[meteorite-list] AL Havrilla

[almitt2 at localnet.com]

> A Tribute To AL Havrilla
>
> Some of you may have known AL as he was a meteorite collector. 
> Perhaps some of the meteorite dealers may have known him better. He 
> read the list and was a lurker. AL Passed away Wednesday September 
> 17th  2014. He had a long history of illness due to his diabetes. He 
> was born in Ohio and was a past member of the Chagrin Valley 
> Astronomy Club. He worked on the Hubble Space Telescope Project in 
> the photo lab and he is credited with photos he worked on in the book 
> Galaxies by Timothy Ferris.
>
> AL was a avid meteorite collector and lived, breath, and studied 
> meteorites, as this was his biggest passion. AL didn't have much 
> money in which to acquire specimens but saved up money and would make 
> two, three or four purchases per year as his budget allowed. His 
> collection grew to about 100 nice specimens over a period of 22 plus 
> years. I was honored to be able to provide him with a number of his 
> specimens.
>
> He would call me for my offerings, and we would often talk for 30 or 
> 40 minutes at a time about meteorites, astronomy and what all was 
> going on. I had an occasion to visit with him in person twice when I 
> went to Washington D.C. and we went to see the national collection of 
> meteorites.
>
> Due to his poor health he was put on disability and was a shut in for 
> a great part of his remaining years. Meteorites were his escape and 
> kept him going, along with reading Meteorite Magazine from cover to 
> cover. Also telephone calls seem to pick him up when he called me or 
> I called him. I know that he also dealt with Blaine Reed often and 
> talking to Blaine lifted him up
>
> A few years back he began thinking about what to do with his 
> specimens before he suffeled off the Earth. He contacted me to assist 
> him with this. He had decided to try to partially donate/sell his 
> collection to a museum that did education and had outreach programs. 
> His collection could then be seen by children and adults in order to 
> become better acquainted with meteorites. I was able to find a great 
> museum for his specimens. I drove to his location in Baltimore, MD., 
> and spent a day or two there and then took his collection with me, 
> where I later delivered the specimens to the museum of his choice.
>
> While it was hard for AL to part with his specimens (he did retain 
> some) he knew  his specimens would be going to a place where they 
> would do the most good and it would give him some credit and a small 
> legacy. He derived a great deal of satisfaction and some relief from 
> doing this.
>
> AL will be missed by a number of us and there is now another hole in 
> the meteorite world.
>
> --AL Mitterling