TCAA History - Years of Transition

Though the historical record is incomplete through 1974 due to the loss of important meeting minutes (and without the second series of newsletters appearing until 1975), the flow of club history becomes clearer with the appearance of several critical newspaper articles in 1973 and afterwards. On of the earliest members and guiding lights of the club, Bob Mayo, moved out of town at this time.30 One item chronicled so well was the arrival of a club member by the name of Robert (Bob) Finnigan. His appearance coincided with the appearance of Comet Kohoutek. A full page of the December 1, 1973, Pantagraph was dedicated to these two luminaries. Comet Kohoutek was described aptly by Dr. William Kubinec, an Illinois Wesleyan faculty member and member of the TCAA from 1973 through 1975. Bob was described in the newspaper account as an atypical amateur astronomer.

Bob, it was noted, had just purchased a Celestron 14-inch telescope for $5,000 in March of 1973. He had it positioned on the top of his garage at 1305 E. Oakland Avenue in Bloomington. There he had constructed a six-foot-diameter dome resulting in the non-use of the garage. The reason – it had a concrete pier running up through its center! That Bob was very dedicated to the pursuit of amateur astronomy was also evidenced by the fact that he was the first to obtain a picture of Comet Kohoutek in the Twin Cities. The photo was taken in the early morning hours of November 30, and was a culmination of over a hundred hours of practice according to Bob.

By June of 1975 Bob had moved out of the eternal twilight glow of Bloomington/Normal to the darker skies of Downs, Illinois. Within a short time he bought a $3,500 10-foot diameter Ash Dome and constructed a small observatory31 with the help of some 10 club members, and most notably Bill Zaffiri, a carpenter by profession. The observatory was completed during the summer of 1977. Within a month of establishing his new observing site just north of Downs, Bob was back at work photographing comets. Several of his photographs and a short article about Comet Kubayashi-Berger-Milon appeared in the Pantagraph on July 28, 1975. A large picture of Comet West also appeared in that paper on March 8, 1976. Another article describing Bob’s activities and the club appeared on September 11, 1977. The article detailed how the TCAA membership and the public were most welcome to observe through the observatory’s equipment.By June of 1975 Bob had moved out of the eternal twilight glow of Bloomington/Normal to the darker skies of Downs, Illinois. Within a short time he bought a $3,500 10-foot diameter Ash Dome and constructed a small observatory³¹ with the help of some 10 club members, and most notably Bill Zaffiri, a carpenter by profession. The observatory was completed during the summer of 1977. Within a month of establishing his new observing site just north of Downs, Bob was back at work photographing comets. Several of his photographs and a short article about Comet Kubayashi-Berger-Milon appeared in the Pantagraph on July 28, 1975. A large picture of Comet West also appeared in that paper on March 8, 1976. Another article describing Bob’s activities and the club appeared on September 11, 1977. The article detailed how the TCAA membership and the public were most welcome to observe through the observatory’s equipment.

Under the influence of Bob and another active TCAAer by the name of Gary Rosenbaum³², the club began to observe more regularly and grow substantially. Many of the earlier observing programs of the club had fallen to the wayside as “space events” became more mundane, and the club membership began to drop – heading for an all-time low. By the mid 1970’s membership had decreased to less than twenty, with a smaller number still actively involved in observing.

Gary regularly publicized the TCAA with a brochure that he handed out at the restaurant³³ he managed and membership grew by 13 during the year that he served as president. With access to new, more powerful equipment, the club reinstituted the Messier observing program in July 1975. This was a follow-on to the first such observing program established by David Williams many years before. In March 1976, the TCAA joined the Astronomical League, one of the benefits of which was a formal Messier observing award program with a certification and awards process. Under the Astronomical League program Bob Finnigan³⁴, Weldon Schuette, Gary Rosenbaum, and Tim Stone earned provisional awards for observing 70 or more M-objects during 1977. Tim received the top honors on July 17, 1979, for having observed all 110 M-objects.

With Bob Finnigan’s observing equipment so readily accessible to club members, a suggestion was made at the July 1976 general membership meeting to abandon the club’s observatory located at the Fissel farm. This suggestion produced a bit of consternation among older club members. It was the beginning of a classic battle between the “old guard” and the “new Turks.” John Kieviet headed the old guard and Bob Finnigan the new Turks. Suggestions of “out with the old and in with the new” were not welcome as they related not only observing sites, but to the procedures of the meetings as well. “Vital statistics” were deemed no longer appropriate; emphasis on observation rather than socialization was promoted. Only after four years would this contentious dispute be resolved.

In August talk of abandoning the Fissel site was tabled and a consensus reached to refurbish the observatory building. Actual work was put off due to the approaching cold weather. The site was all but abandoned, however, because the majority of club events and programs were being carried out elsewhere in and about the Twin Cities. In May 1977 the decision to refurbish the Fissel farm observatory was rescinded. During the 1960’s and 1970’s the town of Normal had grown tremendously, as did the amount of light pollution caused by both the city and the completion of Interstate 55. TCAA members realized this fact and knew what it meant in relation to the club observatory.

The following July the membership voted to remove the observatory because of “lack of interest and other better sites available that are farther from the city and highway lights.” The essentially unused observatory building was torn down on July 24, 1977, and its telescope returned to Bob Mayo³⁵. The removal of the observatory provided much relief to Weldon Schuette who had almost single handedly kept up the grounds surrounding the observatory for many years. He did this on behalf of the club and in accord with the terms of the site agreement.

The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers, that reappeared in March 1975 under the editorship of Weldon Schuette, chronicled observations of Skylab, Pageos, and Apollo- Soyuz satellites – all observations that could be made without optical aid. Observing sessions were held at Oakland School and at other sites. Club meetings, held every third Thursday of the month, featured constellation and planet study, films, guest speakers, and trips to the ISU Planetarium. Club members were kept relatively busy.

With a new year, 1978, the club’s direction changed substantially. Under the leadership of Gary Skinner, Mike Miller, and newly hired planetarium director Carl J. Wenning, the club decided to institute public awareness displays at local shopping centers. In addition, Carl and Bob Finnigan shared their interest with the general public in November 1978 with five hours of radio talk show programming over WRBA radio working with “disk jockey” Al Lundey. A month later Carl obtained six lunar samples from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for public display at Eastland Mall. The club had reached a turning point. A more pronounced public service, awareness, and education became the by-words of the TCAA. A new era of club activity was dawning.

³¹ The observatory was named the Marie Antoinette Observatory after his wife.

³² Gary would later become well know as an amateur astronomer in the Tucson Area Amateur Astronomers (Arizona), and also became a vendor of astronomical equipment.

³³ The Sinorack Restaurant was located in south Bloomington just east of the present day Dairy Queen. The restaurant burned down years later.

³⁴ Bob earned his Messier Award in 1974 while a member of the Peoria Astronomical Society.

³⁵ After Bob Mayo’s retirement as a machinist, he and his wife Jessica (Jessie) moved to El Paso, TX, where he passed away several years later. After Bob’s death, Jessie returned to Normal, IL, where she lives to this day. She is 87 years old at the time of this writing (January 2010).