Branan Ward, FE ‘51
“Why I Joined The Explorers Club”
“I have been an explorer of one kind or another since the first time I ran away from home at age five. While living in the Great Smokey Mountains during my teenage years I built row boats in an attempt to row all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Was ship’s electrician in the merchant marine before joining US Submarines in WW II. Went to Alaska in 1945. Paddled down the Mackenzie River in 1947. Lived at Thule Greenland before the Thule Air Base was built. Attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago before once again paddling to the Arctic Ocean and doing coriolis force studies on a small expedition in which I was granted the privilege of carrying the Club flag.
I taught anthropology and geography at the college and high school levels for over thirty years. Sailed to Alaska and back in a thirty foot cutter I partly built.
I’m writing my life story Dimestore Explorer:Adventures of an Impetuous Geographer.
When not writing I am painting murals or portraits on Marrowstone Island Washington. I got to know Peter Freuchin in Greenland and he asked me to join the Club. I could find nothing wrong with that.”
