Fog is neat! (Quinn Biesinger (Hopkins, 1996-97)

Despite the advances in technology and the resulting speed with which we can now communicate, I have just now learned of Dr. B’s retirement. Although my life still has me landlocked in Utah and my career has nothing to do with marine biology, my wife and I have managed a nearly annual trip to the coast with our family to enjoy the ocean and all the “critters” to be found there. On our last trip we were in Oregon and were excited to visit the tide pools, so we consulted the tide tables and found that the low-low tide was very early in the morning. We considered settling for the high-low, but the words of Dr. B resounded in my head, “When it’s low, we go!”  So we loaded 7 kids into the van and headed to the beach. The kids were initially excited about the countless sea stars (“they are not starfish”) and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (yes, I still amaze people with my knowledge of scientific names for sea creatures) but I encouraged them to look closer to see the mini wonders. After staring into one small, neglected pool for several minutes I found a beautiful specimen of the wonders of the sea. Wildly gesticulating, I called for the kids to come and look! With several heads bent over this tiny pool, noses just inches from the water, a passerby hurried over excitedly and asked what we were all gawking at. I lifted my head and said enthusiastically, “A nudibranch…a sea slug!”  With a “humph” she walked away in disappointment and disgust as I described its translucent body, the brown stripes and the cerata with bright fluorescent yellow tips. I knew Dr. B would have been proud of my tiny find.

After my wife and I spent a semester in Monterey as students, Dr. B let me come back the next year as one of his divers. Shortly after arriving I developed an ear infection and ruptured my ear drum, which severely limited my diving time. I felt terrible and I could only imagine how disappointed Dr. B must have been, but he never let it show. He only expressed concern for my well-being.

Like others have mentioned, I will always look back on my time with Dr. B as my most educational, enjoyable and meaningful time at BYU.

“Fog is neat!!!!”

Quinn Biesinger, ’96 & ’97 as student then diver, Real Estate Appraiser in Kaysville, Utah.

"The Old Man of the Sea" (Poem shared by Mike Aley)

(Mike Aley shared this poem at the recognition session during Dr. B's retirement get-together at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in June, 2011)

"Thanks Dr. Braithwaite" (Byron Adams, Video shown at the OIMB)

This is a video sent by Byron Adams that was shown at the OIMB during the celebration of Dr. Braithwaite upon his retirement from BYU.  It is presented here in several segments due to challenges of uploading one large video file to this site.

(Byron Adams went on to earn a PhD from the University of Nebraska, and he is currently a member of the Biology Department at BYU in Provo)

Look Closer (Chris Pattillo BYU '97)

Dr. B,

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be good at something unique.  You gave me to chance to be one of your divers after my first year in Monterey.  The three Springs in Monterey (95-97) and having a desk in your lab my senior year are still some of my best memories.

·         Look closer.

·         If at first you do succeed try again anyway because you can do better.

·         A large fresh strawberry can make a really convincing tongue if you hold it in your mouth just right.  

I use the lessons learned in your classes and through your friendship constantly.   It doesn’t matter if I am taking the Boy Scouts on an outing, teaching SCUBA, playing with my girls or in my day job managing a software development team the lessons learned between Monterey tides have blessed my life.  I learned to be kind, patient, give others a chance to succeed and occasionally stick a strawberry tongue out at someone.  

Thank you Dr. B I would not be who or where I am today without the faith you showed in me.

-Chris

Chris Pattillo

(Chris is now an Interface and Data Integration Manager at Group Health Cooperative in the Seattle, WA, area, and is also an Advanced Open Water Instructor at Scuba Sports)

Byron Adams - Basketball Story

Many Thanks! (Jill Alvarado Skinner)

Dr. B,

I am so sad that I was not able to go to your farewell party in Oregon, but I am near the end of a pregnancy and the doctor said no travelling.  I enjoyed working as your TA for a semester and going to OIMB the first year you took BYU students.  I remember coming into your office very timidly in 2004 as a brand new returned missionary to see if possibly/maybe/by some chance you had a job opening.  Thank you for offering me the job and for inviting me on the marine biology trip.  Some of my favorite memories from the trip were:

