In Memoriam: Robert Wetsel Mitchell, 1933-2010
A collection of documents, remembrances, photos, and drawings about
Dr. Robert W. (Bob) Mitchell, his students, friends, colleagues, and family.
Please send material to Bill.Elliott@mdc.mo.gov
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Documents
Obituary for Robert W. Mitchell by Bill Elliott
Sótano de Huitzmolotitla Bob's recounting of an early exploration of a famous Mexican pit cave.
Memories of Bob:
Robert by Linda Mae Mitchell
Searching for the Old Man Bat by Tom Linton
To Look Toward the Horizon by Tom Linton
Mitchell in Fredericksburg by Fred Hirschmann
More stories, a list of species named for and by Mitchell, and a Mitchell bibliography will be posted here soon.
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Images
Photo of Dr. Mitchell using an aspirator by Dr. Francis E. Abernethy, Nacogdoches, Texas. This appeared in the book, The Life of the Cave, by Charles E. Mohr and Thomas L. Poulson, 1966.
Cartoon of an unfortunate aspirator situation by John E. Cooper...
Bob Mitchell at home in Lubbock, Texas, 1970, courtesy of Dr. Masaharu Kawakatsu. Bob definitely was a Texan, but with a strong appreciation of Mexico and other lands. He painted the Hereford in the background, and it still hangs in the same spot. His daughter Sharon lives there now.
This is how we used to get stuff done! Here we are in 1971 working in Terry Raines' SpeleoPress school bus in Austin, Texas, pasting up the text for Association for Mexicnn Cave Studies, Bulletin 4, edited by Robert W. Mitchell and James R. Reddell. Top to bottom: Suzanne Wiley, James Reddell, Bob Mitchell, and Ann Barton. By William R. Elliott.
The staff for AMCS Bull. 1 working in the SpeleoPress school bus in Austin, Texas. Person on left unidentified. Terry Raines at the far end, then to the right Steve Bittinger?, Bob Mitchell, Suzanne Wiley, and David Honea. By William R. Elliott.
James Reddell typesetting AMCS Bull. 1 on an IBM mag-card typesetter, 1971. Besides being a leading biospeleologist, James has always been an excellent writer, editor, and typist. He could go 140 words per minute! By William R. Elliott.
Dr. Masaharu Kawakatsu in a cave in Mexico, probably Mine Cave (Cueva de la Mina), near Rancho del Cielo, Tamaulipas. He became a close friend and colleague of Mitchell, co-authoring many papers on cave planarians over many years.
Dr. Mitchell at Rancho del Cielo, 1971. Courtesy of Dr. Masaharu Kawakatsu.
Bob relaxing at a party in Lubbock with Greg Mengden and Ann Barton, 1971. y William R. Elliott.
Dr. Mitchell and Bill Russell collaborate on a karst map of the Sierra de El Abra, S.L.P. and Tamps., Mexico, 1971. The map was published in a preliminary form, then included in the 1977 paper by Mitchell, Russell, and Elliott on Astyanax cavefishes. By William R. Elliott.
A blown engine in his Chevy 4x4 changed greasy Bill Elliott's Mexico plans for November 1971. An engine was transplanted in Terry Raines' front yard in Austin, Texas, but it had a cracked block. A third engine was installed in San Angelo a few weeks later. By Jon Vinson and William R. Elliott.
Stylish and smart Suzanne Wiley with the Gilson respirometer she used for here Master's thesis study on the metabolic rate of Rhdine subterranea beetles. By William R. Elliott.
Bob Mitchell photographs a vinegaroon (uropygid) carrying young on its back in his lab at Texas Tech, 1972. He is using a Nikon with a 100 mm medical Nikkor macrolens and custom flash. By Carl E. Kunath.
Mitchell and arachnology students in Sótano de la Tinaja, Sierra de El Abra, Tamps., Mexico, 1972. By William R. Elliott.
Reddell and Mitchell always had exciting field trips...
Glenn Dennis Campbell with a camel cricket in Steam Cave, Texas, 1972. Glenn did his Master's thesis on cave crickets in New Mexico, then went off to Australia to study their cave crickets. He became known as the "Limestone Cowboy" downunder. By William R. Elliott.
Glenn Campbell rappels into Steam Cave while Bill Elliott watches, 1972. By William R. Elliott.
In 1977 Tom Poulson was invited by Bob Mitchell and Bill Elliott to give three guest lectures on cave biology at the Texas Tech Biology Department. By William R. Elliott.
At the famous Artesian Well, San Marcos, Texas, 1977. Left to right: Glenn Longley, John Holsinger, Bill Elliott, and Bob Mitchell. Longley and Holsinger were studying the rich amphipod fauna of the San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer. By William R. Elliott.
Bob and Linda Mitchell at Bracken Bat Cave, Comal County, Texas, June 1978. Tom Poulson is in the entrance examining dead free-tailed bats being consumed by dermestid beetle larvae. By William R. Elliott.
Dr. Mitchell presents a lecture on bat cave ecology at the entrance of Bracken Bat Cave for the 1978 NSS Convention, New Braunfels, Texas. By William R. Elliott.
Craig Rudolph photographs a Mala Mujer plant in Mexico, 1979. By William R. Elliott.
Ginny Tipton and Suzanne Wiley, two fun-loving former Master's students of Bob Mitchell, at the International Congress of Speleology, Kentucky, 1981. By William R. Elliott.
James Reddell in the entrance of Amber Cave, Jollyville Plateau, Travis County, Texas, 1984. By William R. Elliott.
Linda Mae and "Mr. Robert" Mitchell, August 2009.
Left to right: Rexel Mitchell Isett, Dr. Francis Abernethy, Sharon Mitchell, Dub (Bill) Rhodes, Scott Mitchell, and Robert Mitchell Jr. gather on March 27, 2010, to celebrate Robert's life.
Linda Mae Mitchell with the Mitchells' favorite bird. Linda's
hat was made by a fire eating/circus performer/hat maker in LA. It has a small bat on
her left
side.
Bob Mitchell photo from Lubbock newspaper.