From the Editor's Desk:
Thanks, Roberta and Charlie

Mariëlle Hoefnagels, Labstracts Editor
University of Oklahoma
hoefnagels@ou.edu

Tragedy has a way of smacking in you in the face. I never thought I'd see the apocalyptic scenes we witnessed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, at least not in this country. It reminded me, and many others, of how easy it is to accept the comfortable reality of clean water, food, a dry home, and medical care available whenever we need it.

And let's not forget the people we care about. This year, in quick succession, ABLE lost two longtime members: Roberta Williams (on May 18) and Charlie Drewes (on July 4). Many ABLE members wrote remembrances of these two special people for this issue of Labstracts. As you read them, I think the positive influence they each left on ABLE and biology education as a whole will become obvious.

I am still not fully recovered. Throughout the year, I file away emails that pertain to upcoming Labstracts issues. In late May, Charlie wrote to ask me whether he could publish a short article in Labstracts. He wrote:

"I have recently written an article which may or may not fit into the Labstract framework... It is a parody on a pseudoscientific claim for the discovery of fossil evidence to "support" intelligent design. It provides a good lesson in 'bad science' and bad scientific reasoning. The methods and picture are in fact real, but Sue Doe-Nim is just THAT!"

Just a little over a month later, he was gone. (The story he was going to provide, however, is on his website, still available on Iowa State's server). Seeing his email in my Fall 2005 file was a sobering reminder that life is ephemeral. If you want to learn a little more about Charlie, you can view his obituary from the Ames (Iowa) Tribune.

As a relative newcomer to ABLE, I didn't know Roberta as well as I knew Charlie, but I do remember that she was a kind, cheerful, and able organizer of the 25th ABLE conference at UNLV. An award-winning biology professor, she had retired from teaching in 2004 -- the year after that ABLE meeting -- and moved with husband Llew to Florida to be closer to her family. If you want to know more about her, you can view her obituary from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Thanks again to all the ABLE members who contributed remembrances and other articles to this issue of Labstracts, which is largely -- but not entirely -- devoted to Roberta and Charlie. And finally, to Roberta and Charlie: wherever you are, thank you for your time, effort, and inspiration. Your contributions will live on, and we won't forget you.