Throwback Thursday #261: Roger Bohn #history #ThrowbackThursday #TBT

This is Throwback Thursday #261.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected].  Thanks!

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We are saddened to share that Roger Bohn (1932–2024) passed away in October 2024. Roger served as ESCONI’s 1st Vice President in 1991. He joined in 1985 and remained a member until 2011. Beyond his involvement with ESCONI, he volunteered as a docent at the Field Museum, where his favorites included the SUE and Evolving Planet exhibits. He was also a member of the Mid-American Paleontological Society (MAPS) and the Chicago Area Paleontological Society (CAPS). You can read his obituary here.

 

ESCONI VP Roger Bohn with Michael Bartosz - COD Scholar in January 1991

His daughter, Shelley (Bohn) Korth, shared the following memories about her father.

Roger Bohn

My father’s interest in fossils and minerals probably began about 60 years ago. He'd plan two- or three-week-long trips to somewhere with his wife and three kids at the end of each school year. In 1964, we took our first trip out west to follow a trail of National Parks. Notable stops included Dinosaur National Monument in Utah (where we gawked at the Wall of Bones) and the Petrified Forest in Arizona (where we marveled at petrified wood that was millions of years old).

A few years later, my father’s interest in collecting was probably sparked when my brother visited a campground near Braidwood with a friend. While he sat on the shore of a small lake after a swim, my brother noticed some rocks and remembered a lesson from school. He tapped one rock on another and split it open to find a fern leaf fossil inside. My father was so impressed with this fossil that he kept it on display for years in the family room. That fossil may have led him to Mazon Creek where fossils were all over the place at the time; we heard a lot about my father’s trips to hunt for fossils in all kinds of places thereafter.

For many years, my father volunteered as a docent at The Field Museum in Chicago; there, he was usually stationed at the SUE the T. rex display in the main hall. My father moved with SUE to the new Evolving Planet exhibit when it opened in 2018.

As best we can remember, my father connected with ESCONI through one of the Gem and Mineral Shows. Over the years, he acquired hundreds of books and maintained membership to several paleontology groups (e.g., MAPS and CAPS). When my father was interested in something, he studied it—sometimes obsessively.

She generously donated quite a few of his fossils and books to ESCONI.  Photos below...