Published: March 01, 2008 03:46 pm      

Professor Norman Matthew Whalen

Norman Whalen entered into eternal rest on Feb. 27, 2008 at age 87.

He was born in Perth Amboy, N.J. on June 14, 1920 and completed high school (with honors) in 1936. Following one year of college, Norman joined the Army Air Corps in 1941. Upon graduating from Navigator School in Monroe, Louisiana, he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant.

Norman was assigned to the 98th Bomb Group in North Africa where he participated in numerous combat missions including the famous raid on the oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. After Norman’s 36th mission, he was assigned to Mountain Home Air Field, Idaho, where he trained cadets in flight navigation until September, 1944. At that time he requested reassignment back to the 98th Bomb Group and he flew an additional 39 bombing raids with his original unit.

For his heroism in combat, Norman was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, and 11 Air Medals. Major Norman Whalen was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1946 and entered seminary in Baltimore, Maryland where, in 1954, he was ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.

Father Whalen faithfully served the Catholic Church in the Arizona towns of Tucson, Tombstone, Patagonia, and Benson. While working as a historian for the Diocese of Tucson in 1960, Father Whalen was instrumental in leading the preservation of the Calabazas Mission, constructed in 1756 and added to the Tumacacori National Historic Park in 1990.

Father Whalen dedicated the last half of his life to research and teaching. In 1971, Father Whalen completed his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. In that same year, he accepted a professorship with Texas State University [TSU] in San Marcos.

For the next three decades, Dr. Norman Whalen devoted himself to teaching about ancient cultures of the American Southwest, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. During his 31-year career at Texas State, Dr. Whalen pushed the boundaries of knowledge in the field of Old World archaeology.

In 1979, he began his first archaeological surveys in southwest Saudi Arabia in which he set out to map the earliest Pleistocene era human occupation sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Between 1980 and 1989 Dr. Whalen conducted six more archaeological surveys across central and northwest Saudi Arabia during which he outlined the migration patterns of humans from Africa into the Middle East. As a result of this work he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. Between 1990-1995 Dr. Whalen carried out three seasons of archaeological research in Yemen. In 1997 he conducted field research in Oman. In 1999 he conducted an archaeological project in eastern Jordan, and in early 2002, at the age of 83, he carried out his last archaeological survey in Oman.

Dr. Whalen had a kind spirit and was always approachable. He would freely invite students into his office, and loved talking about archaeology and the people of the Middle East for whom he had a profound respect. His campus office was like a museum, filled with memorabilia collected during his work and extensive travels. Dr. Whalen retired from Texas State University in December 2003. Shortly afterward, he retired to Tucson, Ariz.. In his 87 years Norman Matthew Whalen touched many lives. We honor his memory and mourn his loss.