6
through our computers, the test trial of an
early version of instant messaging. My day
at the office might end in a race to the main
office of Federal Express to deposit the latest
changes in manuscripts, arriving just at closing
time. Linda proofed the final copy. We three
have particularly warm memories of spending
time in the Swartz home, meeting the editor’s
talented wife, Barbara, and being invited to
swim in their indoor pool.
The last note Dr. Swartz wrote me, dated June
28, 2001, was inscribed on the front page of a
modern edition of
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
.
He thanked me for 12 years of “productive and
pleasant work together.” I think he enjoyed the
look and sound of the alliteration!
I had one last contribution for
The Physics
Teacher
.
TPT
issues and manuscript folders
that accumulated during Dr. Swartz’s nearly 30-
year tenure had to be boxed up. More current
submissions, which were stacked in a file tray
by my office door, were added. Then a happy
thought arose: Why not just take the weighty
items to the new editor, Karl Mamola? Husband
Jim and I drove off Long Island, the car laden
with its cargo of bulky boxes in the trunk and
back seat. We were headed for a place we had
never been—Boone, NC.
Our welcome to Appalachian State was
warmly Southern. Probably the new editorial
assistant, Pam Aycock (then Slaydon), worried
about the bundles we were leaving her, but she
smiled cheerfully. She queried me on how
The
Physics Teacher
operation under Dr. Swartz had
functioned. Of course his methods were his
alone and never put on paper. She was free to
develop her own system. She has indeed done
that, and excelled at it.
I hadno inkling of howquickly the publication
would develop into an international journal
with colorful ads and spectacular covers, while
still offering teachers onmany levels noteworthy
materials, including new columns.
We three “old timers” look back on our
TPT
days and association with Editor Swartz with
smiles and fond memories. I, the one with
a master’s degree in 19th-century English
literature, would seem a misfit in a physics
environment. But there was a man named
Clifford Swartz whose love of physics and gift
for teaching drewme into a world of broadening
horizons. And I was happy there.
Eva Sprague Haddix (SUNY 1989-2001)
Holly Rumpler Rahmlow (College Park 1989-1991)
Linda Sigmon Streaker (College Park 1988-1997)
J. W. Buchta, Editor 1963-1966
J. W. Buchta was born near Osceola, NE, in 1895. After graduating from the University of
Nebraska in electrical engineering, he took his PhD in physics at the University of Minnesota
in 1925. Except for leaves of absence he spent his entire academic career at Minnesota, where
he was chairman of the physics department from 1938 to 1953, and served as associate
dean until 1962. During 1941-1946 he was acting editor of
Physical Review
and
Reviews of
Modern Physics
and the editor of the latter journal from 1948-1957. He was President of the
American Association of Physics Teachers in 1947-1948 and was awarded the Oersted Medal
in 1957. At retirement he took on more work than ever, becoming Executive Secretary of
AAPT and the first editor of
The Physics Teacher
. His contributions to physics education as a
teacher, as well as editor and administrator, were noteworthy.
