Jack Cobb, Longtime Langmuir Manager, Passes Away
by George Zamora
SOCORRO, N.M., July 16, 1999 -- When Jack William Cobb (Sept.
2, 1916-July 12, 1999) served as field supervisor and manager
of the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, all of the
squirrels which lived around the research facility atop the Magdalena
Mountains had names.
During his coffee breaks, Cobb would spend time hand-feeding the
squirrels potato chips and peanuts, and, eventually, he got around
to giving names to each of them.
But feeding and naming squirrels, although meaningful in its own
small measure, is probably not what most of Cobb's Langmuir Lab
colleagues will remember about the facility's longtime manager
who recently passed away.
To this day, for instance, several of the "old-timers"
who still spend summers conducting research at Langmuir will frequently
encounter certain situations which invariably require that one
of Cobb's humorous yarns, which he was fond of calling "Westerns,"
be once again recounted.
Although he was born in Texahoma, Okla., Cobb lived most of his
life in Socorro County, having grown up and spent most of his
young adult years in the Magdalena area.
As a young man, Cobb worked on a ranch west of Magdalena and began
honing the blacksmithing and construction skills which would serve
him well in later careers.
When World War II called many of the young men of Cobb's generation
into military service, Cobb was exempted from active duty because
of the strategically important position he was employed in "at
the homefront" as a blacksmith and drill bit sharpener at
the Kelly mining district in the Magdalena Mountains.
He later worked at the nearby Lynchburg Mine and eventually helped
move tons of mining and smelting equipment down to Deming when
mining operations "panned out" around Kelly after the
war.
Cobb then found his niche in the post-war construction which was
going on in Magdalena and built two motels, three houses, and
the Trail's End Market.
Cobb's construction skills soon became evident to people outside
of Magdalena, particularly to some atmospheric researchers who
frequented the village's local restaurants and stores when they
weren't "up on the mountain" studying the physics of
clouds, thunderstorms, and lightning.
"We first recruited Jack in the mid-1960s because of his
construction abilities," relates Charlie Moore, a longtime
Langmuir Lab researcher and associate of Cobb's who joined the
Langmuir staff shortly before Cobb came on board. "However,
it wasn't long after that he became Langmuir Lab's manager."
Cobb designed and constructed many of the lightning research facilities
which make up Langmuir Lab, including the mountaintop lab's radar
tower, balloon hangar, and cross-canyon cable system.
"While working at Langmuir, he became interested in the ballooning
experiments we were conducting," Moore says, "enough
so, that he soon became actively involved in inflating an launching
our research balloons into thunderclouds."
Cobb also accompanied the Langmuir scientists during their field
research to study lightning near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In the fall of 1969, NASA's Apollo XII mission had experienced
a direct lightning strike on its rocket just before launch and
New Mexico Tech's lightning experts were called in to see if field
measurements of atmospheric electricity taken just before subsequent
launches would better ensure the safety of the ensuing Apollo
XIII and XIV missions.
"Jack played an important role when we went to work for NASA
for those launches," Moore observes, "and helped us
out with electricity measurements and running equipment, as well
as logistical support."
Cobb was honored by New Mexico Tech for his numerous contributions
to the university in commencement ceremonies in 1977 when he was
bestowed with the school's honorary degree of Master of Engineering
Technology.
"Jack was a master at taking surplus materials and turning
them into usable items," Moore points out. "His last
major project at Tech before retiring was to design a carrier
to move Langmuir Lab's research airplane sideways into its hangar
which was otherwise too narrow for conventional use. . . . His
ingenuity in the use of surplus materials alone must have saved
Tech literally thousands of dollars over the years."
Cobb officially retired from New Mexico Tech in 1984 after 20
years of service to the university.
He is survived by his wife, Claunese Hinchman Cobb of Socorro;
daughter, Arla Greene Pinto of Socorro; sisters Vera Knoblock
and Lucille McCarty, both of Magdalena; grandson Kelly L. Greene
and his wife, Jennifer, of Socorro; great-grandsons Justin and
Dillon Greene, both of Socorro; and numerous other relatives,
friends, and associates.
-NMT-
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