Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.
- May 23, 2018

My Father's Status

It has been over two years since my father passed from this life, on 01-18-16, at age 88. Yet every week I still get solicitations in his name from “charities” and other questionable organizations who still hope to garner money from him. And each week I telephone or mail to inform them that he is deceased, and to request that they cease mailing what are to me painful reminders that he is gone.

Today it is Marquis Who’s Who who is “pleased to announce that you (Peter Throckmorton) are being considered for the 2018 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and respectively (a better word choice would have been respectfully) request the verification of your biographical data, which is currently under review.” According to their website, “Marquis Who's Who has remained the standard for reliable & comprehensive biographical data since 1899. Share your accomplishments with our marketing products.” My father purchased these massive books (about the weight of a small sack of potatoes) in order to have his Who’s Who In America biographical information included therein. My mother recognized the misplaced professional vanity of the operation, but said nothing until he had purchased several of the expensive, annual faux tomes. Then he gave one to each of his three children, and kept the fourth on his shelf. Thereafter whenever he purchased a newer edition he would silently dispose of the old version under litter in the trash bin, to avoid any squabbling.

My father used to take special satisfaction in making donations to children’s organizations, but to me even their names were dubious, “boys' town”, or “Father so-and-so children’s foundation”, and the like. To him it was charity to children and he wanted to give. He also donated on a regular basis to Native American Indian groups who would send him commemorative plastic trinkets in return, which he kept on casual display in his study. He would regift the trinkets when he could find someone willing to take them. For many years he tried to get me to take a miniature pair of vivid orange and green plastic salt and pepper shakers incised with a bow and arrow motif, because he misinterpreted my fixed stare of repulsion for interest, or maybe he was teasing. After his passing I kept a Native American dream catcher (scraggly feathers, plastic rawhide-esque string, and a very small chunk of turquoise) hanging from my car's rear view mirror in his memory. Occasional it would catch my eye, and I would meditate to try and understand the world and how I might be effective in it, or I would pray for good things for my late father and for the world in general. To him the dream catcher had simply symbolized Native American culture and he was supportive of it. After my father had the stroke that put him in the nursing home, and I had to exercise my power of attorney to pay his bills for him, I was shocked to see that while he had often had trouble reimbursing me for buying their weekly groceries, he was writing weekly checks for $25, $50, even $100 to charities. It gave him the perception of higher status. When I was young I suffered the same misperception, giving thousands of dollars worth of work yearly, doing all sorts of volunteer work. I gave time, he gave money, it came from the same impulse to alleviate suffering, to be generous, to be magnanimous.

Who’s Who In America biographical information.

for Dr. Peter Eugene Throckmorton, PhD

Family History.

Date of Birth: 1/20/1927

Parents: Son of James and Carla Margaret (née Strim) Throckmorton

Married: Phyllis Marie (née McGrew), June 30, 1948

Children's Names: Annmarie, Carla Louise, Peter Eugene Junior

Education.

Education: PhD in Organic Chemistry, Kansas State University, 1960; MS in Chemistry, University Minnesota, 1955; BS Chemistry, University Minnesota, 1948

Career History.

Retired; Consultant, Teltech, Inc., Minneapolis, 1991-96; Principal, Throckmorton Consultant, Plain City, Ohio, 1986-95; Senior research chemist H, Ashland Chemical Co. (formerly Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.), Columbus, Ohio, 1967-86; Senior research chemist, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Minneapolis, 1965-67; Associate chemist, Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, 1960-65; Petroleum fellow Petroleum Research Institute, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 1957-58; Research chemist, General Mills Research, Inc., Minneapolis, 1952-56; Manufacturing research engineer, Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co., Middle River, Maryland, 1949-52; Research engineer, Tainton Products Co., Baltimore, 1948-49

Career-Related: Associate chairman 15th Annual Kansas City Chemistry Conference, 1963 member People's Republic China-U.S. Science Exchange Program, Beijing and Shanghai, 1984.

Creative Works.

Contributor over 27 articles to professional journals including Modern Plastics, Journal American Chemical Society, Journal Elastoplastics, Journal American Oil Chemists Society, Inorganica Chimica Acta.

Awards.

Recipient Best Paper award Reinforced Plastics Div. of Society Plastics Industry, 1963.

Achievements: Achievements include 17 patents, including patent for trimethylene sulfide chemical derivative that when chemically reacted into a well-known plastic provided a substance highly resistant to deterioration by strong radiation, such as gamma rays; derivation of new, effective, very biodegradable surfactants from cornstarch and a fatty substance; novel, highly effective palladium-lead acetate complex oxidation catalyst for aromatics; new blend of melamine and polyol chemicals for fire retardant plastic.

Memberships

Fellow American Institute Chemists (board directors 1987-89); member American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society (chairman technical program Columbus section 1979-80), American Oil Chemists Society (editorial reviewer 1986-91), Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon.

Political Affiliation.

Democrat

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