From David Dixon

December 30, 1998

Dan and I started as graduate students together and shared an office in Weir Hall for the '87-'88 academic year. I went on to finish my Master's at UNM, but kept in touch with Dan from time to time.

Dan and I and two or three other astrophysics graduates (Rich, Karen, who else?) weathered Dr. Petschek's graduate E&M course together. This course was also known as "Jackson", after the author of the text, or "The Cycle Of Death" because every week was like a dissertation defense. It's the one course that will make any physics graduate wince with pain on recollection. Dan was the stellar performer, the guy who stayed up all night to get the homework just right (no one gets Jackson homework just right). He also got an A from Dr. Petschek, who would rather have a root canal than give an A.

My most immediate recollection of Dan was when he and I went to the New Mexico State Fair in the fall of '87. We walked the Midway for hours while Dan studied each of the arcade games -- the shooting gallery, the baseball toss, the dart throw -- assessing odds and payback and feasibility. He finally settled on the dart throw, and won (of course) a stuffed animal. I have a photo of him showing it off there on the Midway.

Dan spent much of that year deciding on a hammer dulcimer. First, deciding if it really was the instrument he wanted to play. Then, deciding on the best one to buy. Dan elicited my advice as a musician. We went through catalogs and flyers and classified ads and descriptions of every kind.

This was the thing about Dan; when he did something, he went all out, and all the way.

I was only a little surprised when Dan took up skydiving. Less surprised to learn that he'd perished in that pursuit. Not at all surprised, on reading the various remembrances, that he'd taken up skydiving with the same attention to detail and excellence he brought to everything else he tried.

Tim Cornwell says that "in addition to the personal tragedy, his death is a great loss for radio astronomy." Having seen Dan bring his unique fervor to a number of new endeavors, I'm certain he would have made extraordinary contributions to fields most of us don't even know about yet.

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