Most Recent Program Information
April 2025 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!