has established the Charles Drewes Memorial Fund to support academic enterprises important to Charlie. These activities include excellence in biology education, student mentoring, teacher education, and invertebrate zoology. If you wish to make a donation, please make the check out to the ISU Foundation, earmarked with a notation for the Charles Drewes Memorial Fund, and mail it to the ISU Foundation at 2505 Elwood Drive, Ames, IA 50010. Here we remember Charlie with some words from his colleagues and fellow ABLE members. * * * It was Henry David Thoreau who said “In wildness is the salvation of the world,” but it was Dr. Charlie Drewes, former professor of EEOB, and invertebrate neurologist, who taught me what it meant. For those of you who didn’t have the good fortune of knowing Dr. Drewes, I should tell you that he was a great advocate of students, a great advocate of teachers, and a champion of the idea that the pursuit of Truth should be conducted through the agents of science. It was under the guidance of Dr. Drewes that I first became fascinated with the study of bioethics. As a young graduate student very much suffering from an existentialist worldview, Dr. Drewes took upon himself to be both a mentor and a friend. I recall countless hours of sitting in his office discussing not only science, but all the forces which influence it -- be they politics, economics or other societal standards. At a time when my faith in that ever industrious machine called “science” was about to collapse, he rekindled my curiosity with a more healthy skepticism about the world, which, in turn, infused my entire life with new ideas and meanings. One of Dr. Drewes’ greatest accomplishments as a professor, I think, was his ability to inspire students about biological issues, not by teaching mere facts and figures, but by arming students with the vigilance of critical thinking. This is exemplified by one of his favorite Chinese proverbs: “Learning without thought is useless. Thought without learning is dangerous” (Confucius). With this philosophy Dr. Drewes has helped to lead a generation of young Iowa State scientists and scholars into the future with more ethically and socially conscious minds. Dr. Drewes’ unexpected passing is a reminder of how very fragile and precious life truly is. I mean this both in the personal and the biological/ecological sense, as I think he would have wanted. One of the last times I saw Dr. Drewes was a few weeks ago when he gave me a copy of the book A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (who was, incidentally, another great Iowan conservationist and biologist). Today I flipped through the book again and found Leopold’s description of the seasonal migration of geese: “The flock emerges from the low clouds, a tattered banner of birds, dipping and rising, blown up and blown down, blown together and blown apart, but advancing, the wind wrestling lovingly with each winnowing wing. When the flock is a blur in the far sky I hear the last honk, sounding taps for summer.” To our dear teacher and friend, Dr. Charlie Drewes: we will miss you terribly. Karri Haen * * * Remembering Charlie Each of the last 5 years, my wife, in her capacity as science coordinator for our school district, has invited Charlie Drewes to present workshops to our teachers and advanced biology students. He’s always been invited back because he has proven to be both a valuable resource and an inspiration. He brings his physiology equipment, his worms, his homemade equipment, an infectious curiosity and his weird sense of humor. Each year we find more and more of Charlie’s influence showing up in our teacher’s lesson plans and in our student’s individual research projects. This past May, I’ll have to admit that I was probably not ready for Charlie’s style of humor. You might say that I was a bit numb from dealing with the latest round of battles with our state school board over whether evolution really belongs in a biology curriculum. I was ripe for the picking and Charlie wasn’t about to let an opportunity like that get away. While having dinner at a local restaurant, Charlie decided that he just had to show me his latest find—strong, fossil evidence to support ID or Intelligent Design. Swell, just what I needed. Of course, my normal defenses were down and I fell for the bait -- hook, line and sinker. As those ABLE members that attended last summer’s meeting know, one of Charlie’s latest projects has been exploring microfossils and their use in biology laboratories -- an excellent extension of his love of living freshwater invertebrates. ... (from a separate message) Charlie was a very unique individual with a unique talent for creating new approaches to laboratory biology. We shared a passion for living organisms and a quest to see that living organisms should be an essential component of every biology class. Charlie's love was invertebrates and he created an extensive set of incredibly creative resources for classroom teachers. More about Charlie and his work is here. Charlie had a truly wacky sense of humor (some examples are here). It was a joy to work with him. Over the last several years Charlie has conducted summer workshops for teachers at Iowa's Lakeside Laboratory. Teachers came away from these workshops with a new appreciation for invertebrates and amazing resources to share with their students. Of course, as you that knew Charlie know, he did all of this in his own manner and just because it was the right thing to do and he had fun sharing with so many. He will be missed. Brad Williamson * * * In Memory of Charlie Drewes… The first time I met Charlie Drewes was also the first time I received my very own blackworm. I was attending one of Charlie’s workshops at the NABT conference and had a woman sitting next to me swearing left and right