[Rockhounds] Garza update

[Larry Rush]

Alan: It is good of you to help Steve out, I am sure thathis family greatly appreciates it!  Steveis well known here in New England, as he once lived here, and collected widely.More recently, he attended the Gilsum Rock Swap (NH) every year for many years, andis missed not being there now.

Everyone at the Gilsum show knew Steve, mostly for his “character”,but also, as he was regarded as the best amateur mineralogist attending there.Stories abound about his antics, as well as his great assortment of finespecimens he brought every year (some of which I am privileged to now own!).Thereare many tales about him, some humorous, some admiring, all entertaining.

Here is my personal favorite story about him (anecdotally):

It was late on a hot June Sunday afternoon, about 6-8 years ago, atthe school yard field in Gilsum; the show had closed, everyone was gone, exceptSteve, who finished packing up and was leaving for the long drive home when hespotted a lone car still there in the field parking lot, in the late day summerheat with the windows closed. He stopped and saw a woman slumped over thewheel, apparently unconscious. He got her out, got her to some shade, andcalled for help. She was able to be revived, and now literally owes her life toSteve.

He may not remember that, or even admit to it, but it isonly one of many anecdotes about him….. may we all be remembered so well!!
Larry Rush
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    On Sunday, October 4, 2020, 03:43:43 PM EDT, Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at outlook.com> wrote:  
 
 Steve and Dee say, "Hello. Everything's good." They haven't left their homestead is early March.

Steve has been more actively identifying minerals with a microscope the last month or so. We had a couple of collectors over yesterday, one an ex-New Englander going bonkers over the large amount of Strickland Quarry and obscure New England localities. I was able to get a number of specimens or localities while Steve was outside in the sunshine and will make a new list which I will post as an ad. It will take some time to go through the thousand+ specimens I brought home over the last 2 days.

I've mentioned the randomness in packing he did when he moved to his current location a dozen or so years ago. Yesterday, I found a large box labeled "Fossils & Misc." on  a top shelve. Intrigued, and not wishing to hurt myself, I cut open the box from the side. The weight was from a half dozen giant fossil clams (double-fist-sized) from who knows where. Probably Miocene to Pliocene age. In the middle was a plastic cookie box stuffed with "autunite" from the Ruggles Mine, Grafton Co., NH. With a UV flashlight inside the garage with the lights on, the specimens fluoresced like a good piece of willemite from Franklin, NJ!

I'm taking my extended vacation, and it will include some collecting trips in the area and cleaning and labeling Garza minerals. I know I'll find more interesting specimens. I already found a beautiful Cave in Rock fluorite among crappy rocks. Luckily everything was well-wrapped. Dee had threatened to empty the garage as road rock, but I've been able to salvage and help sell thousands of specimens that were too nice (and historically important) for the driveway. The dregs I'm dumping on the mineral collecting piles at the Falls of the Ohio State Park where others are having fun digging and making their own discoveries.

Regards,
Alan G.
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