May 2017 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: May 8th, 2017
Intro:
President Mike Pabst called the meeting to order. There were 24 members present.
Old Business:
1. There was a recap of the trip to KY. Various members brought samples of geodes from the Green River and Walker farm in Danville. There were various examples of beautiful dogtooth calcite and fluorite from the Caldwell Quarry in Danville and some agate samples from Stanton, KY. The club enjoyed seeing photos of the trip which included some of the railroad cut at Kings Mountain.
Members were given samples to take home.
2. Wayne said he is working on specific details of future trips. (See below)
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New Business:
1. Reminder of club picnic in July. Need to check on availability of the pavilion at Coyner Park.
2. There was a discussion of the show at EXPO coming up on September 22, 23, & 24.
3. Mike Herrick, who recently rejoined the club, has a shop in Harrisonburg where he can make spheres from rock slabs. He has invited anyone who wants to call or email him to set up a time where they could come and he can assist the use his equipment.
He strongly suggests that the material be cut into a block shape as closely resembling a sphere as possible or there would be too much time doing prep cutting, and not much time for rounding.
Spheres can be made from 1” to 12” but a medium size works the best. Email is mvherrick@gmail.com. & phone is 562-505-6032
Program Report:
Mike presented a very interesting DVD of a mineral symposium about the closed zinc mine in Elmwood, TN.
The geology of this area in TN is very similar to the area in KY where we went on our trip.
The host on the DVD was Dr. Steve Neely who has quite a variety of samples from the mine that he has collected over the years.
He presented stunning photographs of some of the largest calcite, fluorite, sphalerite, and barite combo samples that have ever been collected in the US.
Some of the samples are on display in museums in Houston, Dallas, and other sites around the world.
There was a 39” calcite cluster of pure translucent orange calcite with 6” individual crystals and a 9” Cumberland calcite that was an orange double point.
There were many “oohs” and “aahs” during the presentation.
The grand finale though, was when Wayne brought in his personal sample of a calcite/fluorite matrix that he managed to acquire from someone from the mine.
It was brilliant! (and Brenda said no gifts for him for the next few years!)
Some of these samples can be seen on this site
Field Trip Info: Check out information here or refer to the Field Trip Newsletter sent out by the club secretary 5/14/2017
Everyone agreed the KY trip would be worth doing again.
He was considering a trip in May to Rose River near Syria in Madison county, but the time is too short for getting everyone together, and this is copperhead season, so we’ll probably do that in the fall which would include a picnic.
He is planning on a trip to the Vulcan Quarry in Manassas on June 20th, and on July 15th, we can go on a purchasing “backyard” field trip to a lady’s home near the George Washington forest. She has huge slabs of rocks from around the globe to include Malaysia, South Africa, and Texas.
Looking ahead:
Next club meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 12th, 2017. Our vice president, and longest active member of the club, Leo Cloutier, will present his oriental stone collection.
Start planning on making a display case for the show in September at EXPO. Last year we had quite a few displays which the public thoroughly enjoyed, and we had a lot of help which made things go smoothly.
This is a lot of fun, and it is great to see our regular vendors at our Friday night dinner. (Sept 22, 23, 24) Mark your calendars and come help out!
If you’d like to present a program, please talk to an officer at a meeting or sign up at this link:
http://www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org/next_neeting_program/sign_up_to_present_program.php
Anyone can sign up to bring snacks for a monthly meeting by clicking this link:
http://www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org/next_meeting_info/sign_up_to_bring_refreshments.php
Be sure to keep up with our website www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org and our Facebook page Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society for updates and information.
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Volunteers for Refreshments, 2017:
February: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
March: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
April: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
May: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
June: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
July: N/A - Club Picnic
August: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
September: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
October: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
November: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
December: N/A - Club Christmas Dinner
Deborah Grimm, Secretary
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Club Officers and Staff 2016-2017
President – Michael Pabst
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Show Co-Chairs – Dean Hostetter/Scott Gregory
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinators - Wayne Petersen/Scott Duresky
Treasurer – Scott Gregory
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com