October 1958 letter to Frederick Thwaites from Ray Zillmer

October 9, 1958

Dear Mr. Thwaites:

Thank you for your letter of October 7th.  I hope your wife will soon be recovered from the cataract operation and that she will not be too handicapped.  A very close friend of mine has just gone through a second cataract operation and I know what that means.

Thank you for your acceptance of your appointment to the Citizens Committee.  I do not know anyone who could be of greater value than you.  I have given up over four-fifths of my time this summer on this project and it has given me a great deal of pleasure.  Not being a geologist, although I have studied glaciers and their work considerably, I feel a reticence in speaking of the glaciers of Wisconsin.  I would appreciate any corrections you make of anything I write or say.  I knowingly call the last glacier the “Wisconsin” Glacier, rather than the glacier of the “Wisconsin Glacier Period.”  When I made a reconnaissance of the terminal moraines of the state I lived with your Geology of Northeastern Wisconsin and the map was always beside me.  I found it of tremendous value.  I wish that you could, however, sometime expand the summary statement of this small pamphlet into a larger book which would be suitable for the non-geologist.  I believe that it would be of great value.  The people know so little about the wonderful glacial background of Wisconsin.  I am wondering whether I could have the further privilege of referring to you as “Advisor to the Citizens Committee on Geology”.

I am enclosing herewith check for Three Dollars ($3.00) for the “Outline of Glacial Geology”.

Sincerely yours,
Raymond T. Zillmer