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In Memoriam
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by Mulebrother on October 31, 2003
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Just reading through the paper today and I noticed an obit of special signifigance. For those that do not know, Dr Pillstrom invented the first snake tongs(as far as I know). I have owned 2 pairs of his tongs over the years and they have proved invauluable. Most of the herp community seems to gravitate towards the "other" versions because of their "less likely to injure the snake" construction, but with a little care and practice, you can handle just about any herp without injury with the pillstrom version. On a personal note, I remember buying my first set of tongs from him, since I live in the same area, I went to his house. What a humble and genuinely nice person he was. I remember him being concerned because I was young, but once we started talking about snakes, he realized how interested I was in hot snakes, and we had a great conversation. He gave me a handful of printed material about his tongs too. To me, he was like the "bill haast of arkansas". Maybe I am just being sentimental, but he was a hell of a nice guy. Think of him the next time you use your tongs.
here is the obit:
Dr. Lawrence Pillstrom
Dr. Lawrence G. Pillstrom, 76, of Fort Smith died Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003. He was a retired family physician, a member of West-Ark Church of Christ, a Navy veteran of World II and a member of the American Legion.
Funeral was held Thursday at Edwards Funeral Home Chapel in Fort Smith with burial at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Fort Smith.
He is survived by his wife, Quida; five daughters, Susan Douthit, Lisa Gibson and Renee Barber, all of Rogers, Regina Hutchison of St. Augustine, Fla., and Carmen Geoates of Fort Smith; three sons, Alexander Pillstsrom of Rogers, Larry Pillstrom of Farmington and Tony Pillstrom of Horn Lake, Miss.; three sisters; one brother; 16 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
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RE: In Memoriam
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by Immunogoblin_E on October 31, 2003
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Sorry to hear of the passing of the Pillstrom tong inventor. However, Dr. Pillstrong created the tongs to reach items on the high shelves of old-timey drug stores. He had no interest in herps.
Happy Halloween,
Immunogoblin_E
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RE: In Memoriam
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Anonymous post on November 1, 2003
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Immunogoblin_E, you are a liar and libelous scumbag!! Dr. Pillstrong invented the tongs for capturing venomous snakes. Here's the address to his website http://members.aol.com/Mpillstrom/Home.html
Quote from his website:
"In 1953, as a young medical student, Larry Pillstrom began some early studies of snake venom and poisonous bites. As a key part of this advanced work, he had no choice but to capture and control his own study specimens! None were available in those days to just go out and 'buy'! Not a safe or pleasant task when one has no equipment or particular special hunting skills! Still, the important work called out for progress and forced this inventive young man to seek novel solutions to his perplexing problem! In those days, students were expected to simply adapt to any situation that confronted them in their chosen path of education. Larry quickly discovered that he would need some help in gathering the dangerous reptiles for his experiments and research. The help he found came from within his own creativeness - the Pillstrom Tongs were born."
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RE: In Memoriam
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by Mulebrother on November 3, 2003
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I think Immunogoblin_E has the Pillstrom tongs confused with the "gopher grabber" that they sell on QVC and at Walgreen's.
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