Sky & Telescope - September 2023 - 84

FAMILY OF PAULA BIRNER CAREY
FOCAL POINT by John Rummel
Almost Forgotten
A little-known past member enriches the history of Madison's local astronomy club.
MY ASTRONOMY CLUB, the Madison
Astronomical Society, got its start in
the 1930s. As with most such clubs in
those days, it was a man's world. But as
I researched its beginnings, one woman
stood out in the crowd of men.
Paula Birner, an elementary-school
teacher, was new to Madison in the fall
of 1934. A year before the club's birth,
she had appeared on local radio stations
doing a program called " Watchers
of the Sky. " Birner went on to be a
key member as our club organized the
following year, and she was omnipresent
in it for the next 14 years. In an
age when a woman's role in clubs like
ours was largely that of spouse to her
husband - the member - Birner gave
talks and, later in the 1930s, authored
a series of columns for the Wisconsin
State Journal on astronomy and practical
observing.
Birner married in the mid-1940s
but was soon widowed. She left Madison
and continued her teaching career
in Racine, Wisconsin, now under her
married name, Paula Birner Carey. Her
life was busy: Carey was active in the
teacher's union and the parent-teacher
association, and she anchored various
writing workshops and classes.
But her love of astronomy beckoned.
In the fall of 1956, she wrote a letter to
the editor of the Racine Journal Times
appealing to others who shared her
passion for astronomy. " Somewhere in
Racine, or thereabouts, there must be
kindred souls, " she wrote. " Wish they
would communicate with me. We could
form a club and have some fun! "
Carey's letter worked. Within
months a Racine astronomy club was
formed, and she would later serve on its
board. In 1963, the club built a formidable
observatory - the Modine-Benstead
Observatory - and in May 1964 Sky
& Telescope published an article highlighting
the achievement. Its author, of
course, was Paula Birner Carey.
Her technical know-how shines
through in the article. " As a Newtonian
of short focal length (80 inches), " she
wrote about the observatory's convertible
16-inch reflector, " it is suitable for
deep-sky viewing and photography; as a
Cassegrain (320 inches), it can be used
for lunar and planetary studies. "
I never got to meet her - she died in
1993 - but I relate to her attachment
to the hobby. I imagine her playing
up astronomy with her students but
longing for a group of adults to share
her interest in the stars. She wanted to
recapture the community she'd found
in Madison around observing the
heavens, and she succeeded brilliantly,
helping to establish not just one but two
vibrant astronomy clubs in Wisconsin.
STELLAR ACHIEVER Paula Birner Carey
was a founding member of two Wisconsin
astronomy clubs - one in Madison, the other
in Racine. She appears here in the mid-1940s.
84 SEPTEMBER 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE
Carey never remarried after her
husband died in 1948, and she had no
children. Details of her life and love of
the hobby are hard to come by. Sometime
after her retirement from teaching
in Racine in the late '60s or early '70s,
she returned to Madison. She must
have lived out her retirement in the
I bet nobody at the time
suspected that this kind
older lady sitting among
them was a founder of
their club.
city where she first helped organize an
astronomy club four decades before. She
rejoined our Madison club and attended
meetings, and she continued to serve on
the board of the Astronomical League.
By then she would have been in her 70s.
I questioned older members of our
club, trying to find anyone who recognized
the name or had even met Carey.
Only one or two could bring her to
mind. They remembered her attending
meetings - the nice gray-haired woman
sitting in the back. One of them recalls
her speaking of the Racine club. But I
bet nobody at the time suspected that
this kind older lady sitting among them
was a founder of their club.
Carey's last recorded activity in our
club was a donation she made in her
mid-80s to our new observatory. To the
end, she thought of the club - her first
club - and wanted to see it grow.
¢ JOHN RUMMEL is a Madison,
Wisconsin-based amateur astronomer,
retired school psychologist, and current
historian for the Madison Astronomical
Society. Reach him at darksky2500@
gmail.com.
Sky & Telescope - September 2023

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