264,517 research outputs found
Billy Lillie, Lillian Stott, Marie Stott, Dorothy Stott and Elizabeth Stott
A photograph taken by May Lillie of her son, Billy Lillie. Surrounding Billy are his aunt and cousins. Lillie Stott is on the far left. Marie Stott is holding Billy. Elizabeth Stott is behind Marie. Dorothy Stott is on the far right. The back of the photograph says, "I was the camera man and took the picture, 1921.
Personal Papers (MS 80-0002)
Letter from Isobel and Emerson Stott to I. H. Kempner discussing Kempner returning home soon
Interview with Richard Stott by Dorothe Norton, October 15, 2002 Nottingham, New Hampshire
Richard Stott oral history interview with Dorothe Norton.INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD STOTT
BY DOROTHE NORTON, OCTOBER 15, 2002
NOTTINGHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE
MS. NORTON: Hello Dick, it’s sure nice to see you. It’s been a long time. Thanks for
affording the time to do this interview.
MR. STOTT: Sure.
MS. NORTON: The first thing I’d like to know is your birthplace and date.
MR. STOTT: I was born October 22, 1944 in Manchester, New Hampshire.
MS. NORTON: What were your parents’ names?
MR. STOTT: John and Jennie Stott.
MS. NORTON: What were their jobs and education?
MR. STOTT: Both graduated from high school in Manchester. My father was a
salesman and my mother was a housewife.
MS. NORTON: Where did you spend your early years, all in Manchester?
MR. STOTT: Right, all in Manchester. I went to grammar school and high school there.
MS. NORTON: Did you have any hobbies, books, or events that influenced you a lot?
MR. STOTT: Not really. I played football and ran track. I was more in to sports.
MS. NORTON: Did you have a job as a child?
MR. STOTT: My last couple of years in high school I worked at a local grocery store.
MS. NORTON: Did you ever hunt or fish?
MR. STOTT: Not until I got to college.
MS. NORTON: What high school did you go to, and when did you graduate?
MR. STOTT: Bishop Bradley High School in Manchester. I graduated in 1962.
MS. NORTON: What university did you attend, and when?
MR. STOTT: I attended the University of New Hampshire from 1962 to 1967. I got a
bachelor’s degree. I went back from 1970 to 1972 and got a master’s degree.
MS. NORTON: What were your degrees in?
MR. STOTT: My bachelors was in Zoology and my masters is in Wildlife Biology.
MS. NORTON: What aspect of your formal education equipped you for the future?
MR. STOTT: I would say that both did, particularly the graduate degree in Wildlife
Biology.
MS. NORTON: Was there any one person who most influenced your education and
your career track?
MR. STOTT: Probably my advisor in grad school; Dave Olsen. He was a professor in
the department of natural resources.
MS. NORTON: Were there any adverse influences?
MR. STOTT: No, not really.
MS. NORTON: Were you in the military?
MR. STOTT: No, I was not.
MS. NORTON: Have you ever been married?
MR. STOTT: No.
MS. NORTON: So therefore, you don’t have any children?
MR. STOTT: No, I do not.
MS. NORTON: Why did you want to work for USFWS?
MR. STOTT: I guess I was interested in wildlife and zoology. I got interested when I
was nearing the end of my bachelors course work to be a wildlife biologist. That was my
intention and I applied for a civil service summer job. I ended up working at a wildlife
refuge in western New York. That was in 1966.
MS. NORTON: What did you do in your first job?
MR. STOTT: I was a Biological Technician. I did a variety of things like; waterfowl
surveys, brood counts, some maintenance work, herbicide control work and some other
surveys in the marshes there.
MS. NORTON: Where did you go from there?
MR. STOTT: I went to another refuge; Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in
Concord. After that I went down to Monomoy NWR at Cape Cod. After that I went to
Brigantine NWR in New Jersey. Then I went in to Research. I worked out of the Denver
Wildlife Research Center for a while. I ended up in Hilo, Hawaii as a Biologist. Then I
transferred back to Refuges. I went to Bombay Hook NWR where I was Assistant
Refuge Manager. After that I got in to Law Enforcement. I went to Indianapolis, Indiana
in January of 1975 as a Special Agent.
MS. NORTON: What were the pay and benefits like when you first started?
MR. STOTT: [Laughing] Pay and benefits? I think I was a GS-4! I forget what the pay
was, I really don’t remember.
MS. NORTON: That’s where I started too!
MR. STOTT: I remember when I was in Hilo, Hawaii I was only like a part-time GS-4
and it was only like thirty-six hours a week. That was back in 1972 and it was like four
thousand dollars a year.
