U ٠ V

Sarianna Ulrich

Barbara Vahle, Class of 1956

Linda Van Buren

Vander Veen Construction Company

Jane E. Vander Ven, Class of 1969

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Van Houten

Marvin J. Vann, Class of 1940, & Veronica R. Vann, Class of 1941

Marvin Vann's first visit to South America was precipitated by a trip on the Amazon River with his son, Tim, to collect butterfly specimens. There, they met two Wycliffe Bible translators telling tales of living with indigenous people in the Amazon basin. Making the trip again the following year, the Vanns sought out similar experiences with tribes in the more remote areas of Mexico. Accompanying a missionary doctor on his airplane rounds, Vann had 20 minutes with the Lacandon Indians of the Lacanjá settlement, whom he found to be "beautiful people - honest, self-sufficient, hardworking, [with a] religious core of their own that was very satisfactory for them."

Between the 1960s and 1993, Vann made approximately thirty-five different visits to the Lacandon. Along with Tom Fisher, a co-worker from Vann's early days as an engineer with Lockheed, Vann explored Mayan ruins with the Lacandon. "The Lacandon people knew...some of these archeological sites that had never been seen [by outsiders], or had been forgotten about. Our plan was to have them take us on little expeditions, a fun thing for them, and [an] interesting thing for us," Vann explained.

In 1971, the Lacandon helped Vann and Fisher find the remains of a 1500-year-old religious retreat of the Mayan civilization. They were the first white men in history to inspect the ancient shrines.

In addition to his interest in anthropology, Marvin Vann devoted much of his life to making telescopes and related equipment accessible to people all over the world, donating not only to Albion College, but to educational institutions in Central America as well.

While an undergraduate at Albion College, Vann restored the historic Alvan Clark refractor telescope in the Observatory, which had not been in used for over twenty years. In 1971, Vann donated to Albion College a prototype of his own invention, the solar prominence telescope. He donated the prototype in memory of Dr. Clement Rood, Class of 1894, professor of astronomy and physics at Albion from 1920 to 1939. The telescope was mounted piggyback on the Clark refractor.  In 1998, Vann made another gift, this time for the dedication of the Stellman rooftop observatory, a hydrogen alpha solar filter to be used with a 14-inch Celestron telescope. The filter can make detailed observations of the sun's surface, sunspots, flares and prominences, which can then be displayed in real time on a television monitor. 

A recipient of Albion's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996, Vann's other honors include a Governor's Award Nomination in 1968 for "Creative Citizenship" from then-Governor Ronald Reagan for his contributions to the National Observatory in Baja, CA and two honors in Mexico for consulting on and providing equipment for planetarium installations there. Dr. James Cook, Professor Emeritus in English at Albion College, wrote a book about Vann's life, published by the University of Michigan University Library, entitled Star-Chaser: Marvin J. Vann, An American Life. Marvin is survived by his wife, Veronica Ransom Vann, Class of 1941, of Green Valley, Arizona.

Sherie Veramay

Richard Vernor

Patricia Visser

Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Vogt

Dr. & Mrs. Melvin L. Vulgamore