What were the odds:
Sonenshein's encounter
with Martin Gardner
By Bobby Warren

On 5-22-2010 the world lost one of kind with the passing of Martin Gardner in Norman, Okla. He was 95. Gardner touched lives in an array of worlds, including magic, math, puzzles, logic, skepticism, and pseudoscience.

Chuck Sonenshein, a member of the Haines/Durbin Ring 71 in Cincinnati, Ohio, recalled a chance meeting with the mathematical maven in the early 1990s, a meeting he will always treasure. Sonenshein, aka Chuck Sunshine, recalled how Stewart Judah first introduced him to Gardner's writings in the area of math magic.

“He was my idol,” Sonenshein said. “I was a big fan.”

Sonenshein went on to study mathematics at the University of Cincinnati. While there, a professor recommended he read the columns in “Scientific American” magazine by a fellow named Martin Gardner. While it should have occurred to the math major the author of those magic books and the columns were one in the same, it did not register with him at first.
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Gardner wrote more than 50 books, and Sonenshein's favorite is “Mathematics, Magic, and Mystery.” “Every time I read it, I find new things,” he said. One of those discoveries came straight from the lips of Gardner himself.

Sonenshein was on magic collector Kenna Thompson's mailing list. Thompson, who might be commissioned to sell an estate or magic collection, had sent some information about an upcoming sale to Sonenshein. When the two saw each other, Thompson asked if his friend had received the mailing. Sonenshein acknowledged he did, adding, “but, every time I see you it costs me money.”

Thompson mentioned he had received a letter from Gardner thanking Thompson for including him on the mailing list.

“You know Martin Gardner?” Sonenshein asked and recalled Thompson telling him, “He's on my mailing list.”

Thompson encouraged Sonenshein to call Gardner. However, Sonenshein said he was a bit shy and felt uncomfortable calling his idol. While Sonenshein did not place that initial call, he did receive a call on one of his birthdays.

“Kenna calls, and he said, 'Someone wants to talk to you,'” Sonenshein said. “Is this Chuck,” the man on the other end of the line asked. “This is Martin Gardner.”

As Sonenshein recalled the event, Gardner was with Thompson looking at books. After talking with Gardner for about 10 minutes, Sonenshein still did not believe he was talking to his idol. “Is this really Martin Gardner,” he inquired, to which the reply was, “This really is. Sure is.”

Sonenshein felt bad for having Gardner incur long-distance charges for the call and was about to end it, however, Gardner told him it was a birthday gift from Thompson. The two spent 30 minutes on the telephone conversing.

Three weeks later, Sonenshein was talking to Gardner again and inquired as to whether he could come out and visit with him in Hendersonville, N.C. Gardner said it would be fine. So, one July during the early 1990s, Sonenshein ended up traveling to North Carolina and spending a couple of days with Gardner and his wife, Charlotte, who passed away in 2000.
“For me, it was the trip of a lifetime,” Sonenshein said. “He was my idol. When he opened the door, it was like me walking into heaven. We were talking magic and math the whole time.”

Two things stood out during the trip to North Carolina. One was how Sonenshein showed Gardner a paper-folding event of a dodecahedron that he had never seen. “I was surprised he did not know it,” Sonenshein said, adding it was something to special to be able to show his idol something like that.

The second was a call Gardner received while Sonenshein was there. Charlotte Gardner informed her husband someone from The New York Times was on the telephone wanting him to write something about Pierre de Fermat's Last Theorem being solved – it had gone unsolved for about 400 years.

Sonenshein said Gardner was a quiet man who considered himself a writer, not a public speaker, which is why he really did not make many public appearances.

John Tierney of The New York Times, writing on the occasion of Gardner's 95th birthday, noted Gardner never took a math class beyond high school and struggled with calculus. He was writing for “Humpty Dumpty” magazine in 1956 when he was asked if there would be enough material to write a column about “recreational mathematics” in “Scientific American.” He went on to write the column for 25 years.

Gardner was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1914, and he earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. The Associated Press reported Gardner died after a brief illness at Norman Regional Hospital. He had been living at an assisted living facility in Norman. Gardner moved to Norman from Hendersonville in 2002 to be near his son, James Gardner, who survives. He is also survived by another son, Tom Gardner, of Asheville, N.C.