Frank Goode Hawksworth
1926-1993
Frank G. Hawksworth died on January 8, 1993, following heart surgery. He was known internationally as a forest pathologist, although his singular scientific passion was dwarf mistletoes. Frank’s research spanned nearly four decades. He authored over 275 articles and reports, the majority of which concerned dwarf mistletoes. His enchantment with these fascinating plants never waned and his attention was not distracted.
Frank worked on this manuscript until the day he entered the hospital. He approached the study of mistletoes as a compositionist. He sought to understand the inter-relationships of species and thought of organisms as integral, functioning wholes. As an unusually acute observer, Frank possessed what taxonomists call "a good eye." His field studies were unrivaled and his comprehension of the literature was unsurpassed. Frank’s outstanding knowledge, endless helpfulness, perennial good cheer, and his subdued but pervasive wit will be sorely missed. He is commemorated by Arceuthobium hawksworthii (a recently described species of dwarf mistletoe from Belize), Phoradendron hawksworthii (a mistletoe parasite of juniper in western Texas), and Frankliniella hawksworthii (a species of thrips associated exclusively with dwarf mistletoes).
Shortly before his death Frank sent me a reprint of a publication on the life of Lucy Bishop Millington, a nineteenth-century botanist of the Adirondack region of New York. In an accompanying note Frank commented "Shades of Durango in 1963?" He was referring to our discovery of five new species of Arceuthobium in a single day between Durango and El Salto, Mexico. He had marked a quote by Millington that described her emotions in 1871 when she realized that the decline and mortality of black spruce was caused by a then-undescribed mistletoe (now known as A. pusillum). Her reflections of that moment revealed a deep spiritual involvement with nature that elicited strong empathy in Frank. Perhaps her comments explain something of the fascination with discovery that motivates those with inquisitive minds. Few of us, however, would risk exposing the sensitivity necessary to acknowledge it.
There is one day of my life marked with a white stone ... so few such days fall to the lot of man, that we do well to remember them. I drew nearer the secret heart of nature than ever before. I saw what human eyes had not seen before: I touched what none had touched before me. Though all the world may now look on, mine was the first delightful thrill of recognition ... in all one’s lifetime scarce such a thing may happen again.
Lucy Millington (1871a)
Del Wiens
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 1994