Brackbill, Maurice T. (1891-1962)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1962 Sep 27 p. 1

Birth date: 1891 May 11

text of obituary:

Long-Time Professor At E. M. C. Dies

Harrisonburg, Va. — Maurice T. Brackbill, 71, long-time teacher of mathematics and astronomy at Eastern Mennonite College, died here Sept. 18 after a long illness.

A native of Lancaster County, Pa., Prof. Brackbill joined the faculty of E. M. C. in 1919 and retired in 1957. He is widely remembered for his astronomy lectures at the Vesper Heights Observatory on the college campus. He designed the observatory and supervised its construction.

A graduate of Hesston College he held the B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Virginia. At the time of death he was professor emeritus of mathematics.

---

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Jan 3 p. 12

text of obituary:

MAURICE T. BRACKBILL (1895-1962) [sic 1891-1962]

EMC Teacher Used Astronomy to Show the Creator's Glory

Maurice T. Brackbill, 71, veteran teacher of mathematics and astronomy at Eastern Mennonite College, died Sept. 18 after a long illness. A native of Lancaster County, Pa., he was a graduate of Hesston College and held the B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Virginia. He is widely remembered for his lectures and writings on astronomy. Several years ago he wrote the Review's annual Christmas message. — Editor.

*          *          * By Mary M. Slabaugh

Harrisonburg, Va. — The life of Maurice Thaddeus Brackbill, a Mennonite astronomer, was honored here on Sept. 21 at Eastern Mennonite College Chapel, as last tributes were paid to him by his pastor, Ira E. Miller, and others.

Bro. Brackbill was born in 1895 [sic 1891]. Early in life he set out to find the answer to the nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are.” At 60 years of age he wrote in his autobiography:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Now I'm certain what you are,
Up above the world so high,

Just a big sun in the sky.

When Bro. Brackbill was 15 years old he saw Halley's comet in the early morning beyond the barn. He wrote concerning this, “I wasn't scared at all at the big thing out there in the sky and ignorantly paid little attention to it.”

Early Interest in Stars

The next year Professor Schmucker of Goshen College was an overnight guest at the Brackbill home. In the morning Bro. Brackbill and his father did the farm chores. Bro. Brackbill was back on the hog barn when he overheard the visiting professor say they could measure the distance to the stars. He was so astounded by this statement that he determined to find out how it was done.

At 17 he bought a copy of L. J. Heatwole's “The Almanac and the Sidereal Heavens.” At 19 he took his first course in astronomy at Millersville State Normal School in Pennsylvania. There he learned how they measured the distances to the stars.

Bro. Brackbill says that his observational astronomy began when he was 25. That year he attended a lecture by Bishop L. J. Heatwole on the roof of the Administration Building. Bro. Heatwole pointed out and named a number of stars and constellations. The next year he was introduced to the spiritual meaning of the heavens by Bro. J. B. Smith, who gave a lecture on the same roof.

Purchased Telescope

At the age of 34, Bro. Brackbill took summer courses in astronomy at the University of Michigan, using “Beginners Star Book” by McKready to continue his study of the skies. He bought a two-inch refractor telescope from Montgomery Ward and mounted it on a camera tripod. Then he began pointing out stars and constellations to students and teachers at Eastern Mennonite College.

In 1930 he founded the Astral Society, which now has 1300 members. Bro. Brackbill gave each member the name of a star. In 1932 he ”married a star, Fomalhaut,” who was the former Ruth Mininger of Kansas City, Kan. Later they named their home “Starrywood.”

Bro. Brackbill's teaching career at Eastern Mennonite College began in 1919 and continued until 1908, when he was appointed until 1958, when he was appointed professor emeritus of mathematics. Vesper Heights Observatory, Astral Hall and the concrete observing platform which he developed on the EMC campus are monuments of his devotion to the stars.

