Geology Alumni Newsletter - Western State Colorado University

Transcription

GEOLOGY PROGRAM • WESTERN STATE COLLEGE • GUNNISON, COLORADO 81231
A NEWSLETTER FOR ALUMNI, STUDENTS AND FRIENDS OF THE GEOLOGY PROGRAM
Introduction
th
This is now our 5 Geology Newsletter, and by the way,
you can see all of the back issues online at:
http://www.western.edu/geology/alumni/alumni.html
Here is a brief recap of the news for 2005-06:
• Western State Geology was the host institution for the
Rocky Mountain Section of the GSA in May!
• The department has been involved in a number of student
research projects that have shed light on some very
interesting aspects of local geology including the
Junction Creek Sandstone, Dillon Mesa and Blue Mesa
Tuffs, gravels of the Gunnison Basin, etc.;
• Students and faculty have been involved in the geologic
mapping of three important local quadrangles, Almont,
Gunnison, and Signal Peak (that's right - the Gunnison
quad. has never been mapped before!);
• Allen Stork, even though Science Department Chair,
somehow managed to sandwich in some interesting
research on local volcanics and paleo-drainage systems;
• Rob Fillmore is almost finished with yet another (soon to
be) best-selling geology book about Utah;
• Tom Prather is having the time of his life;
• Bruce Bartleson has a new bionic shoulder, having worn
out his old one with too many swings of his hammer;
• Jim Coogan the Rady Chair in Petroleum Geology, has
done a great job both teaching and in placing a number of
students in the petroleum industry. As you are aware, the
petroleum industry is red hot (it's been a while) and our
ability to place graduates in the industry is very timely;
• John Fletcher and Holly Brunkal have brought great
skills in geomorphology, tectonics and hydrogeology to
our department as visiting faculty members;
• and finally, the news just keeps getting better. We
recently learned of another major donation to the
department to enhance our already very successful
petroleum geology program. The famous Texas oilman
and part-time Gunnison resident, W.A. “Tex” Moncrief
just announced a gift of $1 million dollars to our
program.
FALL 2006
Moncrief Chair in Petroleum
Geology
A Texas oilman with ties to Gunnison has made a $1
million gift to the Petroleum Geology program at Western.
The contribution, from W. A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr. of Ft.
Worth, Texas, is the second million dollar gift to the
program. Western's Petroleum Geology program is one of
only four in the nation, and the only one in Colorado.
Moncrief’s gift will provide a permanent endowment for the
W.A. "Tex" Moncrief, Jr., Chair in Petroleum Geology at
Western.
The Petroleum Geology program was established with a
$1 million gift from Paul Rady ‘78 to help inspire geologists
to enter the petroleum industry. New courses in Petroleum
Geology, Subsurface Methods and Applied Geophysics are
successfully training Western graduates for entry level
positions in the industry.
Moncrief said he has been in the oil business all his life
and is happy to see a new generation of industry leaders
emerge. Paul Rady, he said, is one of those leaders.
"There are also college programs emerging that are
training future generations of petroleum geologists,"
Moncrief said. "The program that Paul created at Western
State College of Colorado is such a place. I am proud to add
my investment to Paul’s to further strengthen Western’s
Petroleum Geology program and hope some of my industry
associates will follow suit. Western’s Petroleum Geology
program is, as we say in the industry, an ‘attractive play’ in a
fine discipline.”
Moncrief said the gift was especially meaningful to him
because he has been visiting Gunnison "since I was a baby."
"My dad started taking me fishing at the age of 8, there on
the Gunnison River," he said. "I know he took me for
companionship more than anything. As he fished, I would sit
on the banks, talk to him, and throw rocks in the water. I
have fond memories of him carrying me on his back across
the river. I feel like I grew up there in Gunnison.”
Jim Coogan, who heads the Western program and
occupies the Paul Rady Chair in Petroleum Geology, said the
From a nostalgia point of view, there is more sad news to report. Moncrief gift will help the program move to the next level of
Not only have we lost the Red Dolly Pub (bankrupt in the mid- national recognition.
80s – for you youngsters, this was THE gathering place in
Gunnison for many years) and the Cattlemen’s Inn a few years
ago (burned down), but this winter there was a fire in the kitchen
of the venerable A&W restaurant, at the curve on Highway 50
(the A&W curve, of course!) and it has been demolished – I
believe they are out of business. What next? Oh Yes, Johnny
Towner’s trailer burned down this winter at Johnny’s Bait Farm
– former home of Paul Rady ‘78
PAGE 2 GEOLOGY ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
Annual Geology Awards
New Geologic Maps
We have held three geology banquets since the last
newsletter. In 2004, we graduated five new alumni at a
barbeque in Jim’s backyard. In 2005, ten new alumni joined
your ranks in one of those great graduations with a strong
wind and blowing snow. This year it was much nicer with
nine more graduates enjoying a beautiful spring day.
