Memories of Charles W. Marschall

In the early 1950s, foundry courses were taught in a one-story building located immediately behind the aging Metallurgical Engineering Building on University Avenue, which was just across the railroad tracks from the Hasty Tasty bar, a popular hangout for engineering students. The foundry building was under the iron-fisted control of Prof. Richard Heine, who insisted that each lab class not be dismissed until the lab was spotless, including the floor. Anyone who has worked with molten metal and foundry sand would realize that this was a tall order. Nonetheless, Prof. Heine's directives were so well adhered to that numerous engineering society dinners actually were held in the foundry among the sand-molding equipment and melting furnaces.

Speaking briefly at many of the dinners that I attended was Morton Withey, dean of the College of Engineering. To show his appreciation at being asked to attend, Dean Withey would liken himself to a firefly that backed into an electric fan -- "de-lighted, no end."

A favorite teacher of many metallurgical engineering students was Professor David J. Mack, whose favorite topic was the physics of metals and what makes them behave the way they do. On special occasions, Professor Mack would present a lecture that he called M2F2 (Mack's Metallurgical Facts and Fables) and which was of interest even to a non-engineering audience.

Charles W. Marschall (BSMetE '53, MSMetE '57)