MS. NORTON: Were there promotion opportunities for you in all of these various jobs?
MR. STOTT: Not in the positions I was in. I think the only way I could get a
promotion or advancement was to transfer another duty station and position.
MS. NORTON: Did you socialize with the people that you worked with?
MR. STOTT: Yes.
MS. NORTON: What did you do for recreation out in the field?
MR. STOTT: How do you mean, while I was in Refuges, personal or what?
MS. NORTON: Well I know it wasn’t while you were in Law Enforcement!
MR. STOTT: We’d have cookouts and get togethers at somebody’s house. It was a
matter of nothing really in depth. Just get togethers with the refuge staff. In Law
Enforcement, while I was working with other agents.
MS. NORTON: Did your career affect your family at all, your Mom and Dad?
MR. STOTT: No, not really. Sometimes they’d visit me at the different places I was in
the country. Sometimes they didn’t. It didn’t affect them emotionally or anything like
that.
MS. NORTON: Are you an only child?
MR. STOTT: No, I have two older brothers.
MS. NORTON: Are either one of them in a conservation type job?
MR. STOTT: Nope.
MS. NORTON: Did you leave the USFWS only because it was time to retire?
MR. STOTT: Yes.
MS. NORTON: When did you retire, and where from? What grade were you when you
retire?
MR. STOTT: Portland, Maine in January of 1999. I was a GS-12.
MS. NORTON: What kind of training did you receive for your jobs?
MR. STOTT: I’d say that in Refuges it was more like supervisory training. I was in a
management position as Assistant RM. Obviously for the biological work that training
was what I received at the University of New Hampshire. As a Special Agent there was
specialized training and regional training and so forth.
MS. NORTON: What hours did you work?
MR. STOTT: For all of those jobs? I’d say Monday through Friday, at least, and some
nights and weekends.
MS. NORTON: Did the hours change when you went in to Law Enforcement?
MR. STOTT: While I was in Maine for twenty years I’d pretty much work six days a
week, Monday through Saturday. I’d take Sundays off. Sometimes I’d work some nights
during the week depending on if I had to interview people or make telephone contacts.
MS. NORTON: What were your day-to-day duties?
MR. STOTT: Enforcing the laws and regulations of the USFWS.
MS. NORTON: What tools and instruments did you use?
MR. STOTT: Using my head most of the time?
MS. NORTON: Did you witness any new Service inventions or innovations?
MR. STOTT: No.
MS. NORTON: Did you work with animals? How did you feel towards the animals?
MR. STOTT: Yes. I felt good towards them.
MS. NORTON: Which animals are we talking about now?
MR. STOTT: I’d say that my interest was mostly in waterfowl.
MS. NORTON: What kind of support did you receive as a federal employee; locally,
regionally, federally from the areas where you lived, and from people outside of the
agency?
MR. STOTT: I don’t think I got any, or very little.
MS. NORTON: How do you think the Service was perceived by people outside of the
agency? For instance, when you were on a refuge near a little town.
MR. STOTT: I think it was mixed, both good and bad. If people liked what you were
doing they thought you were great. But then, if you made some constraints on their
recreation, or freedoms, or their use of the resources you might not be viewed as such a
great person.
MS. NORTON: Do you think agency/community relations were good or bad?
MR. STOTT: Again, it all depends on the people you were dealing with. Obviously,
you are not going to please everybody all of the time. I think depending on what the
people’s interests were in the refuge, even in Law Enforcement, determined if it was good
or bad.
MS. NORTON: What projects were you involved in?
MR. STOTT: I don’t think I had real big projects. It was just more the day-to-day stuff.
MS. NORTON: Did you ever have to deal with any major issues?
MR. STOTT: Not really. At least to me they weren’t major.
MS. NORTON: Has your perspective or opinion on those issues changed over time?
MR. STOTT: No, not really. The issues are the same. I think that the Service has
changed a lot from the time when I first started in 1966 up to the time I left. I can still see
changes now.
MS. NORTON: You had thirty-three years?
MR. STOTT: I was going to school off and on too. When I finished up I had twenty-eight
years of actual time.
MS. NORTON: Who were your supervisors? If you can, go back to the beginning. Tell
me who they were and how they were.
MR. STOTT: Larry Smith, Ed Moses, Dale Cogshall, Tom McAndrews; those were
mostly refuges. In law enforcement there was Bob Hodges, Swenson, Wayne Sanders,
Jim Sheridan, Adam O’Hara; that was about it.
MS. NORTON: Were they good supervisors? Do you think they helped you?
MR. STOTT: They all had their good points and bad points. But overall I think if they
didn’t bother me, I didn’t bother them.