that blackworms were the most wonderful creatures to work with in teaching labs. I wasn’t convinced until Charlie came back to talk to us at the end of the workshop. He gave me a tube of worms and cheerfully explained how to care for them and encouraged me to email him with problems and concerns. He seemed so confident in these worms and so enthusiastic about invertebrates that I just had to trust him. And he was right – the worms are fabulous to work with in teaching labs! Over the next several years, Charlie became a fabulous resource, a great support, and an incredible biology friend. I came to learn that he was a lover of invertebrates, biology, his career, and of people (especially teachers). He genuinely wanted everyone to love invertebrates and biology as much as he did. He genuinely cared about teachers and desired to help them in any way he could. And help he did! I had so much success with blackworms, thanks to Charlie, that I was inspired to share my experiences with other people at the ABLE conference. Not only did I get Charlie’s blessings to present a lab using blackworms, I also received much support from Charlie as I prepared to present at this past year’s ABLE conference. He frequently emailed me to find out if I had questions, to point me towards more resources, to get me “pumped up” to present, and to answer my questions. I received many freebies in the mail from Charlie (the freebies we have all come to know and love). He even offered to take the risk of bring extra worms on the plane to the conference for me – just in case. And, once at Virginia Tech for the conference, he sought me out to offer encouragement, worms, help, and a huge smile! So, immediately I was put at ease and excitedly awaited my first major workshop – completely and totally inspired by Charlie. In the spirit of Charlie’s generosity, I made sure there were plenty of freebies to give out at my workshop, including live worms. I couldn’t have done this workshop without Charlie. Never would I be so passionate about invertebrates, especially blackworms, without Charlie. I miss him as I think we all do and will. I never really had the chance to thank Charlie – I mailed out my thank you note to him the day after he passed away (before the news arrived). So, I write this memoir also to thank Charlie for all he was, all he did for me, and all he continues to give to biology teachers. His spirit, smile, and inspiration that he offered to so many people will surely live on. Thanks Charlie! Kelly Bohrer * * * I met Charlie when taking his electromyography major workshop at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I left the experience thinking he had to be the epitome of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable laboratory educator. At ABLE conferences after that one I would especially look for him and be disappointed if he did not attend. I took one other of his major workshops (touch and temperarure senses) given last year. I adopted it for my course last spring. With his assistance and blessing I included his draft binder document in my lab manual (published by Hayden-McNeil) before it was revised for the Proceedings. I also asked him to be an "associate editor" of record for my Biology Lab Clearinghouse. He was very willing and contributed to it. He made it very clear that his work could reside in the BLC only if it was free and not taken over by a commercial venture. This spring I arranged to purchase one of his home-made electromyography devices. At the Virginia Tech meeting we discussed how payment would be made (at cost of course). [I hope the purchase can be completed -- if it is, I will dedicate the investigation to Charlie and tell "his story" to all students using it.] That was Charlie, so generous with his ideas and work. Over the years I came to revere him, and his loss has created an ache that will take a long time to heal. I can see him in my mind and the image will be with me always. Bob Hodson * * * Charlie Drewes has been a friend for around 10 years. He was a kind, gentle, intelligent and creative biology researcher and teacher. If Charlie was doing a workshop I signed up for that one...He has done workshops for NABT and ABLE for years. He was the best creator of labs and widgets of anyone in the field of biology labs. He advised me on the development of several of our non-major labs here at Florida State University. If you ever needed worms or ideas, he would send them to you in the next mail. He was the most giving person, helping high school teachers and college teachers, sharing with all the creative and clever ideas that he had developed...his latest was the microfossils....and the nerve labs, and movement labs, and the worms! He was the greatest lab developer that I have ever known....Charlie will be missed by all biology teachers, those who knew him and those that use his ideas and labs....He was a great friend. Ann Lumsden * * * I have attached three digital images that I took of Charlie Drewes at the 2005 ABLE conference at Virginia Tech. Please feel free to use them on the ABLE web site in remembrance of Charlie is you wish. ABLE 2005 was only my second ABLE conference and ABLE 2005 was the first time I took workshops with Charlie, but he struck me as a person who loved biology and could not wait to share his knowledge with fellow biologists. I am sure that he will truly be missed by all. Kerry W. Holzworth * * * We finish with this memory: "We were in a little roof top bar in Bowling Green sipping some brewskies and Charlie asked our group of five or so what we would want to be if we could be absolutely anything we wanted to! Charlie won the prize with his own answer---'Me? I would be a pool shark!' That just totally cracked everyone up!" Kathy Nolan
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