 |
| |
| Obituaries | ||
| ASOR remembers its members and friends
Mary-Louise Mussell died after a long illness on Sunday, January 23 in a hospital near her home in Oxford Mills, Ontario. She was 45 years old. Mary-Louise earned both her B.A. (1981) and M.A. (1983) at Wilfrid Laurier University, studying archaeology with Lawrence Toombs. She earned a second M.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1993) in Biblical Studies from Drew University. Her dissertation, under the supervision of H.B. Huffmon, was An Archaeological Evaluation of the Social Revolution Model of the Israelite Settlement of Canaan. She worked on several archaeological excavations during these years, including Tell el-Hesi, Caesarea Maritima, Abila, and Khirbet Iskander. But Mary-Louise will certainly be best remembered for her work as an original member of the Roman Aqaba Project in Jordan. She served on all six field seasons of the project from 1994 to 2002, which uncovered major portions of the ancient city of Aila. Throughout these years she was the supervisor of a major excavation area which included the first exposed segment of the Byzantine city wall and, above all, the mudbrick structure interpreted as an early Christian church. She also recruited many fine students to the staff from her teaching positions at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, both in Ontario. Mary-Louise was quite ill during the 2002 campaign but insisted on remaining until the season's end. She was diagnosed with cancer soon after that her return to Canada. She fought back bravely and continued working, since publication of her area remained an important personal goal. In fact, she lived more than a year beyond what her doctors predicted in late 2003. She was scheduled to present a paper on the church in the RAP Staff workshop during the ASOR meeting in Atlanta in November of 2003, but in the end was too ill to write the paper or even to attend. Therefore I presented her interpretations at that session, joined by David Clark. The respondent, Professor L. Michael White (a leading scholar in the origins of Christian churches and who had reviewed the evidence in advance of the meeting), stated unequivocally that he was convinced that the structure was an early church. Mary-Louise was naturally delighted when I conveyed the news afterwards to her by telephone, as she was the first to advance the church hypothesis. Although Mary-Louise leaves other professional accomplishments beyond the Aqaba project (such as directing a small excavation at Tell el-Kheleifeh in 1999), the church will be her main scholarly legacy. Although she unfortunately did not live to see the final report, David Clark and I (ably assisted my Ross Thomas) will see her work through to definitive publication. Given her enormous contribution, she was pleased to learn before her death that she will be a co-author of the chapter on the church in the RAP final report. Although her premature death is indeed a tragedy, Mary-Louise made a significant contribution to the archaeology of Jordan. She will live on in all our hearts.
S. Thomas Parker
Walter Emil Rast, Professor Emeritus Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University, Indiana, spent 35 years teaching biblical studies, archaeology and religions of the ancient Near East in the Department of Theology at Valparaiso. Professor Rast, who with his wife retired in 1996 to their Lake Michigan cottage in Glenn, Michigan, died of cancer at his home on August 22. Professor Rast spent many years conducting archaeological fieldwork and worked on the publication of several archaeological expeditions in Jordan and the West Bank. From 1963 to 1968 he participated as a core staff member of the excavations at Tell Ta’annek, identified with biblical Taanach, publishing a volume on the Iron Age pottery from these excavations in 1978. His work on the pottery from this site stands to this day as a seminal contribution to the study of pottery during the early biblical monarchy in ancient Israel. In 1973 he became codirector of an expedition devoted to exploring ancient settlement along the southeastern side of the Dead Sea in Jordan. The excavation of two walled towns and three cemeteries in this region has contributed in an extraordinary way to understanding dynamics of urbanization that began during the third millennium B.C., the Early Bronze Age, allowing for significant comparisons to be made with Early Bronze Age remains in Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt. While living for four years at different times in Jerusalem, he did research at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. He also spent considerable amounts of time in Jordan, and served two terms as president of the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman. He had first-hand familiarity with most of the excavations in Israel and Jordan, visiting them regularly to follow their progress. He held many professional positions in the American Schools of Oriental Research, and served as editor of their scholarly journal for eight years. Professor Rast enjoyed helping young graduate students in archaeology to develop their scholarly talents, and he encouraged undergraduate students from his own university, as well as students from many universities in the United States and several European countries, to join as volunteers in the excavations along the Dead Sea. He delighted in sharing many aspects of the history, religions and archaeology of the ancient Near Eastern cultures with students in his courses in the Department of Theology at Valparaiso. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he early absorbed an appreciation for other cultures and languages, especially in the Mexican population and native American Indians of southern Texas. He graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (later partially united with the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago) with a Master of Divinity degree in 1955 and a Master of Sacred Theology in 1956. He received his Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1966. While serving as a Lutheran pastor in Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1957 to 1961, he took courses in biblical studies and archaeology at Harvard Divinity School, studying archaeology with the late George Ernest Wright. Besides his wife, Susanna Droege, he is survived by his children, Joel of Milwaukee, Timothy of Barrington, Illinois, Rebekah of Paris, France, Peter of Boulder, Colorado, and seven grandchildren. Originally published in the South Haven Tribune. |