MS. NORTON: Who do you think the individuals were who helped you shape your
career in FWS?
MR. STOTT: I say probably Bob Hodges. My first three years as an Agent was with
him. I think he was pretty low-key and pretty supportive. If you did a good job he
would always tell you that.
MS. NORTON: Who were some of the other people you knew, who weren’t necessary
in the same division with but who worked with the Service?
MR. STOTT: I knew a bunch of people!
MS. NORTON: Do you know who was President, Secretary of the Interior, or Director
of the FWS when you were working?
MR. STOTT: I can remember Lynn Greenwalt.
MS. NORTON: Do you think that the changes in administrations affected the work that
you did?
MR. STOTT: I think the Democrats are more sympathetic towards the wildlife
resources than the Republicans. I think they were more into development and more pro-business
as far as forsaking the wildlife resources for development.
MS. NORTON: Who do you think the individuals were who shaped the FWS?
MR. STOTT: Nobody really stands out in my mind.
MS. NORTON: Do you think it might have been the Regional Directors, or star
employees?
MR. STOTT: I think that whoever was in Washington; the Director or the Secretary of
the Interior are the ones who kind of shaped policy for the period of their administration.
They would change of administration to administration. Some administrations were pro
wildlife, even for law enforcement, and others were not.
MS. NORTON: What do you consider the high point of your career?
MR. STOTT: I guess surviving twenty-eight years!
MS. NORTON: What was the low point?
MR. STOTT: I don’t think I ever had a low point. I mean there were some not so good
time, and some dim times, but I don’t think there was really a low point.
MS. NORTON: Do you ever wish you had done anything differently when you were
doing your job?
MR. STOTT: Not really. Over all, I think hindsight makes up all wise people but I
don’t think so. There are some investigations I did that I sometimes wish I had done a
little differently, but I don’t think it would have affected a change in the final outcome. It
wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.
MS. NORTON: What was the most dangerous or frightening experience you had in all of
those twenty-eight years?
MR. STOTT: Probably just working alone, especially at nighttime. You’re dealing with
people who have firearms. I can’t recall any specific event, or something like that, but I
think that’s probably the time that you are really minding your Ps and Qs and really
watching people, particularly at night because there is usually alcohol involved.
MS. NORTON: Can you think far enough back to what was your most humorous
experience?
MR. STOTT: There were several! They were two numerous to mention. They all kind
of blend in together.
MS. NORTON: What would you like to tell others about your career, and about the
FWS?
MR. STOTT: I think it was a great job. It’s like I tell people now, even in retirement
that it was probably the greatest job anybody could possibly have. I used to like to say
to people that if I had to work for a living, I didn’t know what I would do. It was really
good. I really enjoyed what I did; being a refuge manager, a biologist and also an agent in
law enforcement.
MS. NORTON: What would you tell them about the Service?
MR. STOTT: I think I saw a lot of changes during my time. The direction of the Service
has changed a lot. I guess I’m not really too keen on promoting the Service right now.
MS. NORTON: Tell me about some of the changes that you saw in the Service; like in
the personnel and in the environment.
MR. STOTT: I think towards the end of my career, in law enforcement, in Region 5 it
seems like the Regional Office was more into supporting the states rather than us being in
a leadership role. It was whatever the states wanted. Each state was different; they had
their different priorities so I think that really, the FWS just took a back seat as far as a
leadership role in the wildlife resources field.
MS. NORTON: What are your thoughts on the future? Where do you see the FWS
heading in the next eight to ten years?
MR. STOTT: I really don’t know. I left, and my experiences were good. But as far as
where they go from here, I have very little interest. I liked my job, and what I did, but
there’s no way I am going to have an impact on the directions of the Service.
MS. NORTON: Do you have any photographs or documents that you’d like to donate
or share with the Archives to go along with this interview?
MR. STOTT: No, I don’t.
MS. NORTON: Whom else do you feel we should interview?
MR. STOTT: I think the people in refuges are good. I worked in that division for a
while and I think they provide an outlet for public use and things like that. If it wasn’t
for refuges there’d probably be very little public use as far as birders and things like that.
I would try refuges people.
MS. NORTON: Okay! Well, Dick I sure am glad that we were able to hook up for this
little hour and do this interview. You were an important law enforcement type. That’s
where I spent all of my career, but I’ve met some really interesting people who worked
for FWS in other divisions. So thanks very much for your time
Not always greener
Mental health student Kerry Stott felt like a tourist on a general nursing ward. When I applied to be a nursing student I was torn between adult and mental health. The adult branch course was full so I embarked on my mental health training with some trepidation. But when I spent my elective placement on an adult ward, I came to some surprising conclusions
A gentle art
Breaking significant and sensitive health news to a patient takes skill, says mental health student Kerry Stott. I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This was a major shock and, understandably, I was unable to retain all the information that was being given to me at the time
The ride of your life
Tough, but incredibly rewarding, a nursing course is a life-changing event, says Kerry Stott. I am going to talk to a new intake of nursing students next week, together with other second-year and third-year students. I suspect it will be like last year – a bank of pale, worried faces; the excitement and tension tangible
Student life: what makes a good nurse?
