Donald Clark and Deborah Cowman
"You're the one who taught me how to bead." At StoryCorps, Deborah Fay Cowman of the Brazos Valley Natural History Museum and her husband, wildlife expert Donald Clark, discuss their shared passion for the environment, Native American culture and each other.
- [Deborah] You know, it's interesting because I grew up in a historic home, it was built in 1850, with my parents in Iowa. In Quasqueton, Iowa. And my parents loved history. And my dad was always talking about the history associated with that area, the Native Americans who lived there. And then my parents were both instrumental in starting that local heritage museum that's doing well now. And I'm a lifetime member there. Um, and then, you know, I ended up going to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and majoring in music, of all things. And then going to the University of Iowa and working on a master's in musicology. And then I was married to my first husband at that time, and we moved out to California. And I was at Stanford and worked in the rare book department. And, you know, the reason I'm mentioning all of this is all of these experiences came back. And then, of course, I ended up working at the Houston Museum of Natural Science with Dr. Baldauf. But all these experiences, and then working U.S. Fish and Wildlife and USGS, all these came together to enable me to do the job that I have now. Because all those experiences really helped infuse, you know, what I do now.
- [Donald] Yes.
- [Deborah] So it's, you know. It's been . .. And you, of course, have had a really . . . You were at A&M too, for a while. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
- [Donald] Well, I've been here as a graduate student and a faculty member twice. The first faculty membership didn't work out very well because I was too much of an environmentalist for them and they threw me out.
- [Deborah]That was back in the seventies, right?
- [Donald] But when I was then working for the government later, I came back to haunt them a little bit. But I wasn't working for them, I was working for the Department of Interior, so.
- [Deborah] But you were head of the Field Station.
- [Donald] Yes, I was head of the Field Research Station located in the wildlife department.
- [Deborah] Yeah, yeah.
- [Donald] At A&M. So.
- [Deborah] So, and of course, my master's and Ph.D. are both from the Wildlife Department at Dixie and A&M. You know, and I just remember, I went to a scientific meeting one time and I met one of your former students. Or maybe she had been a technician or worked for you. And when I met her and told her that you and I were just then dating each other, and she said, Oh my gosh, Deborah. You're Don's dream woman. She said, you're like, I know him. You're like his dream woman. And I said, Well that's good, because he's my dream man. I mean, where else am I going to find a tall, environmental herpetologist, you know . . . that just loves Native American things? I mean, where am I going to find that? I always thought the irony was that I have some Native American blood, but you're the one who taught me how to bead. You're the one who makes all the beautiful, beautiful Native American artwork. I mean, you've done everything from shields to jewelry, to beautiful, decorative skull work, to leather work, to creating the Cherokee darts, and carving bows and making arrows. I mean, I'm just always in awe of your artistic talent.
- [Donald] Well, when you spend all that time, all those years, doing research, when you retire, at least, my experience was that I wanted to do more hands-on kind of things. And make things that, sure, you can buy these same things, but it's not the same as if you make them. Then you learn something in that process.
- [Deborah] Yeah.
- [Donald] So that's why I prefer to do it that way. It gives you something to do.