As a physicist, Walter H. Tantilla taught at the University of Colorado. As a political activist, he protested against US involvement in Vietnam and lobbied against nuclear proliferation.
But when Margaret, Patricia, and Harvey Tantilla walked in the Reno March for Science on April 22, they remembered long hikes, camping trips, and cookouts over open fires. They marched in honor of the man who gave them a love for nature, their father.
“We kids always knew we were the center of dad’s universe,” said Patricia Tantilla. “We have no doubt that if he were still alive, he would have marched with us.”
Reno’s March was part of a statement from the global scientific community. The main march took place in Washington D.C., but people rallied in more than 600 cities all over the world.
The scientists who organized the march wanted to celebrate science and its role in everyday life. They voiced dismay about Trump’s agenda and policies.
“Dad would have understood the implications of reduced funding for science and the growing lack of respect for scientific facts and methods,” continued Tantilla.
Timed to coincide with Earth Day, the March for Science protested several items on Trump’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2018, released on March 16.
For example, Trump proposes a 31% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget – slashing funding to dozens of initiatives that support clean air and water. He also wants to cut funding to the National Institute of Health (NIH) by 18%, much of which would come from research grants.
“We have often talked about how horrified Dad would be by many the current administration’s choices,” said Patricia Tantilla. “Certainly we all would have marched anyways, but Margaret thought we should honor him as he continues to be an inspiration to us in so many ways.”
Harvey Tantilla lives in Alaska but was visiting Arizona with his wife, Jackie. The couple drove to Lovelock to join Margaret and Patricia in the March for Science in Reno.
The family met at Patricia Tantilla’s home the evening before the march to make their signs. Patricia, a knitter, gave each of sibling a hat decorated with the most famous equation in history, E=mc².
“Harvey had the idea of ordering Science March buttons with dad’s picture,” said Margaret Tantilla. “I had a photograph we all liked.”
The Tantillas labeled the tops of the buttons with their father’s branch of science – physics. His initials appear under his photo.
“Dad signed all of his research papers W.H. Tantilla, but we didn’t have room for that, so we put WHT,” said Margaret Tantilla.
The family wore the buttons as they carried their signs from Reno’s federal building to the Civic Plaza on Earth Day.
“Dad died in 1992 with all of his kids around him to send him off,” said Patricia Tantilla. Twenty-five years later several of those siblings united to march in his memory. Another sister, Shelly Worob, marched in Flagstaff, Arizona. And another, Amelia (Uusi) Tantilla, wore her hat and button in Boulder, Colorado.
“We have always supported and valued each other, and this march only strengthened those bonds,” said Patricia Tantilla.
