Monumental Moments

By Joe R Eagleman

A person's life is composed of many ordinary days with a few significant and monumental moments mixed in. This book is about the separate monumental moments that I have experienced. One of these was "flying" out a nine foot window when I was only eight years old. I attended a one room grade school and was disciplined by being made to chew tobacco. I am the 11th of 12 children and was told by an older brother that I would never amount to anything when I was preschool age and I promptly bit him on his arm. I wrecked a tractor in fourth gear on a gravel road when I was 10. I took a taxidermy course when I was in third grade. I was told by my Rifle Team coach in college that I should practice for the Olympics. I invented a tornado that was copied by Universal Studios and the Exploratium. I had a research project on Skylab. I was knocked unconscious by electricity. I have written books, made guitars, mounted many different birds and animals, composed and recorded musical albums and passed out at the top of the Spanish Steps.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe R Eagleman
• Release date: Oct 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223739777

Joe R Eagleman

Joe R. Eagleman (1936- ) was born on a farm near West Plains Missouri. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 1963 and was a professor at the University of Kansas for 39 years. He taught thousands of students about Atmospheric Science through his courses there and many thousands more through four different textbooks used by over a hundred universities over a span of several decades. He directed a successful experiment on Skylab, funded by NASA. He invented a tornado in his laboratory that was used by Universal Studios for a 50 ft. tornado attraction and can be seen at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He started the Atmospheric Science program at KU and wrote a technical book on severe thunderstorms that included his tornado safety research, which resulted in changes adopted nationally. Since his retirement, he has published several books and recorded several albums of original music (Eagleman Band). His autobiography, Name Your Price, tells of his early life on a farm where he was the 11th of 12 children. It includes his work as a scientist and a number of unusual hobbies including those as an artist, musician, luthier, marksman, taxidermist, world traveler, and other endeavors. For more information see http://www.JoeEagleman.com.

Book preview

1  INTRODUCTION To my Monumental moments

As we go through life, we frequently encounter moments that turn out to be monumental. It is interesting to think of these decisive moments and how the future would have been changed dramatically by a different decision or action. We don't always know at that specific time that we are dealing with a monumental moment.

This book is all about the monumental moments in my life. I will give a brief summary of my life, first, as a framework for these monumental moments.

I was born on a farm in South Missouri in a very rural area. It was in the same house that my father had been born in 45 years earlier. I was the 11th of 12 children and the 7th son born to Edward Barkley Eagleman and Ella Mae Eagleman. My mother has written an autobiography, My Life Story, telling of her early childhood in a one room log cabin. On our farm we had horses, dairy and beef cattle, dogs, cats, chickens, geese, and guineas on our 320-acre farm. We also had another 160-acre farm 4 miles away. We raised corn, wheat, hay, cane for molasses and garden vegetables.

At a very early age I milked cows, chopped wood, made hay in summer, fed hay in winter and learned to drive our homemade tractor.

I walked to a one room grade school, Prairie Grove, located 1 1/2 miles north of our farm. The direction of the school may not seem important but it was very significant as I walked into bitterly cold North winds many winter days.

I rode a bus to West Plains high school located 20 miles from our farm. After graduation I enrolled at the University of Missouri and obtained BS, MS and PhD degrees.

As a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Kansas I taught classes and conducted research that resulted in national changes to tornado safety rules. I developed the first tornado simulation that was modeled from winds in a severe thunderstorm and was not confined within a box. This miniature tornado was used as the pattern for making a similar one at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and for a larger 50-foot tornado in the Twister building at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida.

One of my research projects was selected by NASA to be conducted from Skylab. This resulted in our ability to measure surface soil moisture from space. I started a new academic program and taught thousands of students at the University of Kansas over four decades and many thousands more through four different textbooks that were adopted by hundreds of other universities.

After my retirement in 2001 I have written books of poetry, painted pictures, composed music and released albums of Christian and country music with my grandkids. These are widely available as the Eagleman Band. The acoustic guitar that I played for the recordings was one that I made.

Further information on these and other topics are contained in my autobiography, Name Your Price. But now this framework of my life story may help you appreciate and enjoy the numerous monumental moments that I have experienced along my life's journey. Perhaps it will better prepare you for dealing with your own monumental moments.

2  Monumental Moments: Young Age

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Aware of My Size

Our house was heated by a single fireplace. My earliest memory is when I was two or three years old. Three of my brothers came into the house on a cold winter day to warm themselves. Roy was the tallest at about 6 foot 2 inches. He and two of my other brothers, Ralph and John, stood close to the fire in the fireplace warming themselves and laughing about something. I remember looking up at them with Roy's head extending over a foot above the wooden mantle. I realized that I was also a boy and wondered if I would someday be as tall as Roy. Then in my first monumental moment I put my arms around the calf of one of his legs and gave it a hug and I felt his knee against my head. I did eventually pass Roy in height by at least an inch.

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He Won't Amount to Anything

One summer afternoon when I was 4 1/2 years old, I was playing in the backyard when two of my older brothers, Ralph and John, came in from work. I don't know what prompted it but Ralph looked at me and said, You are never going to amount to anything. Why aren't you working? I did not like his tone or what he said so in this monumental moment I immediately ran over to him and bit him on his forearm hard enough for a very good pinch. I was surprised that he didn't do anything or tell dad but looking back I'm sure that he knew we would both be in trouble and perhaps have to face dad with the leather razor strap.

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My First Day at School

The one room at Prairie Grove grade school had four rows of seats for about 30 students. One teacher taught all eight grades. On my first day at school the teacher, Vane Smith, gave me a reader, Peter and Peggy. He told us that we should read page 1 and if we didn't know any of the words that we should come to his desk and ask him. Of course, we didn't know any words so we had to go to his desk and ask each one. This was a monumental moment for me as the first word in the book was A and I had to go to his desk and ask him. I remember that it looked like the steep roof of a house. When it was his turn to teach the first graders, he called all four of us to the front table in the room. He read the first page to us and we followed along. I don't remember going to his desk to ask more words so I guess his method of teaching reading was effective and I had my first encounter with intellectual stimulation.

My First Discipline at School

It wasn't the first day of school but it was not long after when I received my first disciplinary action from Mr. Smith. He had a very large Collie dog that came to school with him every day. One day as I was coming in from recess the dog was lying in the narrow hall so that I had to step over him. I remember trying to get my short legs over him without touching him. But his tail was curled around in front of him and my heel hit the tip of his tail as I stepped over him. He gave a small