Relation of Physical, Spiritual

He admitted astronomy was his favorite science because it “relates the physical world and the spiritual as no other subject does. One of the greatest satisfactions is to see both young and old take an interest in the heavens.”

The dedicatory pronouncement for Vesper Heights Observatory, which he designed, sums up the aim of his astronomy teaching:

“To the sacred end that the handiwork of God in the heavens may be more clearly observable and more fully understandable, that the omnipotence and the omniscience of the Creator of the Universe may be more evident and more convincing through the revealing of its immeasurable immensity and endless complexity, and that because of this there may be greater faith in Him who made the stars and more reverent praise to his glory, we solemnly dedicate to Him Vesper Heights Observatory.

Wrote Astronomy Books

In addition to developing many ingenious devices which helped bring the study of the heavens down to earth, Bro. Brackbill authored several books. He wrote “Heaven and the Glory of the Sunset” in 1934. The latter is designed to furnish a handy, accurate and inexpensive guide to locating stars. In 1954 he published “Evenings with the Stars” and in 1959, “The Heavens Declare.”

“The Upward Look” was the title of a series of radio talks he gave over WSVA and WEMC at Harrisonburg. These lectures were published in 1955. He wrote three series of articles on the stars for the Youth's Christian Companion. These he entitled “To the Stars,” ”Evenings with the Stars,” and “Stars from Starrywood.”

Studied at Four Schools”

Bro. Brackbill received his formal training in astronomy at four schools. During the school year of 1932-33 he took advanced astronomy courses at the University of Kansas. That year he made a chart of the history of astronomy. During 1937-38 he read through the Bible to find all the references to astronomy. He received an A.M. in astronomy at the University of Virginia in 1938, and took additional graduate work at the University of Michigan in 1945-46.

In 1936-37 he taught his first class in General Astronomy and in 1943-44 his first class in Informal Astronomy. He said the more he studied the subject, the more convinced he was of the solid truth that “the heavens declare the glory of God.” In his last book he wrote, “God had his signature all over the sky, identifying Him”

Observatory Lectures”

Bro. Brackbill directed an Astral Easter Choric [sic] for several years, and sponsored the 25th Astral Anniversary program and home-coming. Some of his observatory lectures were: Architecture of the University, Flash Tour to Orion, Celestial Zoo, Star of the East, Sight-seeing in the Sky, When the Dragon Swallows the Sun, Rocket Trip to the Moon, Are Other Worlds Inhabited? The Worlds Go 'Round, and Seasonal Skyscape.

One of his last choices was the purchase of a ceiling light which had the appearance of the earth surrounded by many miniature stars. This was the center of attraction in the study of a new home he and his wife enjoyed for about a year before their deaths.

After the death of his companion last April 30, his days grew dark. But as the days moved on his faith triumphed. Aldeberon [sic Aldebaran] (Bro. Brackbill's star name) was shining again in full light. The cloud which had temporarily hidden his twinkle had passed over the horizon.

Just a few days before he became unconscious, he whispered to his pastor, Bro. Miller: “I see it now. Ruth was indeed like fomalhaut. Fomalhaut is in a constellation that comes into our sky late in the autumn and leaves in the early spring. So with Ruth, she came into my life so late and had to leave so early. She was in my earthly sky so short a time.”

Pointing to God's Majesty.

Dr. Robert Lehman, who has taken over many of Bro. Brackbill's projects, said: “Prof. Brackbill devoted much of his life to making astronomy palatable and helping many to see the majesty of God as revealed by astronomy.”

Dr. Armand Spitz, astronomer, inventor and lecturer, paid tribute to Bro. Brackbill's astronomy center when he described Harrisonburg as “extraordinary in that it is the smallest town in the world with two planetaria.”

No doubt students at EMC and local residents as well felt nearer to the stars as they studied the moon, planets, comets, nebulae and galaxies through the telescopes and other astronomical equipment at Vesper Heights Observatory and Astral Hall. We also trust our departed brother is nearer his beloved stars. “Ad Astra.”