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Profile of Giving: Dr. Arthur and Lois Fry
Summer 2008 -- Dr. Arthur Fry has hiked at natural areas around the world. Today’s he’s doing his part to conserve them. Art, who joined The Nature Conservancy in 1978, says his love of nature began at an early age. He was born in 1921 in Montana and grew up in Dodson, a small community there. “I began exploring the outdoors there at a young age,” Art says. “Today the mountains in the West are still among my favorite places in the world.” After graduating in 1943 from Montana State University with a degree in chemistry, Art joined the Navy, where he served as an electronics technician working on radar technology. “After World War II, I decided I wanted to find out how organic chemistry reacted with atomic energy, so I went to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where one the top secret atomic energy facilities was,” Art says. “The work there contributed to the atomic bomb, but I was involved after the bomb’s invention. I wanted to learn how the technology could be applied in other areas. It was then I decided I needed my Ph.D.” It was also at Oak Ridge where Art met his wife, Lois, also a chemist. She died in 1996. “Lois loved to hike, too,” Art says. “I courted her in the nearby Smoky Mountains.” In 1948, the couple moved to California, where Art earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. From there, the Frys moved in 1951 to Fayetteville, where Art became an assistant professor for the University of Arkansas. In time he would go on to become university professor and serve twice as chair of the chemistry department. While in Arkansas, Art and Lois continued their outdoor adventures, even after the birth of their two sons and daughter. “We had a camper which served as our base camp for our backpacking treks,” Art says. “We sought out backcountry places all over the mountains of the West for most of our family vacations. Following our lead, all three of our children became avid hikers and conservationists.” In addition to hiking in every state west of the Mississippi River and climbing hundreds of peaks in the Appalachians and in the Western U.S., Art has traveled the world. Sabbaticals afforded him opportunities to explore wilderness areas in England, Austria, Switzerland, Kenya, New Zealand and Australia, where he also snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. “Conservation, though, should be important to everyone, whether they hike or climb mountains or snorkel or not,” he says. When Art and Lois joined the Conservancy, they began contributing annually. Today the Conservancy in Arkansas is listed as a beneficiary in Art’s will. “Putting the Conservancy in our will was a joint decision between Lois and me,” Art says. “We were attracted to the Conservancy’s philosophy of conservation. We both thought the Conservancy does a great job working with other agencies and organizations and cooperating with landowners.” Today Art lives at Butterfield Trail Village in Fayetteville. He has lived at the retirement community since 1992, a year after he retired from the University of Arkansas. Art has played a pivotal role in maintaining Butterfield’s recycling program, and he has continued his love of flower gardening at a community plot there. Art has also arranged presentations at Butterfield from a variety of groups, including the Conservancy. “Everyone should strive to leave the world a better place,” Art says. “I figure my support of the Conservancy is a way to do that literally.” |
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