1978

P.O. Box 1911 Spokane, WA 99210

In the world of geology, the end of the year means convention time—particularly the Geological Society of America meeting (in Phoenix) and the Northwest Mining Convention (in Spokane). Owing to the "convenient" situation of working in the southwestern U.S. and residing in the Pacific Northwest, I was able to make the circuit to both shows. Since my attention span at these meetings is sometimes a bit limited due to outside influences, I made it a point to catch up with what few '78s might still be geologists. I was pleasantly surprised to note that a number of classmates had survived (as geologists!) and prospered during the recent difficult times in academia and industry.

Jon Benedict recently took "early retirement" from St. Joe Gold Co. in order to pursue a "vacation" and semi-lucrative consulting work, mostly from St. Joe. Jon and wife Jamie slipped off this summer for a long-awaited float trip down the Grand Canyon portion of the Colorado River. Jamie had applied for the float permit as a post-graduation trip—from high school (she's about to finish a Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of Arizona).

I spent a fair amount of time in Phoenix with Ed Duke, who is married to Genet Ide. As we crashed a fancy party in search of food and drink, I learned that Ed and Genet are both still working at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. They live near Rapid City, S.D., in a beautiful log cabin at the edge of the Black Hills National Forest with their two children and lots of dogs. Ed presented his research at one of the technical sessions.

Craig Johnson left the mining business several years ago to pursue a Ph.D. at Yale. He spoke on some of his findings at the Sterling Hill zinc deposit in New Jersey. Craig still has not finished his Ph.D., but he did manage to work as a sample boy for six weeks for his wife Hélène on her Ph.D. project on some remote South Pacific islands. Tough tour of duty!

Scott Lundstrom just finished his M.S. on the glacial geology of the southern Madison River valley of southwest Montana (another tough tour of duty). He, too, presented his findings at the Phoenix meeting. Scott has just started a Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

I saw Josh Lieberman at both meetings. Josh represented the academic world in Phoenix, where he presented his dissertation work, which he is due to finish in March at the University of Washington. At the Spokane meeting, Josh represented Dihedral Exploration, along with AndyTuthill and Peter Kelemen. In addition to being known for doing mineral exploration in barely accessible places, Dihedral is also known for their annual hospitality suite at the mining convention. Last night was no exception! Andy is working on his civil engineering degree at the University of Washington and has also been moonlighting as a carpenter. Peter was unable to make it to Spokane for the first time in several years, as he was frantically trying to beat deadlines to turn in his Ph.D. dissertation, also from UW. Peter was at the Phoenix meeting where he, also, presented his research. As if all this was not enough, Peter married Rachel Cox this summer near Seattle.

I ran into Sam Dashevsky at the Mining Convention. He is the husband of TakoRaynolds, who is a biologist in Fairbanks, Alaska. They enjoyed the birth of their first child, Marguerite, this past summer. Sam has been contracting to American Copper and Nickel Co., also in Alaska.

Two faces notably absent from the mining convention were those of Cay and GeorgeKendrick. They moved from Salt Lake City to Portland, Maine, this fall where Cay joined a graphic design firm and George joined the ranks of house-husbandry for the time being. Unfortunately, they will have to relearn the joys of skiing New England powder after being spoiled by real snow in Utah.

There's more, but I'm out of room