When I went to college, I found it to be such an exhilarating experience, I decided never to leave college. I became an academic. I have been with students and professors now for 46 years. Teaching should be an exchange, not a discourse. Unfortunately, the discourse seems to be the dominant method...teacher discoursing to the dutiful student, who takes the notes, does the work and gets the grade. I love students equally, but I truly have fun with those from whom I can learn.

Bruce Bandle was one of those students. I first met him in a botany class I taught in the fall of 1975. He came to me after class with questions. While this was not an overly abnormal thing for a student to do, his questions were different. I saw he was trying to first understand and then to synthesize the information, not just absorb it. I had fun answering his questions, but there were a few I could not answer. When I looked at the gleam in his eye, I frankly was irritated with myself that I could not answer and irritated with him for asking the questions!

I was young in my academic career and presumed I would spend time with lots of Bruce Bandle's in my career. Indeed this has happened, but not as frequently as I would have liked. He was even more rare because he could sense my own struggles in answering the questions, but he also respected the honesty I shared with him when often I would say "I don't know." He understood that honesty and respected it.

We became friends when he came to me about his future. He was very intimidated by the "pre med" emphasis of his peers and felt out of place. We talked of his interests in environmental science, and I pointed out a few areas that might pique his interest in terms of careers. He felt more comfortable after that time as a biology major. He was one of the few students who came by the office even when he did not have me as a professor in class.

Bruce graduated from Bridgewater College in 1977 and stayed in the area. He had plans for graduate school but, like many students, he wanted some time off. He got a job with the electric company and spent a great deal of time out and about in the woods fixing lines. During those trips into the woods he collected plants. Over that time he put together a collection which was enviable. All of that collection now resides at the Herbarium of Old Dominion University, where he took his Master's Degree. The collection was also included in the Atlas of the Virginia Flora by Alton Harvill and his associates. Bruce would often come by my house to show me his work, and we often took field trips together. I learned much from Bruce about plant identification, and he learned from me. We shared the "tricks" of plant identification. It is fun to be with someone you don't have to compete with.

This young man was fearless. Once on a field trip we came upon a rat snake in the middle of the road. Although not poisonous, I really had no interest in the snake and was willing to wait until it crossed the road. I sat in the car waiting and Bruce got out of the car, picked up the snake, and studied it. Then the questions started again. It was not that he knew nothing about reptiles; he did. He went through these questions in many cases answering them himself as he held the snake, which was quite large and not particularly in the mood to be held. I, the nervous observer, preferred to get back to plants. So did Bruce. But he took the snake with him, holding it while we were in the car, looking at it, talking to it, and finally releasing it as we found another place for botanical study.

Then the pain came. Bruce, who eventually got a job up in New York, took sick with testicular cancer. I did not know this. I only found it out after the fact when a friend of his came to me in the local IGA and told me that Bruce had died. It hit me hard...how unfair life is; how good people die either young or old; and how very often none of it makes any kind of sense at all.

I met the Bandle family at the Memorial Service. I spent time with his mother, Terry. The service was painful to watch as everyone struggled to deal with the unfairness of a young man dying before his promise could be fulfilled. His ashes were taken to the Shenandoah Mountain he loved so much, and a redbud tree was planted in the George Washington National Forest in his memory. That redbud still stands, and visitors to the site leave a rock behind to symbolize the visit. The rock pile is so high now you can sit on it, as Terry and I did in May of 1999 as we shared about Bruce, as well as the simplicities and complexities of life. It was a beautiful day. The sun was bright and the spring flora was gloriously out in full flower. Terry and I both agreed that day was a perfect "Bruce" day. Terry and I are good friends now, and her visits, letters and emails have significantly brightened my life.

Teaching is an activity that can affect the future. Bruce's memory does just that. In 1985, Bruce's family formed the Bruce James Bandle Memorial Scholarship Fund. This endowed scholarship helps to defray the tuition expense of a student selected each year who demonstrates promise in the field of environmental science. It is then in Bruce's memory and legacy that these students go forth to do good work in that field.

I am now at the end of my academic career.  It ends in May of 2007.  In fact, it will not end as long as the memories are there, and there are many good memories.  In that sense, Bruce will always be with me. His memory over time gets stronger as I remember the times we had; the fun we shared; the plants we collected and the talks we had. He not only stands alone in memory, but he also becomes a part of all of us. That part sustains us and keeps us alive...alive in the desire to understand things, not just to know them.

Dr. L. Michael Hill
H.G.M. Professor of Biology
14 Sept, 2006