{"id":142201,"date":"2021-10-14T09:30:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=142201"},"modified":"2021-10-15T09:33:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T13:33:21","slug":"video-bates-gene-clough-goes-skydiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/14\/video-bates-gene-clough-goes-skydiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: Gene Clough goes skydiving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gene Clough, a lecturer emeritus at Bates, did doctoral research in physics at the California Institute of Technology. To him, the fact that what goes up must come down is no surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surprise was what went up and down the other day: Clough himself, who went up on a plane and came down in a parachute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cwhy\u201d of Clough\u2019s skydiving adventure is related to the 74-year-old\u2019s health: He has age-related dementia. And while Clough can still recite pi out to 50 decimal places, well-known Bates places and people escape his recall these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gene Clough and his instructor edge toward the door right before his tandem skydive with SkyDive New England in Lebanon, Maine, on Oct. 11, 2021 (Photograph courtesy Shred Video)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Appointed to the faculty in 1978, Clough retired in 2016. As a teacher, Clough was a champion of technological literacy, once describing the \u201cserene joy\u201d of inhabiting a world that \u201cone understands,\u201d rather than being surrounded by technology \u201cbuilt and understood only by other people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students loved Clough\u2019s unbridled zeal for explaining technology, old and new, in a Doc Brown, Back to the Future<\/em> way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He once borrowed a polio-era iron lung from a local hospital so he could use it in his Short Term course on disability. He built a time-lapse film camera to capture the construction of Olin Arts Center. His own doctoral research was on the imaging technology used in today\u2019s digital cameras. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as a child growing up in California, \u201cwhen my junior high school friends would play ball in the streets after school, I would go into the garage and make things in our machine shop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/lite-youtube>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
Video courtesy of Shred Video<\/figcaption>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n

Not too long ago, Clough was having lunch on the Den Terrace with two Bates friends, Jacob Kendall, a construction administrator with Facility Services, and Sylvia Deschaine, the longtime academic administrative assistant in Carnegie Science Hall, where Clough taught courses in physics and geology during a storied Bates career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their lunch at the Den, the topic turned to finding an activity to keep Clough physically active and engaged. It’s important that someone who has dementia stay active, and Kendall is always on the lookout for new adventures (\u201cI\u2019m like the little brother, trying to get Gene into trouble\u201d). Recently the two buddies had attended the big air show in Brunswick, where there was skydiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Kendall suggested skydiving. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d Clough asked. Kendall, who did more more than 150 parachute jumps in his U.S. Army career, explained. Gene replied, \u201cI\u2019m not so sure about that,\u201d a bit anxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was Deschaine\u2019s turn. She\u2019s Irish \u2014 purposeful and direct. A decade and a half ago, Deschaine suffered a brain injury, and has since fully recovered. She remembers the terror of her temporary memory loss, and has vowed to help take care of Clough as his illness progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
At home on Nichols Street on Oct. 12, Gene Clough holds A History of Pi<\/em>, showing visitors a page with pi out to many decimals. Clough, who has age-related dementia, can recite pi out to 50 decimals. (Freddie Wright\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She provides clarity, support, and encouragement when Clough gets anxious. When Clough demurred about skydiving, she said, \u201cC\u2019mon, Gene! I know you would like to do that.\u201d And Clough said, \u201cWell, I guess I would.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And off Kendall and Clough went, to Skydive New England in Lebanon, Maine. On Monday, both completed separate tandem dives, with an instructor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, Clough described his skydive for visitors. \u201cI\u2019ve already mentioned that it\u2019s a scary thing,\u201d he recalled with a chuckle. \u201cBut the big sensation is the wind. Very high. You feel you\u2019re not in control of every minute of what you’re doing. It\u2019s the wind that is managing it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gene
Gene Clough, lecturer emeritus in geology and physics, does a tandem skydive at SkyDive New England in Lebanon, Maine, on Oct. 11, 2021 (Photograph courtesy Shred Video)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clough said that he had two conflicting thoughts as his instructor edged him closer and closer to the open door of the plane. Thought one: \u201cPeople do this all the time. It\u2019s not a new thing.\u201d Thought two: \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to survive this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the terrifying first moment, when you\u2019re out the door. You\u2019re going down very fast. You\u2019re wiggling around and very nervous, trying to wonder how you’re going to get this to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand, \u201cyou feel just a little bit in control. You can move your arms and legs.\u201d But on the other hand, \u201cyou know that you will <\/em>crash into the earth in 10 minutes\u201d if the chute does not open. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gene
Gene Clough, lecturer emeritus in geology and physics, smiles after completing his tandem skydive at SkyDive New England in Lebanon, Maine, on Oct. 11, 2021 (Photograph courtesy Shred Video)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The landing was fast, said Clough, but \u201cnot deadly fast! The people who were doing this have been doing it long enough that you have a good feeling for what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deschaines asked, \u201cWould you do it again, Gene?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would rather ask someone else to do it<\/em>!\u201d he replied, looking straight on at his friend, with a smile.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A beloved lecturer emeritus at Bates, Gene Clough had two thoughts before exiting the plane door for his recent skydive. Thought one: \u201cPeople do this all the time.\u201d Thought two: \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to survive this!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":142203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[14,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","category-society-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142201"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142274,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142201\/revisions\/142274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}