Tertius Chandler, by RMC Jr

1st son

Tertius Chandler, by RMC Jr

Postby Roger Chandler » 2009-04-03 06:24:17

A few short notes about Uncle Tertius (TPC Jr):

Having an unique first name must not have been the motivation to have it legally changed. Although he was a junior, as the second down line, he was actually the third family member with the name. So he apparently wanted to be simply known as tertius, "the third".

Cousin, Sandy Alexander, once asked Uncle Tertius if it was really true that he remembered everything he read. Uncle Tertius' reply was simply, "Why, yes."

I was once able to visit Tertius and Margo in Buena Vista, California. The interior was void of anything un-necessary but adequately furnished and very clean. It was a great visit. On more than one occasion, Uncle Tertius would get an idea to use in which ever book he was writing at the time and would immediately go to his typewritter and record the thought. His type writter must have been a top of the line model when he first got it fifty or so years earlier. It did the job and he was used to it.

For his whole life Tertius was a scholar of population growth especially in the ancient world. Long before a thought of the internet, the researcher had to take himself physically to where the information was. To support himself when funds were low, he became "Stan the dishwasher". I never heard why he chose Stan as his professional name. (In fact I understand that dishwashing was his only career aside of being an acedemic.) With his wallet replenished he would return dailey to the research libraries and spend his evenings compiling the data. To make his funds last he was also known to live in caves while working day and night on his research. So deeply involved in his academics that I understand that after graduating from Harvard, he failed to let his family know of his whereabouts for ten years.

Not wanting to waste time pursuing a masters and Phd when there was research to do, he was not able to gain the respect needed to be published. Late in life, he submitted and acquired a Phd. For all but one book, where he teamed with a professor, he paid the publishing costs out of pocket.

Uncle Tertius loved his research, his wife, running, and life itself until the end. He cared little about social standing or wealth.



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Roger Chandler
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