Byron Thomas Arnason

Byron was a brilliant geophysicist who combined deep interest in the research and application of electromagnetic methods to geology with the inventive, creative talent of the resourceful, can-do field engineer. He enrolled in Canada College in Redwood City, CA, transferring later to Stanford University where he was awarded a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Geophysics. He was an active, earnest, curious student his entire life of whatever touched on his field and 10000 other items from the nature of all things.

During his high school years in Millbrae, California, Byron taught himself how to repair televisions. He had a large workbench in the garage that he would work at until well after midnight. The table had two rows of 3-4 televisions. Two or three of the TVs would be running old movies while he would be repairing the others. He also learned by himself the chemistry of explosives and fermentation, and came to a full understanding of the operation and repair of air-cooled VW car engines. Immediately after graduation from high school, Trans World Airlines [TWA] hired him full time as a Radio and Electronics Technician for Boeing 707 aircraft after he took and passed an FCC Electrician License Examination.

After Stanford he joined Texaco and later Mobil oil companies as a field exploration engineer. He then went on to develop underground survey instruments and software which detected strata, fault lines and other features going down kilometers below the earth’s surface.

After doing field seismic work in oil exploration Byron joined Geotronics under Dr. Darrell Word and ASOMA: commercial spinoff companies from the University of Texas Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory (EERL). He then worked under John Fett at Lacoste & Romberg Instruments, creating and upgrading the MiniRes to measure the resistivity in the earth. The MiniRes was wonderfully indestructible and yet small and lightweight. It was used for site preparation in construction and locating of tunnels or pipes in earth or under water. No professional success brought him more joy than helping teams around the world use his MiniRes to find water in arid, desolate areas. The successful drilling for water at a large Catholic girls school in Tanzania was arguably the accomplishment in his professional life about which he was most proud.

He consulted with NASA to help create a topographical mapping system for the Moon, and was called as an expert to assist with U.S. military intelligence needs.

Byron also collaborated with his sister Lynette and her husband Ben to research and publish how elephants can use their feet to seismically communicate with other elephants. Internet links to the journal article are listed in Appendix A.

Byron served a LDS Church Spanish-speaking Mission to New York. Perhaps due to many challenges in the field, Byron at an early point intensely focused on being the best missionary he could. Prior to his release, he was one of the top leaders in the mission. When he returned to the Redwood City 2nd Ward in California, he was asked if he would accept the calling to be bishop. He declined, citing his interest in completing his university goals. He returned to active membership before his death.

A pleasure in Byron’s life were Gilbert & Sullivan musicals---he gleefully recited and sang many of the songs. A major social outlet for Byron were his relationships at Gilbert & Sullivan Austin. He loved attending every single performance each season, usually about 16 shows. For some 20 years, Byron served as a Society board member and in various managerial positions during their annual performance seasons.

Byron’s friendships were precious to him. He maintained deep and significant connections decades long with men and women who he could look up to, and he treasured them his whole life. Many of those friends thought him humble – in reality he simply openly revered the strengths of the special people he held close to himself.

Byron brought his full powers of thought, energy, foresight, discipline, and affection to the raising of his daughter, Sophie, together with his wife Mayda. And he assisted in the raising of his grandchildren with every resource available to him.

Survivors include his wife, Mayda Arnason; daughter Sophie (Jess) Anderson of Bountiful, UT; grandchildren Ellie, Aleena, Regan and David Anderson of Bountiful; sister Lynette (Ben) Hart of Davis, CA; brothers John (Deanna) Arnason of West Valley City, UT; Calvin (Ingrid) Arnason of Portland, OR; Anthony (Sally) Arnason of Sandy, UT.

A gathering honoring Byron was held at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 8, 2025, in the LDS Church Monument Park Chapel, 1005 S. 2000 East, Salt Lake City.

