Most Recent Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: April 14, 2025
We had another very successful and fun evening - enhanced by 2 tables full of door prizes, 4 tables full of giveaways and many "E" minerals. (We saw some epidote, elbaite, emeralds, an Eurypterid sea scorpion fossil, El Filo fluorite, an Elrathia trilobite, eosphorite, Eastonite, enargite, and eudialyte.) Every one of our 39 attendees, including 1 new member, went home with a door prize and boxes full of free fossils, minerals and rocks. We gave a round of applause to Marcia for donating our giveaways & door prizes. (We also give a big thank you to Will Crowder who donated many items as well but couldn't attend the meeting.)
Business notes:
- Jack passed around draft photo sheets of various minerals for the club to vote on to use as our flyer and advertising pamphlets for the show.
The most popular picture:
- Cindy gave several updates.
- 1-Beth, the lady who is hosting a silent auction on May 10 (11 am til...) has an online auction going on until April 15 at 8 pm with Enlisted Auctions. She has several boxes of gem polished eggs, jewelry, and minerals from VA for sale.
- 2- The silent auction will be cash only - no checks or credit cards. Beth is working with Cindy and adding more items. We will have more information later.
- Cindy and I mentioned that we were very happy to see so many members at our meeting and that we hope that everyone here will be volunteering at our show Sep 19-21 at EXPO. We ourselves love getting free specimens at our meetings, but we also have fun volunteering at the show. Our club is an educational venue and we use the show to gain interest in rocks, minerals, and fossils. We usually have over 2500 attendees and use all three buildings at EXPO! Please mark your calendar and plan on giving back a little of your time. A couple of hours of volunteering goes a long way. We appreciate you!
Don't forget to let me know if you want to attend the private auction on Saturday, May 10 in Keezletown. There will be over 250 high-quality items to bid on - some polished cabs, some fossils, many collectible specimens, some boxes of mixed minerals, and much more! Don't miss out on this opportunity and bring a friend or two - there will be plenty of items to choose from. I'll send more details as we get closer.
Program:
We had an informal meeting with everyone sitting around to hear some personal histories from club members.
-Eva has been a member for a few years and is one of our youngest - she was thankful for all the help she's been receiving about identifying her specimens and how to polish and cut. We enjoy her enthusiasm.
-Charlie has been a member for over 15 years and volunteers his time by opening the shop once a month on the Saturday after our meeting. Charlie credits his wife Glenna for getting him to join. He not only works on the equipment and maintains it, but also assists those who come to the shop. He's only missed 5 or so Saturdays and meetings in that entire 15 years!! Thanks, Charlie! (He's also been a tireless worker at our auctions the last several years.)
-Jack also helps at the shop and volunteers as our webmaster. He got interested in minerals through his travels with his military family - especially living in Japan. He set up our website and Facebook page about 15 years ago and maintains both. (We now have several thousand viewers online!) He also is part of the show committee and spends many hours preparing advertising materials. Jack also works with Scott Gregory, our treasurer & show chairman to help with contracts and oversee the various functions of our show. He and his wife Jilly also are vendors at our shows. Thank you, Jack!
-Jilly explained that she got interested in collecting by traveling with her dad who was a geologist that saw the big picture of rock formation. As a child she picked up rocks on the path and thus got interested in the small picture. Her dad would identify her treasures. She now works in wire-wrapping and has taught several hands-on classes for our members. (Maybe it's time for another of those?......🙂)
- Kelly has been a member for 35 years and shared that in 1990 the club only had 4 members - himself, Charlie Miller (whose family donated the trailer load of rocks at the last meeting), Charlie's wife Thelma and Leo (our only remaining charter member). The club almost folded, but he became president (reluctantly) and here we are today!! (We have over 100 paid members.) So we appreciate your dedication to keeping the club alive. (Kelly also allows us to have our meetings here at the church.)
- Mike, our president for the last 15 years, says he is almost 80 and it's time to ease off his duties. Mike got interested in micros while as a child, he was enthralled with crystals he bought at a gift shop near Mammoth Cave. Later in life, he and his wife Karen discovered the wonderful world of seeing crystals with a microscope. Mike has done several programs for us on micros and has shared many of his family's trips overseas. He is also the treasurer of the micromineral club in DC. He is a semi-professional photographer of micros and writes articles with photos for that club. He has some of his photos on mindat.org as well. (Go to https://www.dcmicrominerals.org/ ) to read some of his articles and see some of his awesome photos.) ( https://www.mindat.org/user-27958.html is the site for mindat). Mike, we understand your wanting to retire from your responsibilities but we are still expecting to see some of your specimens, photos, and travelogues!
-Bob and Mary are also some of our faithful members and have invited several people to join the club. Bob, like some others, got interested in minerals through his dad who was a chemist and could give information about what's inside specimens. He was an avid collector and Bob inherited some of his collection. Bob polishes rocks and Mary wire-wraps them. They enjoy being a vendor at our show, but travel to other shows as well. They are also members of the Lynchburg club and told us about Rudy Bland, a 95 year old who still volunteers at the Mineral Resources Dept. in Charlottesville. (Aging out is obviously not a thing to us mineral people!) Mary suggested we take a field trip there - they have lots of resources, a labeled rock garden, and now a cafe. Sounds like a great idea!
-Amanda is a newer member. She works with beads and jewelry and got to visit the Tucson international shows in 2022 and 2025. She learned a lot and is willing to help us out. We can always use another hand!
The shop will be open Saturday May 17 from 9 am to noon.
Your annual $10 dues for an individual or a family may be brought to any meeting or send a check written to SVGMS and mailed to: SVGMS Box 324 Waynesboro, VA 22980. {Most clubs charge by person and can be as high as $25; we are a bargain!}
Club Officers and Staff 2016-2025
President – Michael Pabst
President-Elect: Cynthia Schroer
Vice President Emeritus– Leo Cloutier
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinator - Ed Stuart
Co-Treasurers – Scott Gregory/Deborah Grimm
Show Team Leaders – Scott Gregory/Jack Glenn
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com