At both banquets we handed out our annual awards, The
VAL MITCHELL MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN GEOLOGY
awarded to our outstanding junior went to Dylan Tullius ‘06
in 2004, to Casey Dick ‘06 in 2005, and to Jeramy
Harshman ‘07 in 2006. The recipients of the RMAG
“Hammer”, awarded to our outstanding senior went to
Andrew Wood ‘04 in 2004, to Cody Allen ‘05 in 2005 and
to Chris Benson ‘06 in 2006.
The annual graduation banquet is held each spring the night
before graduation. All geology alumni are invited but please
let us known in advance if you plan to join us.
Thanks to Jim Coogan the department has been able to
participate in the SATEMAP program sponsored by the
USGS through the Colorado Geologic Survey. In 2004 we
received a contract to map the Almont quadrangle, in 2005
we mapped the Gunnison quadrangle, and in 2006 we have a
contract to map the Signal Peak quadrangle. Yes, this means
that the “correct” map and cross section for the Jack’s Cabin
area is published. Check out your old maps and compare –
we’ll adjust your grade if we need to.
Almont was mapped by Jim Coogan, Rob Fillmore and
Allen Stork with the help of Cody Allen ‘05 and Dylan
Tullius ‘06. Gunnison was mapped by Allen Stork and Jim
Coogan with the help of Alex Csar ‘06 and Raelene Wentz
‘06.
The maps are available from the Colorado Geologic
Survey at:
http://geosurvey.state.co.us/
In Memoriam – Dr. Fredrick J. Menzer, Jr.
Frederick J. Menzer, Jr., Professor of Geology at
Western State College from 1970 to 1982, succumbed to his
three year battle with cancer on November 2, 2004 at a Vail
clinic near his home in Frisco, Colorado at the age of 71.
Fred was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and
after high school worked in his father's business for a few
years before attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs
from which he graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. degree in
Geology in 1959. He earned both his Masters and Doctorate
in Geology in 1960 and 1964, respectively, from the
University of Washington. His doctoral dissertation was on
the metamorphic rocks in the Okanogan Mountains of
Washington, and most of his students also became intimately
familiar with the rocks from this area. He taught geology at
Southern Methodist University from 1964 to 1970, but spent
summers and any free time as a consultant to Bear Creek
Mining Company, Union Carbide Corporation and others.
Fred came to Western State College in the fall of 1970 to fill
the "hard rock" position, and stayed until 1982.
Fred became Chief Geologist for FMC Corporation in
1982, based in Denver and Reno and "retired" in 1992. He
had an active career as mining consultant for various
companies and was consulting up to the time of his infirmity.
Characteristically, while recuperating from chemotherapy
treatments, Fred hiked over 200 miles of the Colorado Trail
the summer before his death.
While at Western, Fred became well known for his nononsense attitude, "hard-core" work ethic and punctuality.
Many a student had to duck flying erasers or chalk thrown
by Fred if they were inattentive, distracted, (or distracting).
Ironically, it was his disciplined approach that some students
feared but at the same time gave them the confidence to
succeed in the real world. Perhaps most of all, Fred brought
a sense of professionalism and stressed the importance of
preparing a student for a career after graduation. He found
summer jobs for many of his undergraduate students and
started literally dozens of Western graduates in a career in
the mining industry. Because of his contacts at Southern
Methodist University, Fred was also able to establish a
regular pipeline for Western graduates to attend graduate
school at SMU on scholarship. Fred was also very
instrumental in developing a social geology club that
blossomed in the 1970s with various functions, including
geology talks, Friday evening get-togethers (sometimes at his
house) and many ski trips in the winters. Fred had a major
impact on all of us and will not be forgotten.
GEOLOGY NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
Fredrick J. Menzer
(continued)
Here are a few quotes from some of his former
students, most of which Bruce read at the funeral:
Steve Reynolds, ‘78
”You know, of all my memories of Fred that really
made a difference in my life, the first moments in my first
class with him are most striking. He walks in the first day,
looks at us as the punks we were, then told us to look at
the person to the left, then the right. Then he says "only
one of you will be in this class at the end of the year". For
whatever reason, it gave me a resolve that I was going to
be the one and that this guy wasn't going to take me out.”
