Kirston was multi-talented - a brilliant scientist, a poet, a musician, a gardener, a fly fisherman as well as a dancer, caller & choreographer. Here are some of his other interests:
Early scientific accomplishments
One of Kirston's many talents that was discussed at the celebration was how, as an undergrad student at Amherst College, he was the first person to scientifically analyze how a stone skips across water. It was written up in Scientific American August 1968:
The Amateur Scientist: Analyzing how a stone skips and turning sound into heat
and referenced in an article describing later research into skipping stones published in Discover Magazine July 2003
The Physics of . . . Skipping Stones
The essential motion of a skipping stone was first described in 1968 by Kirston Koths, a student of chemistry at Amherst College. Koths photographed stones skipping across a sandbox, a tabletop covered in a blanket, and water. On the sand and the tabletop, he found, the stones struck with their trailing edge, then flipped forward to hit their leading edge, then took to the air again. On the water, the stones skidded along on their trailing edge, at a 75-degree angle to the surface, until a crest of water formed in front of them. Then they slid up and into the air to begin the process over again. For more than 30 years, Koths's analysis was the last word in stone skipping.
Later scientific accomplishments
Poetry
One Good Turn, published by Blue Light Press 2016.
Garden
East Bay Times article about 2015 poetry garden gathering. If you are not a subscriber, you can read the contents here (PDF).
Fly Fishing
Winter Fishing for Steelhead Article in Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers Newsletter Jan 2023
(and I expect there are more articles and mentions of Kirston in previous issues)