Mallory, Virgil Standish (32597411): Difference between revisions

. Stan Mallory really came alive at home composing music on the piano or out in the field studying the Earth's makeup with students. Mallory, a Renaissance man of sorts who willingly shared his knowledge, taught geology at the University of Washington. Mallory obtained the Burke's dinosaur, believed to be the only real dinosaur skeleton in the region. Mallory was born in Englewood, N.J., in 1919 and grew up in East Orange, N.J. Mallory served as a staff sergeant in Army intelligence in the Pacific theater. Mallory could study with a certain professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "He loved teaching," Miriam Mallory recalled. Mallory would bring the students home for dinner. His colleague and friend Slettebak describes the Mallorys as "always positive. Mallory tried to pass on his passion for geology to his children, taking them on camping trips that often turned into minigeological expeditions. Mallory joined the Burke after it was built in the 1960s, and he is remembered there as a brilliant gentleman with a great sense of humor who treated his volunteers with deep respect. Mallory volunteered at the Burke and played the piano and composed music, to his friends' and family's pleasure. Standish Mallory died February 15, 2003 of heart failure. He was an American geologist and educator. Later, he became curator of geology at the Burke Museum. "He was tireless in his pursuit of things for the public to see. He was very public-spirited," said Arn Slettebak, exhibit curator at the Burke. "He would show me the things he was into. At his mother's insistence, he started playing the piano at age 5. In high school, he had his own jazz band and occasionally played alto sax with Duke Ellington's band when it came through town.