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University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, November 5, 1991
ON THE HILL
Floyd Preston (above), professor emeritus of petroleum engineering, plans to spend his retirement, including a safari to Brazil in two weeks, expanding his growing collection of butterflies and moths. He and his wife, June, take care to mount many of the 75,000 insects in display cases (right).
Photos by Julie Denesha/KANSAN
Butterfly crazy
Retired KU professor and his wife travel far, netting new insects for 75,000-bug collection
By Mauricio Rios
Kansan staff writer
After 36 years of teaching at the University of Kansas, a recently retired petroleum engineering professor is ready to do what he likes best. catch butterflies.
Floyd Preston probably knows as much about outliers as he knows about petroleum
"I was always interested in science," he said. "Science was a really big thing coming out of it."
When Preston, 68, retired last semester, he did not waste time jumping into his hobby.
He and his wife, June, w summer, chasing butterflies all the way north.
He and his wife, June, went to Alaska this summer, chasing butter-
In a couple of weeks the Prestons will participate in a butterfly safari in Rodonia, Brazil.
In the area we will visit, there are about 1,600 species of butterflies, Preston said, almost twice the number of species in the U.S.
The Prestons have taken their hobby seriously. They
are lepidopterists, entomologists specializing in the study of butterflies and moths.
In the basement of their home there are about 75,000 butterflies and moths, most from North America and northern Mexico, Preston said.
There are about 28,000 multicolored butterflies that are pinned and kept in butterfly drawers. Some are as small as a quarter and others are as large as the palm of a hand. Preston also keeps butterflies in small envelopes carefully stored in drawers.
*Keeping track of what’s where gets to be a real problem.* Preston said.
Preston said his wife knew the collection better than he did.
that's because he has been busy with the schoolwork. "June Preston said."
"I still love to go look at the stars," June Preston said. "I could figure out where we were by helium."
shared the work on the field as well at home.
"We work as a good team," she said.
But catching butterflies can be a demanding hobby.
Since 1945, June Preston has become not only Floyd Preston's wife but also a lepidopterist. She also still enjoys astronomy.
Preston, who is the president of the Lepidopterists' Society, said that they traveled 15,000 miles each year in their camper which is set up with a laboratory.
"He took a butterfly net on our honeymoon," she said "I not hooked."
The society is a non-profit, international organization serving professional and amateur sports.
"Each year we make out a list of what we call our target bugs," he said.
June Preston said she and her husband
Often the Presstones have to return three or four times to the same place to catch the butterfly.
"Sometimes it's too early or too late," he said.
Preston said that curating, the process of classifying butterflies, keeping notes about them and taking care of their collection, was a tough task.
"Sometimes we will work for hours trying to identify the species," he said.
The Prestons' butterflies have been used in a variety of publications from research material to photographs for Hallmark calendars.
The couple donated butterflies to a museum at the University of Florida in 1987.
Faculty and students at the KU department of petroleum engineering gave him a present of six drawers and a cabinet in recognition of his work at KU.
Preston's retirement does not mean he is no longer active at KU.
"If isn't that I have just abandoned ship," he said. "Great professor of petroleum and
"He still is working with the department," Green said. "We still see him."
Don Green, professor of petroleum and chemicalengineering, agreed.
Green, Preston's colleague and friend since 1964, said that Preston would take students on field trips and have parties for the students at home.
"He took a deep interest in teaching," he said. "Greater power, though Preston was intertained, is known for his warmth."
"We all knew he was active in collecting but terfies," Green said.
Preston said he had little time to miss school.
"I really enjoy the freedom to go and collect butterflies," he said. "I have a lot of wonderful memories. It has been a lot of fun."
STUDY IN ISRAEL
Zoe Olefsky, Midwest Representative of the HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
will answer your questions on:
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1991
9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m., Study Abroad Fair, Kansas Union
7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Hillel House, 940 Mississippi
For more information, contact:
The Study Abroad Office, 864-3742
Hillel House, 864-3948
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Chamber Music Series Presents
AEQUALIS
in a "Great Works" Program featuring the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Armand Qualidiotine, Ellen Rowe, Martilyn Shrude, and Chinary Ung
Fred Bronstein, Plano
Elizabeth Mohr, Cello
Michael Parola, Percussion
8:00 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1991
Crafton-Prey Theater
Tickets on sale in the Murphy Hall Office:
KU student tickets available at the SUA Office,
Kansas Union; all seats are reserved; public
$13 & $11; KU and K-12 students $6.50 & 5.50,
senior citizens and other students $12 & $10; to
charge by phone, call 913/348-3982
Partially funded by the KU Student Activity Fee, Swarthout Society, and the KU Endowment Association
"The atmosphere (at KU's Memorial Stadium) was kind of eerie. I can't remember a game in which the crowd was so quiet. There wasn't much electricity in the air and there were a lot of empty seats. There are a lot of cheap people down there. There are more people on the hill than in the stadium."
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne
Omaha World-Herald
November 11, 1990
Don't Let This Happen Again!
- Buy a ticket
- Sit in the stadium
- Wear blue and
- Be loud!
Kansas vs. Nebraska Saturday, November 9 1:00 p.m. Memorial Stadium
FREE KU Team photo to the first 10,000 fans!
For tickets, call 1-800-34-HAWKS or 864-3141.