Historical Perspective: Charles C. Carpenter and Reptilian Behavioral Ecology

Abstract

I was pleased to be invited by the organizers of this symposium to give an opening encomium for Charles Congden Carpenter. I was honored to be asked to say something about the career and contributions of a personal friend and colleague. His accomplishments would be easy to relate, for the record is clear to all, but what about his personal traits? Perhaps a "roast" would work. Or should I keep things more serious and, perhaps, more in accord with the occasion? After obtaining the input of some of his family members and former students-and probably to Chuck's great relief-I soon decided that a "roast" was just not reconcilable with the personality and character of the man we honor here. Although Chuck is certainly not without humor-all who know him will recall his often twinkling eye, followed by a droll comment or pun and often what can be described only as Chuck's chuckle-he is in the final analysis a gentleman scholar, somewhat of the old school, who keeps his own counsel. Carpenter was born on 2 June 1921 in Denison, Iowa. He received his B.A. degree from Northern Michigan College of Education in 1943. After graduation, he entered the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) and attended training programs at several colleges, including a year at Wayne University Medical School in Detroit. After the end of World War II and at his own request, he left for graduate school at the University of Michigan. He received his M.S. in 1947 and Ph.D. in 1951. Frederick Test was his major professor. In 1947 he married Mary Pitynski, who also has had a professional career as an outstanding biochemist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Their oldest daughter, Janet, despite severe diabetes that led to blindness and kidney transplants, completed two degrees in anthropology and continues to live independently and remain active in community affairs. Their other daughter, Caryn Sue (Vaughn), completed her Ph.D. at Oklahoma and is an aquatic ecologist with the Oklahoma Biological Survey. Their son, Geoff, recently received his Ph.D. from New Mexico State and presented the first scientific paper in this symposium. In the summer of 1952 Carpenter first taught at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station, and in 1953 he joined the Faculty at Oklahoma as an Assistant Professor, thus continuing the tradition there in herpetology and vertebrate zoology established by his predecessors A. I. Ortenberger, A. 0. Weese, and Arthur Bragg. In 1959 he was promoted to Associate Professor and also became Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Stovall Museum (now the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History). Carpenter became a full Professor in 1966. In 1987 he became a Professor Emeritus and Curator Emeritus. Retired, but certainly not inactive, he has published several papers and a centennial history of his department. Carpenter's honors include Distinguished Alumni Award from Northern Michigan University, University of Oklahoma Regents' Award for Superior Accomplishment in Research & Creative Activity, first recipient (1986) of the W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Outstanding Scientist Award from the Oklahoma Academy of Sciences (1991), Fellow of The Herpetologists' League,