- Eating homemade ice cream with you and sister B.
- Getting some roses delivered to me in the field house while we were looking at sand dollar embryos under the microscopes (I'm sure I turned very red) (It's ok, because the flower sender became my husband the following spring)
- NOT throwing up and NOT falling down on our first trip out in the bay on the Pluteus (the boat).
- Spending hours semi-upside down in wadeboots looking at tidepools.
- Finding and keeping Diego the baby octopus and catching young crab to feed to him.  He couldn't catch them on his own at first, so we had to "injure" the first one.  After that he got it, and it was so cool to watch him hunt.
- Meeting some interesting characters at the floating docks who wondered why we were always poking at those squishy things down there.
- Singing "summertime" at our first OIMB talent show:  Summertime, and the livin' is easy/ fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high/ your daddy's rich and your momma's good lookin'/ so hush little baby don't you cry  -became- Summertime and the semester is easy/ illustratin' and our tideboots so high/ open up MAH, identify those limpets/ 'cause we love Dr. B and happy birthday Hillary!

Thanks again Dr. B.  You were a great professor.  I learned a lot from you.  I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

With lots of Love,

Jill Alvarado (Skinner)


(Jill wanted to attend the Celebration for Dr. B at the OIMB, but the birth of her 3rd child [due date is in Aug.] prevented her from traveling.  She has 2 boys ages 4 and 2 and the newest addition will be a girl.  Jill just finished her second year teaching biology at an urban high school in Las Vegas.)

Clock Shopping in Carmel-By-The-Sea (Molly Lorton Aldridge, HMS '97)

Dear Dr. B.,

I remember the first time I stood in front of your office in the basement of the WIDB. I read your nameplate and stared for I don't know how long at the wide door. Is it just me or is that office door extra wide? I felt so small in front of it. I didn’t have an appointment, and I didn’t even know if you were there. I was too scared to knock, so I turned around and went home.

When I finally got the courage to meet with you, I was welcomed into a wonderland of an office. The opposite of Ariel in The Little Mermaid who collected treasures from the land, you collected treasures from the sea. How many wonders can one BYU office hold?

From that point on, I made several visits to your office for academic advisement, applying to the Monterey program (1997), and then again begging you to let me return the following year as a teaching assistant. I prided myself in knowing the silly Dr. B and not just the dignified, intimidating Dr. Braithwaite.

I have several favorite memories about our time in Monterey. As a student, I was amazed at the passion you had for your field of study and the meticulous nature with which you built your career. I remember the stories you told of copying marine biology books by hand into your own notebooks and living on franks and beans in order to be closer to the ocean. I was amazed by your handwriting and practiced writing my “g”s like you, but your handwriting was nothing compared to your drawings! Detailed, thoughtful renditions of phytoplankton never looked so good as they did on the chalkboards of Hopkins Marine Station! To this day, my Monterey notebook of lecture notes and drawings is one of my favorite possessions.

In addition to the purely scientific, you taught me many other lessons of life:

1.   By far, my favorite memory was when you honored me by letting me go antique clock shopping with you. To this day, I remember the little clock shops in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and I still love antique clocks. I appreciate the clean, straight lines of Mission style clocks and you preferred, if I remember correctly, the more ornate German clocks.

2.   Fools’ names like fools’ faces are often seen in public places. In other words, don’t scratch your name into the desk, Molly.

3.   Buy quality furniture. Be patient and wait until you can afford to buy a nice piece. Don’t waste your money on things that you will end up replacing in two years.

4.   Fountain pens are a worthy indulgence.

5.   Girls walk funny in big shoes. In other words, those 4 inch platform sandals you think are cute and in style this summer of 1998, really make you look silly.  You probably shouldn’t wear them.

6.   Sometimes the gifts we receive from listening to the Holy Ghost are sacred and shouldn’t be, necessarily, advertised from the pulpit.

Thank you, Dr. B, for lessons taught, marine and not.  I’m so glad I finally knocked on that office door of yours! Best wishes for a well-deserved retirement.

Love,

Molly Lorton Aldridge

(Molly Lorton Aldridge, BYU '98, lives Durham, NC and is an epidemiologist for the State of North Carolina.)