AASP Primary Records Program

Where are They Now Series
Judy Lentin
AASP Newsletter 25(3): p. 8, 1992.

Ben Bourn

In December 1967 I was working for Chevron in their Oklahoma City office. My work was exclusively on Paleozoic palynology projects. When the Oklahoma City office was closed, I was transferred to Jackson, Mississippi where most of the palynological projects involved Mesozoic assemblages. As you might imagine, this was like ending one career and starting over in a new one. However, I found this extension of my palynological knowledge fascinating, plus I had the good fortune to be sent to study dinoflagellates in Bill Evitt's two week seminar.

I spent eight months in Jackson, Mississippi before that office was closed and I was transferred to New Orleans. I worked in New Orleans for seven years and then retired in 1978.

My wife, Ruth, and I built a house on her ranch in Bosque County, Texas and we have lived here since my retirement. The move to the ranch was a radica1 change in my daily routine - from sitting eight + hours a day at the microscope as well as reading literature and writing palynological reports, I went to physical outdoor labor.

About the photograph, I don't want to give the impression that I operate a front loader - it was just a handy prop. The fuzzy background are the "cedars", with hardwoods mixed in, which we want to leave on the hill sides and tops. The hardwoods are mainly "Spanish Oaks" and several varieties of Elm. The Oaks turn a brilliant shade of red in the fall, around Thanksgiving.

Thank you once again for your interest in the founding mernbers. We were a group of individuals interested in making palynology a usefu1 tool in the exploration for hydrocarbons. It is nice to be remembered 25 years later.