A hospital stay helped Kerry Stott understand the difference between shoddy and excellent nursing. Over the past few weeks, I have had more than my fair share of nurses. I have seen practice, district, outpatient, surgical, breast care and A& E. One or two have been shoddy, a handful have been average; however, most have been excellent
Kv7 Channel Activation Underpins EPAC-Dependent Relaxations of Rat Arteries.
OBJECTIVE: To establish the role of Kv7 channels in EPAC (exchange protein directly activated by cAMP)-dependent relaxations of the rat vasculature and to investigate whether this contributes to β-adrenoceptor-mediated vasorelaxations. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Isolated rat renal and mesenteric arteries (RA and MA, respectively) were used for isometric tension recording to study the relaxant effects of a specific EPAC activator and the β-adrenoceptor agonist isoproterenol in the presence of potassium channel inhibitors and cell signaling modulators. Isolated myocytes were used in proximity ligation assay studies to detect localization of signaling intermediaries with Kv7.4 before and after cell stimulation. Our studies showed that the EPAC activator (8-pCPT-2Me-cAMP-AM) produced relaxations and enhanced currents of MA and RA that were sensitive to linopirdine (Kv7 inhibitor). Linopirdine also inhibited isoproterenol-mediated relaxations in both RA and MA. In the MA, isoproterenol relaxations were sensitive to EPAC inhibition, but not protein kinase A inhibition. In contrast, isoproterenol relaxations in RA were attenuated by protein kinase A but not by EPAC inhibition. Proximity ligation assay showed a localization of Kv7.4 with A-kinase anchoring protein in both vessels in the basal state, which increased only in the RA with isoproterenol stimulation. In the MA, but not the RA, a localization of Kv7.4 with both Rap1a and Rap2 (downstream of EPAC) increased with isoproterenol stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: EPAC-dependent vasorelaxations occur in part via activation of Kv7 channels. This contributes to the isoproterenol-mediated relaxation in mesenteric, but not renal, arteries
Targeted gene transfer in the developing central nervous system using viral vectors
Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter that plays a fundamental role in many aspects of normal brain function. The majority of DA neurons in the brain reside in one region ? the midbrain ? and project axonal connections to specific areas. One of the main target regions of the DA system is the striatum. This connection is known as the nigrostriatal pathway. During early development, a particular population of midbrain DA neurons project their axons towards the striatum, and molecular cues along the nigrostriatal pathway guide the fibers to their final destination. Very little is known about the cues that are responsible for this DA axon guidance. One potential candidate for the axon guidance of the DA fibers of the nigrostriatal pathway is glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). GDNF is expressed in the developing striatum during the period when the DA fibers are innervating this structure, raising the possibility that it may be a target molecule for DA axons at the end of the pathway. Further strengthening this suggestion is the fact that GDNF is robustly expressed in regions of the striatum that the DA fibers preferentially innervate upon entering the striatum. In the present thesis, I have attempted to investigate the role of GDNF as a target molecule for the DA fiber innervation of the striatum during development. This work has primarily involved the development and characterization of surgical procedures that allow gene transfer into the nigrostriatal system in vivo during different periods of pre- and postnatal development. The gene transfer was mediated by different kinds of recombinant viral vectors. The results provide further evidence supporting the involvement of GDNF in DA fiber innervation of the developing striatum, but more importantly the gene transfer procedures used in this thesis represent future opportunities for wider in vivo applications
KCNQ-Encoded Potassium Channels as Therapeutic Targets
Kv7 channels are voltage-gated potassium channels encoded by KCNQ genes that have a considerable physiological impact in many cell types. This reliance upon Kv7 channels for normal cellular function, as well as the existence of hereditary disorders caused by mutations to KCNQ genes, means that pharmacological targeting of these channels has broad appeal. Consequently, a plethora of chemical entities that modulate Kv7 channel activity have been developed. Moreover, Kv7 channels are influenced by many disparate intracellular mediators and trafficking processes, making upstream targeting an appealing prospect for therapeutic development. This review covers the main characteristics of these multifunctional and versatile channels with the aim of providing insight into the therapeutic value of targeting these channels
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