AASP Primary Records Program

Dr. Mart P. Schemel, one of the founding members of AASP, died on May 5, 1979, in his 54th year. The scientific community has lost in him a dedicated palynologist and a good friend who was always willing to share his expertise and knowledge with those less experienced.

Mart received his B.A. degree at Coe College, Iowa in 1946 under L. R. Wilson, His M.S. at Wisconsin in 1948, under M. L. Thompson, and was awarded a Ph.D. from West Virginia University in 1957, having studied under A. T. Cross. He worked for the Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, West Virginia and Oklahoma Geological Surveys, where he functioned as both a palynologist and coal petrologist. He was employed as a Paleozoic palynologist at Shell Oil Company's research laboratory in Houston from 1957 to 1966 where he studied the Springer Group of Oklahoma and was responsible for expanding and improving shell's morphographic coding system for pollen and spores. His professional career also included affiliations with Sinclair Oil and Gas Company and Amoco Research Center in Tulsa, where a developing heart disability forced him into early retirement.

Mart had numerous professional society affiliations, among which were the Botanical Society, AAAS, GSA, SEPM, and AASP. His main hobby interests included photography, gardening, model railroading, carpentry, tropical fish, copper enameling and camping. His avid mind kept ahead of his failing body and in 1975 he developed a successful Boy Scout troop in which he served as bars scoutmaster and committee chairman. As his physical condition worsened, Mart affiliated closely with his church, and studied for holy orders, becoming a perpetual Deacon of the Episcopal Church the year before his death.

The number of people whose lives have been touched by Mart during his long career both as a scientist and a minister are too numerous to mention. He was a thorough and meticulous worker, and he leaves a host of friends and colleagues with a rich legacy of good works.

On behalf of the AASP, we wish to express our sincerest sympathy to Mart's loving and patient family -- his wife, Donna, and his son, Eric.

Richard W. Hedlund
Alfred Traverse