Robert L Oswalt 1923-2007

Links to audio files:
KPFA radio broadcast of early 1960s featuring music of Pomo Indians and Robert Oswalt (28 minutes)
Robert Oswalt talking on March 13 2006 about work in many dying languages (6 minutes)

These small photos link to larger photos:

1923

1924 with brother John

1925 with brother John and mother Mildred

1925 with brother

1925 with brother John

1930 with father John Roy Oswalt

approx 1930 in snow pile

approx 1931

1938

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

Navy

1947

1950

1952 Wedding

1952 at wedding reception with bay view

1954 house constrution

1954 house construction

1955 with son John

1957 Geyserville area

1958 with son Edward

1959 with brother John

1959 In his living room with mother Mildred

1959 with anthropologist Samuel Barrett and Pomo roundhouse

1960 with Essie Parrish

1960 Christmas photo

1962 Christmas in living room with sons, mother Mildred, Esther

1970s

1975 Fort Huachuca with brother John

1975 with pet geese

1977 near front of house

1977 picking his apple tree

1977

1977 in home office

1978 near side of house

1978 near front of house

1979 Vancouver

1980 with brother John and mother Mildred

1980 at home

1980 near front of house

1980 yosemite

approx 1980 with Esther in Mexico

1986 Pruning tree at home

1987 with Betsy (wife of brother), John (brother), Edith (mother of wife)

1987 with Esther in Kenya

1988 with Esther on road above house

1988 studio photo

May 2000 in dining room

May 2000 with Esther in dining room

2002 on patio with son John

2002 in dining room

2002 visiting Middletown cemetery

2003 Christmas

2004 Christmas

Nov 23, 2006

Gravestone, Tuskegee, Alabama

Click here for text of biographic speech by Ed given at June 30 memorial service.
Click here for SF Chronicle obituary

Brief summary, as was in Contra Costa Times:
Robert L. Oswalt passed away peacefully at his home on May 22, 2007 after a general decline in health. He was born March 6, 1923 at the army post at Fort Huachuca, Arizona where his father was a doctor. He moved frequently with his family throughout his youth, living on Army posts around the United States and in the Philippines. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley (BS in Chemistry) in 1943 after which he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

After the war, he returned to Berkeley, lived at International House (I House), and earned an MS in Chemistry. He worked at the Radiation Lab in Berkeley and continued to participate in activities at I House where he met Esther Smith who became his wife in 1952. They built a home in Kensington, CA where they lived for over 50 years and where they raised two sons, John and Edward, enjoyed the natural setting of the home, and where Robert nurtured hundreds of species of plants.

Robert's lifelong interest was in languages and in 1956, he enrolled in the Linguistics Department at the University of California at Berkeley. His pioneering work with Pomo Indians of northern California led to his PhD from U.C. Berkeley and publication of the book, "Kashaya Texts" in 1964. His belief in the importance of language preservation and desire to help new researchers continued throughout his life. He published in a wide variety of linguistic subjects including English orthography and comparative linguistics. He assisted Kashaya tribal members in preserving their language and their songs.

Robert is survived by his wife, Esther; sons, John and Edward; granddaughter, Ariel; and nieces, Ruth Oswalt Epstein, Barbara Oswalt Wynn, and Mimi Oswalt Bolduc.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on June 30, 2007, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington, CA 94707.

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