By Matthew Clarke
Stacks of papers and botanical sketches, exotic hunting trophies and a life-size marble nude of Cleopatra crowd the small upstairs room in the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, proving one can learn a lot about a man from his office.
Stan Welsh, the 77-year-old curator who occupies the office, has some intriguing conversation pieces from his many adventures, but they don''t hold a candle to his colorful memories.
'My whole life is serendipity,' he said with a wrinkled grin.
Welsh serves as curator of the herbarium at the BYU Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. During his tenure at BYU, Welsh has traveled as far as Mozambique, South Africa and New Zealand.
His souvenirs are often a bit too big to fit in his carry-on luggage, though, because when Welsh travels abroad, he likes to go big game hunting.
'Every year I go on safari somewhere,' he said.
Welsh gets a youthful gleam in his eye when he recalls his first big game shoot in South Africa. He said he took down an impala so cleanly the five professional marksmen he was with didn''t even see it hit the ground as the rest of the herd ran away.
He explained his next shot with a sweeping gesture. The buck hit the ground and then got up to run until Welsh aimed and fired again.
'It''s the only time I have seen the grass lay down along the trajectory of the bullet like snow off the front of a snow plow,' he said. 'Both shots had gone through the heart.'
Welsh''s business shooting guns and chasing exotic plants has put him in some tumultuous political situations. He said he was in South Africa when apartheid was being dissembled. Welsh was less than 15 miles away when a party called Inkatha attacked the African National Congress building in 1994, the same year Nelson Mandela was elected. However, Welsh has visited South Africa eight times and he said he''s glad the government has become 'more or less stable.'
Although governments come and go, Welsh said he has always been able to count on his wife staying by his side. The girl he said he once though was too smart and talented to want a date with him has been his companion for 56 years.
Welsh and Stella have had time over the decades to see each other''s lives and careers unfold. Stella was the mayor of Orem for six years during their marriage and has also been involved in the Habitat for Humanity in Utah. Their eight children have all grown up to be productive members of society.
'They get that from their mother,' Welsh said.
Reflecting on his courtship with Stella, Welsh said every woman is allowed one mistake in her life. He says he was just lucky to be Stella''s. The two first met when Welsh was judging a high school debate tournament.
After 77 years of active living, Welsh is still not quite travel-worn. Even after developing a strange tumor in Mozambique, he came home, had it removed and got back to his life.
In May, Welsh took a trip to Alaska and shot his first bear. He said when he retires this year, he''s going on another safari. Others at the museum have tried to get him to retire before, but it just didn''t take, Welsh said. When he finally does retire, he''ll volunteer.
'I''ll still be here every day,' he says. 'They''re just not going to pay me for it.'
Having been at BYU for decades, Welsh has made a name for himself as a plant expert. Leigh Johnson from the Department of Integrative Biology said although he does not know Welsh very well, there is one thing he does know.
'He''s been a father of Utah botany,' he said.
One of Welsh''s major achievements is the authorship or co-authorship of a number of books. One of his books, 'A Utah Flora,' has helped in pioneering the Utah botanical scene.
'''A Utah Flora'' has done more to make plants identifiable to Utahns than any other book,' said integrative biology professor Riley Nelson.
Nelson said in addition to writing professional texts, Welsh also writes life stories. He said Welsh is a wonderful storyteller.
'He is one person everybody should get to sit around a campfire with,' Nelson said.