The Carolyn Hurless Story That Few Other Than AAVSO Members Are Aware
Last month I gave a presentation to my local astronomy club concerning Leslie Peltier and “Starlight Nights.” I also included information on Carolyn Hurless. Most amateurs are well aware of Peltier and his contributions to the AAVSO, but “maybe not so much” about Hurless. I found this out from those attending my presentation.
Carolyn Hurless photo as following from her online obituary:
I found a copy of her variable star report (Variable Views) online which she published for maybe 20 or so years, and her address is on the top.
1745 Rice Avenue Lima, Ohio 45805
The following photos are from Google maps using her “Variable Views” address: (2024 photo below)
July 2014 photo: Carolyn’s husband, Don passed away in (2015) and might have still been living in the house at the time of the following photo. Google Maps
Excerpts from the AAVSO online page:
Carolyn J. Hurless was the most active and prolific female observer in the history of the AAVSO, with a total of 78,876 observations in the International Database. But that only scratches the surface of this remarkable woman’s life and career as an AAVSO observer, councilor, officer, mentor and ambassador.
Born in Lima, Ohio, November 24, 1934, Carolyn became interested in astronomy at the age of 13 through her love of science fiction. As a young woman, she was invited to join the Lima Astronomy Club, when President Herbert Speer found her name on the borrowers cards of people who had checked out astronomy books from the public library.
Shortly after that, she decided to make her own 8-inch reflector with the guidance of fellow astronomy club members. When the initial grinding was done, Carolyn found that in her excitement she had hogged out a short focus mirror of f/4, instead of the typical f/8 or f/9 scope most were making at the time. In the end it turned out to be a fine instrument. In fact, the short tube length gave her, as she described it, a “feminine” telescope, easily transported and set up for observing. Most of her observations were made with this telescope and she never felt the need to upgrade to something else.
Carolyn learned variable star observing from legendary AAVSO observer and fellow Ohioan, Leslie Peltier. During a visit to her home in 2011, Don Hurless, Carolyn’s husband, showed me how Carolyn learned the sky and location of the variables in her program. She had marked an X and circled the area around each one in her copy of Norton’s Star Atlas. She memorized the star fields and eventually all the comparison star magnitudes, so that after a few years she didn’t need to use variable star charts any more. In this way, she could whip the telescope around from one field to another quickly, and her annual totals climbed.
Carolyn would make the trip to Delphos, Ohio, a few miles away, to observe faint “inner sanctum” stars with Peltier’s 12-inch refractor nearly every week during their lifelong friendship. She knew she was fortunate to have Leslie as a mentor and was more than happy to pay it forward by mentoring other newcomers and sharing her enthusiasm with other variable star observers around the world.
Her life ended tragically in 1987, when, after years of excruciating pain from an undiagnosed disease, she died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Her husband, Don, never remarried and continued to live in their home in Lima, Ohio, where he taught piano students. Don Hurless died June 15, 2015, at the age of 87.
Discovered in 1981 by Brian Skiff, the asteroid 3434 Hurless was named after Carolyn. Carolyn’s name was suggested by Paul Sventek who provided the citation.
In 2011, the AAVSO successfully ran four pilot programs as a first step towards creating an online education center. We chose to honor Carolyn Hurless by naming this program after her, The Carolyn Hurless Online Institute for Continuing Education (CHOICE). CHOICE was officially launched in 2012, and the AAVSO is proud to carry on in the tradition of this remarkable woman.
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