From: "Dietrich Muller" <dmuller@uchicago.edu> Dear Jacques: Thanks for letting us know the sad news about Bud Boersma. Of course, I have many fond memories about Bud and Roxy! Bud belonged to the core of Peter Meyer’s engineering team when I arrived in Chicago in 1968, and he has helped me in numerous projects until he retired in the late 1980’s. He was a true character, always reliable and helpful, and always cheerful and in good spirits. And I think he was a “typical” Chicagoan; he taught me a lot about the city which initially appeared quite alien to us. I particularly remember an evening playing chess in his South Shore apartment with Dayton Datlowe and a few business people from Hyde Park: I did not play well, but learned quite a bit about how the city ticked! When I became Director of the Fermi Institute, Roxy was my very capable Administrative Assistant until her retirement. Unfortunately, Bud and Roxy kept very much to themselves after they retired, although I kept inviting them to a variety of events at the Institute. So eventually, we lost touch. Dietrich From: vsmith <vsmith@astro.uchicago.edu> Wow. Sorry to hear this news. Bud. I remember the 1980s, LASR, 2nd floor, Bud, Bill Hollis, Gene Drag, Gary Kelderhouse. Bud had me laughing everyday. My thoughts to Roxy. From: Jacques L'Heureux <jlheureux@happyones.com> To: LASR alumni LASR friends and alumni Note from Roxy Boersma, wife of Bud Boersma Just wanted to let you know that Bud passed away early Friday morning (Jan 16) in the hospital here in Crown Point. He had been battling breathing problems and had been on oxygen for some time. At least it appeared to be painless, for which I am grateful. Please stay in touch, I appreciate you keeping up with folks and keeping us informed. I worked with Bud for 10 years in the 1960s while I was getting my PhD using the first electron instrument, going to Fort Churchill in Northern Canada five years in a row, for many weeks each time to fly my instrument on a balloon. Bud was hard working and fun to be around. Of all these trips, I remember the time that we went to town for a steak dinner and when Bud ordered a martini, the waitress was confused and was asking Bud whether it should be served with an olive or with a cherry. Bud joke about it in when his martini arrived, it had a cherry in it. We talked about that for years afterwards. One one occasion, the two of us traveled in a rental van to Harvard University for tests of our instrument on their electron accelerator. On the way to Boston, he insisted that we stop in Cooperstown New York and visit the baseball Hall of Fame which we did. I enjoyed it, but not as much as he did. After we were done with our tests, Bud insisted that we go to a hockey game where the Montreal Canadians were playing against the Boston Bruins. It was a great evening and the only hockey game I ever attended. I worked with him again in the 1980s when I returned to Chicago to work on the Cosmic Ray Nuclei instrument which flew successfully in 1985 on the Space Shuttle Challenger on a mission called Spacelab II. Together, we designed and built a gas control interface for ground testing and operation and it worked perfectly. Bud was definitely fun to be around and the old timers on this list will attest to this. Let us raise a glass for Bud. Jacques From: Roxy Boersma <harrox523@live.com> Just wanted to let you know that Bud passed away early Friday morning in the hospital here in Crown Point. He had been battling breathing problems and had been on oxygen for some time. At least it appeared to be painless, for which I am grateful. Please stay in touch, I appreciate you keeping up with folks and keeping us informed. Back to Home |