Couple met because of skull find
Writing team composed of prof, wife
BY LOUISE STANG Kansan staff writer
In 1964, a fisherman reeled in a human skull from a lake near Austin, Texas. Excited, he took the skull to the police. Thomas W. McKern, then consultant at the Crime Lab of Texas Highway Department, found that the skull was that of a Japanese male. But how did a Japanese skull end up in a Texas lake?
McKern, now professor of physical anthropology at the University of Kansas, said the story of the skull was printed in the local newspaper. Within a week the police received a letter from an Air Force officer stationed in Austin, who explained that he had once bought the skull from a museum in the Philippines. Later, the officer married, and his wife could not stand having the skull in the house, so he threw it into the lake.
McKern's wife Sharon said she met McKern because of the skull. "I was collecting skulls, but I didn't have a Japanese one, so I asked him for it," she said.
"He wouldn't give it to me then, but it's half mine now, anyway."
"A clam had got inside the skull," she said, "but it got so big it couldn't get out and died in there."
The skull is now in the McKern residence. Looking inside it, one can still see the remainder of the clam.
Mrs. McKern is also an anthropologist. She holds a bachelor's degree in physical anthropology and is trained as an osteologist (identifying skeletal material). She is affiliated with the anthropology department at KU on special research projects.
The McKerns are also freelance writers. McKern is editorial adviser of anthropology for Science Digest. In the March issue of "Highlights for Children," the couple has an article on "Indian Magic and Medicine."
"I can't write," said McKern,
"Sharon does the writing. She also has a background in writing for children."
The McKerns have written two books on human rights and development for junior and high
school students. The first one, "Human Origin," is a textbook and was published last August. The second book is a tradebook and will be out by the end of this year.
The couple said the market was good for textbooks on evolution on the junior high and high school level. Little has been written on the subject for this age group, and the literature available has been written mainly by biologists, said McKern.
Stories and articles written by the McKern's have appeared in "Nature and Science," "American Junior Red Cross News," "Friends," "Mankind," "Children's Friends" and "Jack and Jill." McKern has also done a series of 28 lectures on evolution for educational television.
McKern said he and his wife receive many letters from the public. "Some are "crack-pot" letters and some come from people who show genuine interest in our work," he said.
There are still many people who are opposed to the teaching of evolution as they find it to conflict with religion, McKern said.
Neither of the McKerns are in favor of organized religion, but they said they still did not see why evolution has to conflict with religion.
"We are trying to explain how human life developed, not how it started," Mrs. McKern said.
The first fraternity at KU was founded in 1872.
Former KU athelete named medical dean
Former KU basketball player, Robert L. Van Citters has been appointed dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Van Citters, 43, received the bachelor of arts degree in 1949 and his doctor of medicine in 1953 from the University of Kansas. He has been associate dean for research and graduate programs at Washington since 1968.
Van Citters took a residency in internal medicine and cardiology at the KU Medical Center and
12 KANSAN Feb. 25 1970
went to Washington in 1958 as a research fellow in the cardiovascular training program. In 1963 he was named to the Robert L. King professorship of cardiovascular research, sponsored by the Washington State Heart Association.
He served on the National Institute of Health task force for developing an artificial heart and he was recently a consultant to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Pakistan. This month he will receive the Theodore and Susan T. Cummings Humanitarian Award of the American College of Cardiology at its annual meeting in New Orleans.