Category: In Memoriam

John Glenn Tribute

John Glenn Tribute

Honoring Our Fallen

On April 6, 2017 at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC), a grateful nation laid to rest one of our most profound heroes, Senator John Herschel Glenn, Jr. HON’62.  As the skies wept and solemn rains fell, The Explorers Club Washington Group (ECWG) represented The Club in honoring this great hero and other legendary explorers interred in our nation’s most hallowed ground.  In attendance were President Ted Janulis MR’95 and Barbara

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John Lentz, FE63: 1936-2015

John Lentz, FE63: 1936-2015

A celebration of the life of John W. Lentz  FE63 (May 24,1936 – January 16, 2015) was held on Sycamore Island on Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 4pm.

Lentz, JohnJohn was a member of the Washington Group of The Explorers Club for over 50 years and carried the Club’s flag on eleven expeditions.

John Lentz was one of the great figures of northern wilderness canoeing.

 

 

 
Lentz, John; canoeIn 1962 his party made the first modern descent of the Back River and he continued to paddle Canada’s north five decades later. John  logged twenty-one major Canadian paddling expeditions, plus two in Siberia where canoes and catamarans were employed. His river trip articles have been published in a variety of magazines, including National Geographic and The Beaver. John was a prominent participant in Washington, D.C area canoeing activities for many years, and is also a long-time member of the Sycamore Island Club. He and his wife Judy live up the hill from the Island.

John retired from U.S. Government service in 1999 to join a private financial consulting firm in the Washington, D.C., area. In October 2013, he was invited to deliver the Inaugural George Luste Lecture at The Canadian Canoe Museum. John told his wilderness paddling stories in a presentation entitled “Five Decades of Wilderness Paddling: People and Places”. This new lecture series George Luste who in 1986 inaugurated the annual Wilderness and Canoeing Symposium in Toronto, attracting upwards of 800 paddlers from all over North America. . John was born in Toronto and attended Upper Canada College.

Lentz, John; BookJohn’s book Tales from the Paddle: A Canoeist’s Memoirs of Wilderness Trips in Canada and Russia was published in 2013. John was elected a Fellow of The Explorers Club in 1963.

Memorial service for Richard R. Randall FE’79: April 11, 2015

Memorial service for Richard R. Randall FE’79: April 11, 2015

Richard R. Randal FE’79 passed away on March 14th, 2015 at the age of 89.   Dick was on our ECWG Steering Committee for 10 years (1998-2007) and Chair of our Education Committee for nine of those years.

A memorial service was held at 11:00 AM on April the 11th, 2015 at the Cleveland Congregational Church, 3400 Lowell  Street, NW, Washington, DC. where Dick was a member for 40 years.

Dr. Randall was awarded the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and four Battle Stars for his service in WWII in Europe. He received his PhD in geography from Clark University in 1955 and was a Fulbright scholar.

After a few years with the Central Intelligence Agency he became the Washington representative for Rand McNally and Company. There he designed the first series of maps showing the world’s ocean and water bodies in Rand’s major atlas: the Cosmopolitan Atlas.

From 1973 to his retirement in 1993 he worked as Geographer, Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency). He served as the Executive Secretary for the US Board on Geographic Names.

In 2001 Dr. Randall published “Place Names: How They Define the World and More.”Screen Shot 2015-04-05 at 9.10.58 PM

“He demonstrated how place names have become
essential elements of our everyday vocabulary, and are
ingredients of music and literature. He explored the
political importance of place names in military and
diplomatic matters and described various disputed and
controversial location names. A section is devoted to his work on the importance of identifying and naming undersea features”  (AAG).

Dr. Randall remained an active member of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, the American Geographical Society, the Association of American Geographers, the Cosmos Club, and the Explorers Club.

Mt. Randall, Antarctica, named after Richard Randall.
Mt. Randall, Antarctica,
named after Richard Rainier Randall.

His middle name, Rainier, came from his relative Admiral Peter Rainier, after whom Mount Rainier was named.  One year after his retirement the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names named a 3,000 meter mountain on the southern most continent Mount Randall in recognition of his contributions to geographic names worldwide.

 

 

 

Dick Randall will be remembered for his passion for singing in the Cleveland Park Congregational Church Choir as well as high his contributions to the Association American Geographers Careers in Geography program.

AAG:   http://news.aag.org/2015/03/in-memoriam-richard-r-randall/

Washington Post: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=174509229

 

Memorial service for Robert H. Simpson held on Feb. 19, 2015

Memorial service for Robert H. Simpson held on Feb. 19, 2015

A memorial service for Robert H. (Bob) Simpson, FE 79, who died on Dec, 19, 2014, was held on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 at the Foundry Methodist Church in Washington. Dr. Simpson was 102 years old when he died. To the public he was best-known as the “Simpson” in the categories 1 to 5 scale of hurricane strength. To atmospheric scientists and weather forecasters  he was a towering figure in the history of hurricane research and forecasting.On March 8, 2014 the ECWG held a luncheon at the Cosmos Club honoring Dr. Simpson. The Sunday, Dec. 12, 2014 Washington Post has an informative obituary on Dr Simpson.

Frank R. Power, MN ’93, dies

Frank R. Power, MN ’93, dies

Frank R. Power, MN ’93, died on May 8, 2014.

“Frank was a past chairman (of the ECWG), longtime board and committee member who worked tirelessly for the chapter. He was  friend to all and will be greatly missed.  Our deepest sympathies to Marie and family,” Don Gerson, FE, 78, said.

Mr. Power served as the Explorers Club Washington Group (ECWG) Chair in  2001 and 2002 after serving as vice chair in 1999 and 2000. He then served on the Board of Directors as an active vice chair with a vote from 2003 through 2007.

Many in the ECWG probably best knew him as the organizer the the annual Bombash, a weekend outing that was an ECWG tradition, from 2003 through 2012.   (The source of the name has been lost in the mists of history.)

Mr. Power also organized the June 201o ECWG picnic at the National Arboretum and the June 2011 picnic at the Hillwood Estate. From 2004 through 2012 he spoke at nine ECWG programs.

He also served on the committee that organized the international Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Awards Dinner held in Washington in 2013.

“I will especially remember Frank for all of the work he did coordinating with the Cosmos Club and answering my many questions as we organized the luncheon honoring Bob Simpson,  FE ’79, at the Cosmos Club on March 8, 2014,” said Jack Williams, FN ’03.

Mr. Power is survived by his wife, Marie F. Power; his children Kathy M. Lencsak (Carmine), Beth P. Bugler (Tom) and Ed R. Power (Tracy). his grandchildren Bridget, Grace, Maggie, Charlie, Catherine, Molly and Eddie,  his sister-in-law, Kathleen F. O’Dea, niece Amanda O’Dea Dillon and nephew, John P. O’Dea.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at St. Raphael Catholic Church, Falls and Dunster Roads, Potomac, Maryland on Saturday, May 17, at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, Maryland 20850.

You may view and sign the family guest book at:http://www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com/obituary/Robert-F.-Power/Rockville-MD/1380904