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Internet and Publication References

1. YouTube Video: Byron Arnason: As Celebrated in Austin Texas

a. https://youtu.be/KLqKLMsQCV4

2. YouTube Video: Byron Arnason remembers Libby Weed

a. https://youtu.be/OLUsJzWUri8

3. Journal Article: “Seismic properties of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) vocalizations and locomotion” in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America January 2001

a. https://share.google/kShdvf1isejPj6RuS

4. Australian Television: “Elephant Jungle Rumble” [a popular entertaining account]

a. https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/12/10/432991.htm

5. Obituary: Dr. Libby Weed

a. https://www.christian-studies.org/post/in-memoriam-libby-weed

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Dr. Darrell Word remembers Byron Arnason [Austin, Texas 5/25/2025]

Dr. Darrell Word and Dr. Francis Bostick of Austin, Texas – national electrical and geophysical experts leading in academic research and applications of their fields - voluntarily acted as a scientific and engineering brain trust that supported Byron in the field with advice and direction around measurement and survey methods as well as data analysis – and in the lab with counsel in the design of Byron’s geophysical instruments. Byron was very grateful for that collaboration and clearly described the essential help they provided whenever he talked of his work. Byron referred to Dr. Word and Dr. Bostick each as “a good man” in the revealing and reverent sense of the phrase that was common in his youth.

Long Time Friendship ----- from Darrell R. Word 5/25/2025

Byron and I have been close friends since we met over 40 years ago, and much of that time we lived over 1000 miles apart. That is probably not unusual in this day and age of fast travel and communication, but a friendly and thoughtful question arose in the family about our long caring friendship, and this prompted me to ponder the question, as well. And, I think we might identify an interesting cause.

I do not claim to be any kind of authority on this matter, but we all know Byron as a very impressive man, and most anybody would enjoy being his friend. However, I have a notion that a long duration probably requires significant common activity of mutual enjoyment. And, for Byron and me, one prospect for that was a broad general interest in all science, together with sufficient theoretical knowledge to understand the essence of various issues and be of interest. It was common for Byron and me to talk about all sorts technical matters that had no direct bearing on our main field of interest. And there is usually educational benefit from such activity.

There is yet another point that might relate to having a broad interest in science. In my case, as a toddler, I had a strong passion to know the What and Why of every article that caught my attention, demanding an answer from somebody. And, more recently, I have learned that Byron had a similar experience, and perhaps we both were conditioned in a similar way.

Where we Met -----

At the UT-Austin Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory (EERL), we had a research group involved in extensive study of the natural Electromagnetic fields of the Earth, as sourced by the Solar Wind interaction with the Earth magnetic field and the Ionosphere, and of the said fields with the conductive Earth. And of the many complex facets of this problem, extensive research was done on the geophysical application of the Earth Surface Magneto-Telluric fields to study the subsurface conductivity structure. This Geophysical application, termed Magneto-Telluric (MT) surveying was being studied, along with Instrumentation requirements.

In 1970, after 10 years at EERL, I joined one of my colleagues there, Dr. George Hopkins, to form an electrical geophysics company, Geotronics Corporation, in Austin, to provide instruments and field services in electrical geophysics. And Byron applied for a job there, I think in the late 70's (not sure of date). But: I AM sure that it took only a short few moments to perceive his quality and to know we wanted to hire him. I was in charge of R&D and we had very strong requirements on the abilities of our team. Byron had no difficulty with any of that. John Kesterson was another high quality team member, and he and Byron became close friends. And, I should also mention that Dr. Francis Bostick, one of our EERL principals and highly respected faculty member at the University of Texas really liked Byron.

So, yes, Byron's job application was successful.

After Geotronics -----

1990---Geotronics is gone. There are stories regarding sale to another party, then sale to Halliburton, and then what? I had no control over any of that, and further discussion here would waste time.

I started my private consulting practice.

And, Byron returned to his own Geophysics work, and various partnering with John Fett, and some with Mike Mound.

Byron was inspired by some of the Geotronics instrumentation and devoted impressive efforts to implementing smaller and higher frequency versions for shallower exploration problems. And, he devised a very successful commercial pipeline locator, using a reduced version of the so-called MT Tipper concept; and for this he arranged to use near-field source signals, such as AC power lines, as opposed to the need for a plane wave source, required in the MT process.

And, with John Fett, Byron designed a landmark dipole-dipole source transmitter, that is in popular use and being commercially manufactured.

Both myself and Dr. Francis Bostic voluntarily served as non-paid Technical Advisors, because working with Byron was fun. And he seldom needed much advice.

God Bless Byron and his Family. I share your hurt in his loss.

