![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2017\/06\/creasy-120527_Commencement_1912.jpg\")
<\/a>John Creasy marches in the academic procession at Commencement in 2012. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n
Creasy\u2019s arrival at Bates coincided with seismic shifts both at the college and in the discipline of geology. At Bates, he was part of a major expansion of the faculty and an invigoration of the curriculum under President Hedley Reynolds. At the same time, Creasy’s coming of age as a geologist coincided with the field\u2019s embrace of the revolutionary theory of plate tectonics, the idea that the earth\u2019s crust is made of massive plates that can move around.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, Creasy used the resources at hand, including Bates\u2019 relatively new Short Term option and the senior thesis program, to expand and deepen the geology major into today\u2019s highly rigorous program, one emphasizing extensive fieldwork (a tradition fostered by his predecessor, Roy Farnsworth), intensive lab work, and a required two-semester thesis. A celebration of John’s life will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 30. For directions, email rbitherbroene@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gifts in memory of John Creasy may be made to the Bouley Fund for Geology, Office of College Advancement, Bates College, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston ME 04240 or online.<\/a> Please include gift designation in the comment field.<\/p>\n \n<\/section><\/p>\n David Bailey \u201981, professor of geosciences and chair of the department at Hamilton College, was one of Creasy\u2019s early students, and he recalls how the 1973 oil crisis also contributed to making geology \u201can up-and-coming field of study.\u201d The hiring of Creasy and another young geologist, Patricia Cashman (who would go on to a long career at the University of Nevada in Reno), added to the sense that suddenly, geology at Bates was hip.<\/p>\n \u201cMy freshman year, I took a geo course on a whim,\u201d recalls Professor of Geology Dykstra Eusden \u201980. \u201cHere was this young guy who was so<\/em> into plate tectonics, which was brand-new. He just captivated me and a whole bunch of other kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Eusden, who was hired by Creasy in 1988, recalls Creasy leading a special-topics course on plate tectonics that involved \u201creading the brand new peer reviewed papers.\u201d It was more than a thrill, Eusden says, \u201ctrying to get our heads around this new global paradigm \u2014 it was awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n Near Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2011, on his final Short Term trip to the U.S. Southwest, John Creasy poses next to examples of “volcaniclastic” rock, which has been moved or affected by wind, water, or similar action. (Photograph by Dykstra Eusden ’80)<\/p><\/div>\n For many geology students, the excitement of that youth movement \u2014 and Creasy\u2019s high expectations as a professor \u2014 was felt during excursions far from Bates that created, in some cases, lifelong bonds.<\/p>\n Bailey, for example, was a first-year when he took what would become Creasy\u2019s signature course, a five-week Short Term trek to map the geology of the U.S. Southwest. Bailey thought the course would be a lark. Then he got into the van for the trip West.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was so good for me, and I am where I am because of him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Driving upwards of 15 hours a day, the 20 students riding in two vans were expected to observe the passing terrain, all the way from Maine to Arizona, and make field notes. \u201cAt the end of every day, after dinner and doing dishes, we would have a quiz on the geology of the states we drove through,” Bailey says. “John ran the course like a boot camp in geology.\u201d<\/p>\n And his students loved it. Tall and reserved in manner \u2014 the actor James Cromwell could be his doppelg\u00e4nger \u2014 Creasy looked the part of the taskmaster. \u201cWe were in awe of him, but his intensity was contagious,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cThere was so much respect for him: I wanted to work my butt off to impress John, to achieve for John.\u201d<\/p>\n By 1981, Bailey\u2019s senior year, Creasy had ramped up the department\u2019s thesis program. \u201cMy thesis defense at Bates was the hardest of my career,\u201d he says. \u201cJohn brought in a big-name Ph.D. as part of the examining committee, and they put me in my place. My master\u2019s and Ph.D. defenses were love fests in comparison.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was so good for me, and I am where I am because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n A few years ago, several geo majors from that Short Term, joined by Creasy, enjoyed a mini-reunion at an alum\u2019s camp on Sebago Lake. \u201cThe geology department was our home at Bates, academically and socially,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cWhen you spend so much time in the lab and in the field together, you bond. That speaks to the power of the Bates geology department.\u201d<\/p>\n “His philosophy was to teach to your strength; he didn\u2019t shoehorn us into one area. Thirty years later, I so appreciate that gift.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Equally powerful was Creasy\u2019s support of the junior faculty members in his department, and he helped them build teaching and research careers by giving them the freedom to follow their interests.<\/p>\n
\nService and Memorial Gift Information<\/a><\/h5>\n
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