Charles Albert Repenning (August 4, 1922 in Oak Park,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

– January 5, 2005 in Lakewood,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

) was an American

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

noted for his work on

shrew Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to differ ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s, modern

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely range (biology), distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammal, marine mammals. They comprise the extant taxon, extant family (biology ...

s and their extinct relatives, the

Desmostylia The Desmostylia (from Greek δεσμά ''desma'', "bundle", and στῦλος ''stylos'', "pillar") are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene ( Tortonian) (). Desmostylians are t ...

. He identified and researched the

Paleoparadoxia ''Paleoparadoxia'' ("ancient paradox") is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals that inhabited the northern Pacific coastal region during the Miocene epoch (). It ranged from the waters of Japan (Tsuyama and Yanagawa), to Alaska in the n ...

found during the excavation of Stanford Linear Accelerator at Stanford University in California, which was eventually reclassified as a distinct species, which was named in his honor. Repenning was the first paleontologist to identify fossils from the North Slope of Alaska as dinosaur bones.

Military service

He was a veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, serving as an enlisted soldier in the 104th Infantry Division and spent time in a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

. He was awarded the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

Education and career

After the war, Repenning attended the New Mexico School of Mines and worked for the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Holbrook Holbrook may refer to: Places England *Holbrook, Derbyshire, a village * Holbrook, Somerset, a hamlet in Charlton Musgrove * Holbrook, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, a former mining village in Mosborough ward, now known as Halfway *Holbrook, Suffolk, ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, where he mapped the

Navajo Reservation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

; Menlo Park,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he studied at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

; and eventually

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, writing extensively on fossil and modern day mammals of many types, culminating in his work to create a bio-

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

based on microtine rodents.

Private life

Repenning was known as a story teller and always began his childhood stories with 'When I was a little girl...'. He once found a guy sitting on the top of a hill in the desert who turned out to be a Civil War soldier who had desiccated rather than decayed. He was also a source of entertainment to his neighbors on more than one occasion. He would occasionally bury zebra, elephant, and tiger carcasses in the back yard in order to study their bones. His children referred to the back half of their yard as "The Bone Yard." Once he handed out elephant toenails to the neighborhood children as a curiosity. Repenning would also prop up frozen animals that he was studying (e.g. an Emu) in the front yard for children to see as they walked to school in the morning. The Repennings had unconventional pets at times as well. Repenning kept a raven that could talk, a skunk, a raccoon, a chimpanzee (only on summers), and for a short time a bobcat. Repenning lived in a way that was uncommon and larger than life at times. The people that remember him often have remarkable stories about him to tell. However, Repenning, by his own account didn't really consider his life remarkable in any way. He was a man of many different sides.

Death

Repenning was found murdered in his home in Lakewood on January 5, 2005. Meth addicts Richard Kasparson and Michael Wessel killed Repenning during a burglary. Wessel was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 54 years. Ginny Kasparson pleaded guilty to accessory to murder. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison on May 19, 2006. Nicholas Savajian pleaded guilty to second degree murder. On May 5, 2006, Michael Mapps, accused of masterminding the crime, was found guilty.

Notes

External links

On-line cite to published paper on ''Paenemarmota''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Repenning, Charles 1922 births 2005 deaths Scientists from Oak Park, Illinois New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology alumni American paleontologists United States Army personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany United States Army soldiers