Darrell Word

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Libby Weed remembers Byron Arnason and others [Austin, Texas] 5/28/2022

Libby Weed was a principal founder of the Center for Christian Studies, Principal at the Brentwood Christian School, and President of Gilbert and Sullivan Austin over many decades. She earned a MA in English Literature and a PhD in Educational Administration from the University of Texas, Austin. Byron had the deepest respect and affection for her which he routinely recounted with any friends who also knew Libby. She was a woman to make one proud of our species.

Dear Pat*, Byron, and Calvin,

Sometimes one looks back on an aspect of life or on a relationship with a person and finds a remarkable string of events. Byron has written something about this in his reminiscences of Stanley and Marge. I think about a given individual sometimes, "I might have lived my whole life and might have never even known that person," and it is a person who has had a profound effect on my life.

I feel that way about you three. Byron and I both remember the circumstances under which we started getting to know each other well. It was a dramatic event in the history of G&S Austin that drew us together and formed a special bond. My admiration for Byron grew year by year, as he contributed immensely to many of our society's best seasons in his roles as a board member, house manager, auditions overseer, number-one audience member, and just all-around good friend and colleague. He made everything he was a part of better and gave it a unique touch of class.

Then I got to know his friend and co-worker Pat. I was fascinated by what I learned about the work you two did together, sometimes far apart and sometimes side-by-side. I was impressed to have friends who did such arcane and important geologic work. Pat began to come to more and more G&S events and restaurant dinners, and I found her to be just as charming and delightful company as Byron. Somewhere in our time together we discovered what an absolutely smashing baker and cake decorator Pat is. The marvelous cakes she provided for many a gala and other GSA event could never be forgotten. She is the one who turned our galas into GALAS that people would never forget. (And she also got lots of helpful funds from H-E-B.)

Pat drew Alan* into our circle more and more, and that added a lot of fun. Reba was still with us for much of this time, and she certainly added a spark and lots of flavor to any gathering. What wonderful dinners we had with Stanley and Reba and Rafe and others, at the UT club, the Brazilian steakhouse, Green Pastures, and good old Hyde Park Grill!

Both from Pat and from Byron I learned more about Byron's remarkable family. What a family! The more I learned, the more intrigued I became. I believe that Calvin and Lynette both came to a performance long ago at St. Stephens, but it was some time later before I began getting to know them. Based on a number of communications I have received, I am in awe of Calvin's musical knowledge and theological understanding and sensitivity. His music and his thoughts so often strike a chord with me.

I think it was 2019 when the big gang came, right? Lynette (who got you all started with G&S), Matthew, Anthony and Sally, and Calvin's friend Jim joined you two. And then the next year Sophia and three of Byron's grandchildren joined many of the others. Your whole family has enriched us beyond measure. Every time anyone from the Arnason family has come to one of GSA's performances, you have made the whole production memorable.

When I think it is possible I could have lived my whole life and never got to know the Arnasons or Pat and her lovable family, I know that my life would have been much impoverished by this lack. I am thankful for you all. I am deeply appreciative of all the kind words you have written (and of the incredibly beautiful cards and messages Pat has sent in great abundance!), and also aware that you give me far too much credit for all the good things GSA has done. Still, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Speaking of my heart, it is quite weak, operating at something like 10% of capacity. All that can be done to strengthen it has been done, so that is why the decision was made to place me in hospice care. But I am at home, in a very congenial and comfortable setting, with a loving family with me every day and medical personnel available at a phone call. My medications have been adjusted to make me as comfortable as possible, so I am not suffering. I have oxygen here to which I am connected most of the time, and a tank of oxygen goes with me when I go out. That means I am breathing better than I have been in a long time. This could go on for months, as comfortable as I have been made. My activities are certainly curtailed, but I have a gorgeous view of my back yard (which I love), where I can watch my children and grandchildren swim and cavort. And I can get out for short trips, carrying my oxygen along. I plan to be at The McAdo on Russell Gregory day!

I do not feel I have been cheated of anything in life. I have had a full, active, meaningful, enjoyable life. I have confidence that I am in the arms of a loving God when the end of this phase comes. So please don't grieve for me. I am full of thanks and not of dread or fear, and I am filled with love and admiration for you and your families. I'm so glad I got to know you and that my life has been blessed by you. God bless you.

Love,

Libby

* Pat and Alan Turpin