Nancy (Wallof) Nicholaisen, ‘77
“For years I have been a little bemused by all the
recollections of Dr. Menzer, which cast him as sort of an
intimidating guy. I took quite a few classes from him,
even though I was only a minor, so I spent a good bit of
time around him. What I remember about him more than
anything was that, for me, it was a level playing field. In
the early seventies, that was a really rare thing for women
in science and technology fields of study, and it remained
so for most of my career in research, academia and
publishing.”
Ken Tornquist, ‘81
“Wow, Fred Menzer - quite the effect he had on me
and on most of the students I know who had a class with
him. I remember dropping several classes three days after
starting Optics. There was no burn in time for this class.
He had me psyched out. And no wonder - listening the
year before to my roommate, Pete Dwelley, ‘80
characterize Fred's classes as "weed out classes", was not
exactly what I was looking for at the time. But what he
taught me and the other 8 students in the room was
respect; respect for him, geology and for us. I appreciated
his "real world" advice and came to use quite a bit of it
after leaving WSC.”
Lauren (Hart) Wolfe, ‘77
”As a teacher myself I'd never dream of trying to motivate
students with projectiles, sarcasm and embarrassment, but
for Fred it really worked. I remember how angry I was
with his frequent references to how the women never
made his list of students with an over 80 (or whatever it
was) on the mineral test, and therefore I worked harder
than I ever did in college to memorize those thousands of
bits of information, just to show him I could do what he
insinuated I couldn't. I still feel pride that I did it even
now - and I didn't have a lot of proud moments in college.
He had my number. He often would taunt me into doing
more "just to show him", and I consciously saw his
strategy, but I liked that someone thought I had untapped
talent. Not many people can be both supremely irritating
and motivational at the same time - it was a gift. I also
remember that when I was a lab assistant, 3 or 4 semesters,
Fred would take me out to lunch at the end to say thanks.
It was thoughtful, and very appreciated by this overworked
and devoted lab assistant, and I got to see the considerate
kind man that wasn't often evident. I will always
remember him - I hope as a teacher I can make the same
impact in student’s lives he did at WSC.”
Bob Dickerson, ‘77
“The first time I met Fred was in a night class in
introductory geology, probably the only such class WSC
ever offered. I was a history major at the time and had
been talked into taking the class my roommate who was a
geology minor. That first night was one of those "light
bulbs going off in the head" moments, and I changed my
major to geology the next day. Fred had that kind of
teaching ability. Fred would challenge me mightily in
mineralogy class, optical mineralogy, and rock mechanics.
I was so intimidated by him that I hired John Brunel to
tutor me in mineralogy, something Fred commented on at
the time, saying he thought I was admitting defeat before I
had even begun the struggle. Fred was always challenging
me to take the next step up, and was personally
responsible for seeing that I got financial support in
graduate school at SMU, where he gave me a great letter
of recommendation. God speed, Fred, and know that you
are immensely loved, truly respected, and will long be
remembered”.
Fred J. Menzer, Jr. Geology
Memorial Scholarship
We want to thank Fred for remembering the Geology
Department in his will. Fred set aside money for THE
FRED J MENZER, JR. GEOLOGY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP.
We have awarded this scholarship to our most outstanding
sophomore geology student. The award has so far been
presented to Jeremy Hurshman, ‘08, Andrew Peyton,
‘08, and Sarah Able, ‘09. We look forward to continuing
to honor Fred’s memory in this way.
Geology Alumni
Events
Since our last Newsletter we have had 3 successful alumni
events, an alumni bike tour of western Colorado, dinner and
picnic in Colorado Springs in July, 2004 and another in
October, 2004 in Golden. Here are the stories:
Western Colorado Bike Tour
In May, 2004, Tom and Shaunalee Prather and Bruce
led a Western State Geology alumni spring road bike trip
from Gunnison to Paonia, then over McClure Pass into
Redstone, staying at the historic Redstone Inn and on into
Glenwood Springs a day later – a total of about 120 miles in
3 days.
Great trip! Alums on the trip were Scott Effner ‘88,
Andrea Heller ‘83, Bob and June Just ‘74, and Lauren
(Hart) Wolfe ‘77.
Colorado Springs Event
In July, 2004, we had an all-campus alumni banquet in
Colorado Springs on a Friday night, but it was dominated by
geology alums and we had a great time catching up with
some people we hadn’t seen in years. The next day we had a
picnic at Garden of the Gods and had a great turnout. Bruce
and Jim Coogan gave talks on the local geology.
Golden Event
Over thirty people, including Geology Alumni from five
decades met on Saturday, October 9th, 2004 for a fun-filled,
outdoor reunion at the beautiful grounds of Roger and
Connie (Nuss) Knight, ‘70 in Golden, CO. The weather
was absolutely perfect in a fine Indian Summer afternoon as
the alums talked, laughed and reminisced with various peers,
friends and four faculty, including retired professors Tom
Prather and Bruce Bartleson and active professors Jim
Coogan and Allen Stork.
