Carl Welty was an internationally known expert on ornithology, and you might have to look to John Audubon or Roger Tory Peterson to find someone who has had more impact on bird study than Carl Welty.

Who was this man who had such an impact on his chosen field of endeavor? To those of us who knew him as a teacher, Professor Welty was a modest man who always had time for a student with a problem, whether it was academic or personal. He was a teacher who not only encouraged us in learning, but also reminded us of our incredibly good fortune and challenged us to return some of this good fortune to those less fortunate.

Carl was individualistic in the best sense of the term. He came to Beloit College in the biology department in 1934. After a few years, he became disappointed in the lack of a current biology text on birds. So he took on the job of research and wrote the book himself.

Titled Life of Birds, it quickly became known and regarded by many ornithologists as the best to be found on the subject. It became the most widely used college textbook on ornithology in the United States and went through several revisions to keep up-to-date. Copies may be found around the world, and Dr. Welty once had the pleasure of meeting a woman from Venezuela who had read his book and been so interested in birds that she’d started an Audubon Club.

Born on May 30, 1901, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Carl was the sixth child of Joel and Dina Lehmann Welty. Christened Joel Carl Welty, the Joel was soon dropped to avoid confusion with his father’s name, and he became known as Carl throughout his life. Although the material advantages were not many, the family was a close, devoted one.

Both of his parents had worked hard growing up on farms in a day when whole families pitched in to help in the fields. After their marriage, Carl’s father set himself up in a business binding and selling books. It prospered until his father died suddenly when Carl was an infant. Although times were hard financially, the family enjoyed many simple pleasures. They were a musical family, playing and singing together.

In school, Carl found manual training especially to his liking and used his talent later making furniture and in construction of his home. After graduation, he worked in a machine shop and saved to attend Earlham College in Indiana, graduating in 1924. He received his Master’s from Haverford College in Pennsylvania a year later.

In 1926, he was hired as an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. It was here that he met and married Susan Fulton on September 2, 1930. In 1932, he received his Doctorate from the University of Chicago. He remained at Parsons until 1934, when he came to Beloit College as Professor of Biology and later head of the Biology Department.

During 1946–47, he took leave to head a post-war Quaker relief team for the American Friends Service Committee in France and Germany. He returned to Beloit and taught until 1966, after which he became Professor Emeritus.

During his life, Dr. Welty was active in many associations, including the Association for the Advancement of Science, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Art and Letters—serving as vice-president and president—Wisconsin State Board for Preservation of Scientific Areas, and numerous ornithology groups. Locally, he was a member of Rotary, Ned Hollister Bird Club, and the First Congregational Church, where he was a choir member and on the board of deacons. For many years, he served on the Turtle Town Zoning Board.

Besides his textbooks, he published several articles, two of which were especially notable in Scientific American Magazine. At their lovely rural home in Turtle Township, the Weltys established a wildlife refuge, which was used as a learning center for students. Carl and Susan traveled widely, and their home became a warm and gracious place to entertain faculty and friends.

In all of his pursuits, he found a willing and competent helper in his wife, herself a well-known author of several books. Dr. Welty had just finished work on a fourth edition of Life of Birds when he died on May 29, 1986, as a result of a fall at his home.

Dr. Welty loved living and learning and will be fondly remembered for living what he taught.

It is with great respect and admiration that I place the name of Carl Welty in nomination for enshrinement in the Beloit Hall of Fame.