Text Box: Howard Lewis Penn Date of Passing: November 23, 2009 Professor Howard Lewis Penn, 63, a resident of Arnold, died suddenly Nov. 23, 2009 at Anne Arundel Medical Center due to a heart attack. He was born Nov. 9, 1946, in Bayonne, N.J., and was raised in Louisville, Ky. Dr. Penn received his B.S. from Indiana University and later received his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He was married in 1967 to Beth Straus and they came to Annapolis in the fall of 1973. He immediately began his career with the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a Mathematics Professor. He was a longtime member and President of the Arundel Camera Club; a zoo docent for over seven years at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, and President of the London Towne Property Owner's Association in Edgewater from 1977-1978. Dr. Penn thoroughly enjoyed photography, especially nature and wildlife. Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Beth A. Penn; his daughter, Rachael A. Penn of Taos, N.M.; two sisters, Sherry Penn of Juno Beach, Fla., and Elizabeth Grove of South Bend, Ind.; and one niece. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the Miller Chapel at the Levy Center, at the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis. Attendees need to enter at gate 8 (the one closest to the Naval Acc. Severn River bridge) & present your driver’s license and tell the guard that they are attending Prof. Penn's memorial.  He will let you drive in. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Drive, Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, MD 21217 or the conservation organization of one's choice. Howard Penn….is a friend When I heard the news of Howards passing, I knew I wanted to write something for the newsletter, but what? A reporter reports the facts. Howard Penn was a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a mentor and our club president. He was a mathematics professor to many young men and women at the U.S. Naval Academy for over 30 years. He gave his time to the Maryland Zoo of Baltimore, volunteering with his wife Beth, as an Education Docent. Howard was also our camera club president, but I’m sure he would say his greatest accomplishment was his family. But I’m definitely not a reporter. I only knew Howard a few short years and our talks never went past “shop talk”. So let’s talk shop. I visited Howards’ flickr page for inspiration, and that was what his work was, “inspirational”. Seeing his photos made me want to reach further, to achieve something more. You can definitely see the mathematician come through in his photographs. He strived to not just be artistically pleasing, but also to be technically on point. One of the first field trips I went on with the camera club was to the National Zoo. I was so excited. I had never been to the zoo that early and without kids! I had my little camera with a 50mm lens and tons of film. Then up walks Howard, with his huge camera bag and lenses that seemed to be as long as my arm. It quickly became apparent to me that I wasn’t going to get much of anything with such a small lens. Howard meant business, and I was in awe. His love of animals was clear and spilled into his love of photography. I watched a segment on the ending of Kodachrome this morning on the news. The town of Parsons, Kansas is the last in the world still processing the film. The small lab receives a thousand rolls of film everyday from people rushing to get their film developed before the lab stops processing at the end of 2010. As I watched I thought of Howard, and how he worked in the mailroom of a photo processing plant. I know this would have been a conversation we would have shared when we returned to the camera club this Wednesday. A fellow member remarked that it still feels like a dream and we will all wake up. It won’t be the same without Howard. I think I can safely speak for all of us and say we will miss his quirky little jokes, and his beautiful and inspiring photography. Howard served faithfully as our Arundel Camera Club President, but more importantly he was our friend. Thank you Howard, you will be dearly missed.

Inside this issue:
Text Box: November 2009

Arundel camera club

Lens Line

President

Howard penn

Howardpennphoto@comcast.net

410-544-1742

 

1st vp(s)

Chuck Gallegos

gallegoscl@gmail.com

410-571-0562

 

Mike Thomas

berlthomas@gmail.com

 

2nd vp contests

Chip bulgin

Chip.bulgin@comcast.net

410-518-6876

 

Secretary/treasurer

Sunny frank

Sunnyfrank@verizon.net

301-261-6181

 

Delegates

Dick chomitz

410-721-5573

 

Webmaster

David Joyner

wdjoyner@gmail.com

Sanhill cranes fly past a magnificent sunrise at Bosque del Apache. Image appears on page 10 of Shutterbug, Oct. 2009.

Howard Penn

Programs / contest results

2

Around town

3