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In memoriam: Professor Norman M. Whalen (1920-2008)

February 2008—Dr. Norman Matthew Whalen, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, died Feb. 27 at age 87.

Whalen began his 31-year career at Texas State in 1971, when he joined the Department of Anthropology faculty after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona.  At Texas State, he taught courses and conducted research on the ancient cultures of the American Southwest, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

From 1979 to 1989, Whalen conducted archaeological surveys in Saudi Arabia, mapping the earliest Pleistocene-era human occupation sites outlining the migration patterns of humans from Africa into the Middle East. As a result of this work, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club.

Between 1990 and 1999, Whalen conducted archaeological research in Yemen, Oman, and Jordan, and in 2002, at the age of 83, he carried out his last archaeological survey in Oman.

Whalen was born in New Jersey on June 14, 1920.  Following one year of college, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, receiving his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the 98th Bomb Group in North
Africa where he participated in numerous combat missions, including the famous raid on the oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. After his 36th mission, he was assigned to Mountain Home Air Field, Idaho, where he trained
cadets in flight navigation until September 1944. At that time, he requested reassignment back to the 98th Bomb Group, and he flew an additional 39 bombing raids with his original unit. For his heroism in combat, Whalen was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and 11 Air Medals.  Whalen, who rose to the rank of Major, was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1946.

That same year, Whalen entered seminary in Baltimore, MD, where, in 1954, he was ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. He served the Catholic Church in the Arizona towns of Tucson, Tombstone, Patagonia, and Benson. While working as a historian for the Diocese of Tucson in 1960, he was instrumental in leading the preservation of the Calabazas Mission, constructed in 1756 and added to the Tumacacori National Historic Park
in 1990.

Whalen was fond of his students and enjoyed talking about archaeology and the people of the Middle East, for whom he had a profound respect.  He retired from Texas State in December 2003 and moved shortly thereafter to Tucson, AZ.