Arlene and Mike Scadron say Goodbye to Dad

Dear Anita and Family,

We were so sorry to hear of Earl’s death last week. He was an extraordinary person, as anyone who spent even five minutes with him would realize. Although geographical distance limited the times we had together, our memories and experiences with Earl were special. We shall never forget him.

Those memories and connections extend all the way back to World War II, when the Callen family, and Arlene’s family, the Weiningers, first met in Philadelphia. Earl’s parents, Mildred and Abe Callen, kindly took Arlene’s father, Mandel Weininger, a young naval officer stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Yard in 1944, under their wing. They invited him to Friday night dinners, mitigated some of the loneliness of his life, and most important, opened their home to Minnette, Marc and Arlene “Pudgy” Weininger, when they traveled from Chicago to visit their husband and father. In the years following World War II, Mildred and Arlene’s mother, Minnette, continued their friendship, mainly through correspondence and occasional visits.

In the meantime, Earl and his brother Herb grew up and became physicists. And Arlene also grew up and married a young physicist, Mike Scadron. In 1966, when Earl and his family took a sabbatical near Osaka, Japan, Mike and Arlene, en route to London via Asia, visited them and rejuvenated the previous generation’s family ties, now strengthened by mutual professional interests. Then in 1968, Mike took his first academic job at Northwestern University, hired by Art Freeman, a contemporary of Earl and Herb at MIT.

Then in the late 1970s, Mike asked Earl to travel around the world interviewing potential physics graduate students as part of the Physics Interviewing Project. Earl survived the hazards of spicy food, crummy hotels, and all-day interviews, and he and Mike published an article about the project entitled, “Observations on an Obstacle Course,” or something like that. Over the intervening years, we met occasionally in Washington, and once in Tucson, but our mutual interest in Asia brought us together again in Tokyo in 1988. Earl had retired from American University and was working for the U.S. Navy, picking the brains of Japanese physicists. Living like semi-royalty in the heart of the city, Earl invited us to share his space (about 500 sq. ft.) while Anita was visiting Washington. He took us to his favorite places, including wonderful little dives, where you could eat, drink and absorb the atmosphere for a few yen. As usual, his enthusiasm for the country, his capacity to absorb and learn about a profoundly different culture, and his newfound passion for dancing, were infectious.

We were lucky enough to see Earl and Anita in Chevy Chase in 1995, when they shared their home with us for about a week. Again, in the summer of 2001, Arlene spent an evening with Earl and Anita. Sadly, that was to be the last time we saw Earl, but despite his illness, his determination to complete a personal memoir and his interest in public affairs stood out. Even when he was already battling cancer, and the Washington summer heat was sufficiently unbearable to put most men into a chair sipping lemonade, he took to the tennis courts, practicing his recently found passion.

Earl was an unusual person who loved life and lived it fully--with devotion and deep commitment to his family, to physics, to major issues of public policy. He cared deeply about everything he chose to do. We doubt if we will meet anyone quite like him again.

To express our profound sympathy for Earl’s passing and to honor his memory, Mike and Arlene Scadron and Minnette Weininger are sending a contribution to the Dr. Earl Robert Callen Scholarship Fund at American University.

Love and best wishes,

Arlene and Mike
Tucson, AZ 85716