Sid Bacon

I did not know Sid in a deep or personal way, but he had a very positive impact on me.  He hired me in my first position at ASU.  Even though he was well connected with professional and university higher-ups, he had a way of making a person feel significant and valued.  I always thought it was partly due to the Kansas midwest values and approach to life, but that can't account for it all; Sid was unique.  He even imparted a respect for all of us as he allowed us to be a part of his life through the Caring Bridge blogs.  Not everyone would be so transparent, yet he allowed us to learn so much by letting us see his responses to the cancer struggle. Sid lived well.  He grabbed the best out of life.  His positive outlook was wholly inspiring. He loved deeply, which is clearly evident through his writings.  We all are the richer for knowing him, and you and your children will especially carry that richness throughout the rest of your days.  Sid also died well; his dignity, grace and heart were very evident.  He was right, you know.  He wrote that after he was gone you and Dan and Laura would stand tall.  And, you will.  Know that you are (and will continue to be) surrounded by people who will love and support you.

The Lord bless you and keep you.  He is near to the brokenhearted.

– Juliet Weinhold

Over the past 18 months Sid led us on a magical journey where we learned a great deal about so many things, but especially about living life with passion and courage.  I will treasure this time always.  The scholarship is a wonderful way to remember Sid, and you can count on my contributions.

It was a privilege for me to see Sid this past March.  I was so hoping I could visit with him before the AAS meeting, and I started planning for this at least a month in advance, hoping also that I could help out in some way.  But as we sat in Cincinnati on a snowy tarmac waiting for my connecting flight to take off, I was terribly concerned that I would miss my chance to see Sid.  Fortunately, the plane eventually got de-iced and we took off.  It was a tremendous relief. I ended up reaching Arizona on time and spent several hours with Sid at the Piper Cancer Center while he received various fluids, including chemotherapy.  It was a treat to meet the nurses and doctors that Sid had talked about in his journal.  I was also lucky that Sid needed a ride home so I got to spend more time with him.  In between Sid insisted on taking me out to lunch and Andrew Oxenham joined us.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant, which was within easy walking distance of Piper, but I was stunned and delighted to see a menu that included matzo ball soup, sour and half-sour pickles, and enormous corned beef sandwiches, a true New York style deli in Scottsdale Arizona!  Sid was reluctant to try the pickles, but I introduced him to the concept of the half sour and encouraged him a little bit, and he either liked them or did a really good job pretending.  Ever the scientist, Sid quizzed Andrew and me on the latest research from the ARO meeting in February.  By the time I dropped Sid off at home in the mid afternoon, I had decided that the day was one of the highlights of my whole life. It would have been reasonable to think that this might be the last time I would see Sid, but as I got ready to leave it felt like two friends saying good-bye for the day, not forever, and that's the way I wanted it to be.  I wish everyone a most meaningful day celebrating Sid's life.

– Richard Freyman

I was a student of Dr. Bacon in the fall of 1999. I was a graduate student studying auditory perception in the psychology department of ASU, and my advisor recommended that I take psychoacoustics. It was an undergraduate course, but to this day I cite it as the one most useful course that I took in graduate school. Dr. Bacon's teaching style was precise and straightforward and he took care to correct misunderstandings directly. I was often excited about things that I learned (being hearing impaired, these were of personal interest to me as well) and I would ask follow up questions that often revealed misunderstandings. Dr. Bacon always took the time to reply and correct me. He was encouraging and considerate. I later participated in his journal club and he served on my comprehensives and dissertation committees. I was always impressed with his work ethic, as he was always reliably available for assistance and quick with requests for assistance.

At the time that I was completing my dissertation, my own mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; she died a week after I defended my dissertation. I remember scrambling to obtain final signatures prior to returning home and essentially interrupting his classes to get his. My mother died July 9th, 2002, and her memorial service was July 13th, eleven years ago. When I heard from Sid that he was battling pancreatic cancer, I was pained - as I already knew that it is a devastating diagnosis. My mother only survived 6 weeks after diagnosis. I was heartened to read when he was doing well. He was so positive and gracious - I'm sure that in this situation, one does not have a choice about whether to battle, but only in how one chooses to do so, but his daily posts were uplifting.  Towards the end, however, his pain was so similar to that of my mother's, it was hard to read the posts. I so hoped for a different outcome.

It has been eleven years since my mother passed away, and I hope for his family the same blessings that came to me. My mother's personality and spirit have become a part of who I am, an added fortification in my daily activities. While I miss her, I find myself suspecting that she has already taught me what I needed to know and realizing that she very much lived a full life, even though she died at 61. Dr. Bacon's guest posts are evidence that he too made a huge contribution to this world, to his family, friends, students and colleagues. He deserved more time, but he used what he had. May we all be so lucky.

“I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion, -- the religion of well-doing and daring, men of sturdy truth, men of integrity and feeling for others.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

When I think of Sid there is not one big moment but rather the day-to-day small encounters – in the office, at Cupz … or Starbucks, in meetings – where he was always upbeat with a smile. He always had time to talk, to connect, to engage. Sometimes about his children, his vacation adventures with Cathy, his research. The one word I would use to describe Sid is “joyous.” In knowing him, I became a more joyous person too.

– Carol Hughes

Sid was my mentor in the psychoacoustics lab through 8 years of grad school and his influence was incredibly formative in many aspects of my professional life today. This carries over into having an impact on how I teach, write, critically think, and supervise/guide students. More importantly in some ways, I always appreciated how he understood and supported the balance I wanted to find in my roles as a mother/wife as well as a PhD student (or after graduation) and respected the decisions I made as a result. As I first met Sid when I was a student in his undergrad psychoacoustics course, in some ways it seems only fitting that I was teaching an undergrad psychoacoustics unit when Sid died. He was a very kind man and will be missed.

– Erica Williams