Page 49 - Winter 2008

Passings
Dick Stern
Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University PO Box 30, State College, Pennsylvania 16804
Acoustics Today welcomes contributions for “Passings.” Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord should be e-mailed to AcousticsToday@aip.org. Photographs that may be informal must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and photographs in separate files.
You know you tried up to the last
Doug Muster, 1974
When you first realize, it is once around,
everything happens just once – no more –
you are tempted to chance it, to risk it all on just one try.
You hope you have found a way to the heights,
where spirits soar in freedom, with no restraint.
You’ll not fall like Icarus, you say, but you will.
You went too high, you tried too hard, you found
yourself alone where few have been before.
Below, everything is small, monotone and changed,
you have changed as well.
You have no wish to share the lonely heights where
the air is thin – when you call – there is no echo.
The stars are bright and in the cold, your every sense is alive.
All life seems sharp and on edge.
When you fall, as you must, you ask, would I do it again?
Was the price too high? Was the risk too bold? No!
You know that for another try, you would pledge your soul.
The safer way, without risk, is not for a man that knows his own heart. He has no doubts, no regrets, it was worth it all.
For him, it is better to risk and lose than to play it safe
and never try, even for prizes unknown.
Who wants to recall only chances missed?
Better to skim on ice too thin than plod on solid ground,
to have run a race you cannot win than not to hear the starting gun, to have flown alone with an eagle and not with a covey of doves. There is no solace for those who have never dared to try.
And when it comes to pass that your course is run,
you know you tried up to the last.
Douglas F. Muster
Douglas F. Muster of Houston, Texas passed away at home on 7 September 2007 from heart failure. He was born 2 November 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His education included a Batchelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette and a Doctor of Philosophy from Illinois Institute of Technology. His profes- sional life touched many people through his work at the General Electric Laboratories and as the Brown & Root Professor (Emeritus) of Mechanical Engineering and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston. He served as Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department for ten years. While at the University of Houston, he served as Chairman of the US Technical Advisory Group for ISO/TC 108. Additionally, Douglas was a respected forensic engineer and expert witness for attorneys across the Nation.
Douglas Muster was a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He served as Chair of the Fall 1970 ASA meeting in Houston, Texas and was a member of the ASA Technical Committee on Structural Acoustics and Vibration (1967-85), the ASA Committee on Standards (ASACOS) (1972-86), and the Membership Committee (1969-75), serv- ing as its chair from 1970-74.
Scott Muster, Marc Mezache
Acoustics Today welcomes items for “Passings.” Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord or plain text files should be e-mailed to AcousticsToday@aip.org. Graphics may be informal, but must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and graphics in separate files.
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