Prather and Bartleson entertained the group with a
nostalgia quiz (with prizes) concerning Gunnison, Crested
Butte, Western State College and their field trips (in which
case they needed a little help, now and then).
In attendance were the following alumni (by seniority)
Mary Anne Havens, ‘69; Connie (Nuss) Knight, ‘70; Jim
Brown, ‘70; Tim Kelly, ‘72; Bob and June Just, ‘74;
John Danahey, ‘75; Rod and Jan McCabe, ‘77; Myra
(Vaag) Lugsch, ‘78; Warren Butler, ‘80;
Klindt Nelson, ‘80; Jim Vanmeter, ‘80; Mary Bergmann,
‘81; Kristen Andrew-Hoeser, ‘82; Dennis Beaver, ‘82;
Rob Linnenberger, ‘94; Ryan Bagby, ‘97; Jennifer
McHarge, ‘03
Faculty: Bruce Bartleson; Tom Prather; Allen Stork;
Jim Coogan
Lauren, Shaunalee, Bruce, Andrea and Scott
Tom, Bruce, Lauren, June, Bob, and Andrea
Jan and Rod McCabe, Mary Anne Havens (sitting),
Bruce, Tim Kelley, Jim Brown, Tom, and Bob Just
GEOLOGY ALUMNI NEWSLETTER PAGE 5
Check Our Web Site
Bartleson-Prather Geology
Research Scholarships
We are always adding information to our Web pages.
In addition to general program information, we archive all
Geology Alumni Newsletters at the site. If you missed one
you can look it up. The site features photos of recent field
trips to Utah, Zion and Toroweap, as well as photos of
older field trips.
We welcome your comments on how the page can be
improved to better meet the needs of alumni. The URL
has changed from past years and is now:
The Bartleson-Prather Fund for Excellence in
Geology is going strong. As we described in past
newsletters, the fund provides a scholarship and research
supplies for students, on a competitive basis, between their
junior and senior year
We awarded two scholarships last year. Casey Dick
‘06 studied the sedimentology of the Junction Creek at
localities around the Gunnison Basin --finally someone to
try and resolve the great Junction Creek-Entrada
controversy so many of you heard Bruce and Tom debate
on over the years. Alex Csar ‘06 mapped the ash flows
and gravels on W-Mountain and found interfingering
gravels with different source regions between the Fish
Canyon and Carpenter Ridge Tuffs.
This year we awarded one scholarship to Christopher
Dorian ‘07. He will be doing a gravity survey in the
Almont Triangle to look for subsurface faults and the
depth to basement in the Jack’s Cabin Syncline.
http://www.western.edu/geology
Please update your links.
Sevier Desert
Central Utah – Field Trip 2005
House Range
Ibex Springs
Notch Peak
Notch Peak
Faculty News
Inactive (old, retired or escaped) Division:
Bruce Bartleson continues a rather active retirement
with being involved in too many volunteer community
activities such as the Library Board, the County
Beautification Committee (don’t ask) and the Western State
Alumni Board of Trustees as well as being the unofficial
keeper of weather records and reports for Gunnison. This is
OK, but it takes time away from more important activities
such as mountain biking, skiing, hiking and fly-fishing.
Highlights of the past two years include a 2004 spring trip
to Jamaica (too many panhandlers), lots of mountain biking,
back-country telemarking and leading tours around Crested
Butte. The big trip in the past 2 years was a 3- week visit to
New Zealand with old friend and colleague, Duane
Vandenbusche. This was my 3rd New Zealand tour and it
gets better every time. Much of last winter was spent ice
skating on Blue Mesa Reservoir or down in the Black
Canyon by Curecanti Needle – absolutely spectacular,
although the hike in is a bit tough in the winter. Another
fine time was March 2005, when I went down on a spur-ofthe-moment trip to see the spectacular wild flower bloom in
Death Valley – wonderful! I was slowed considerably this
year by a bad shoulder – one that had been surgically
repaired twice before and this time I had to get a total
replacement (as in knees and hips) in August. Rehabilitation
took up much of the summer and fall and I am just now
getting back into action this winter. Before surgery Deirdre
and I went off to Rhode Island in June and had a great time
with Nancy Molyneux (‘77) and her husband Rich who
showed us around Newport – a great place!
Tom Prather continues to have the time of his life
with too numerous to tell trips with his new wife
Shaunalee. Right now, as I am writing this Tom and
Shaunalee were escaping one of the coldest Gunnison
winters in years and are in southern Arizona soaking up
the sun and playing golf. Here is a message from Tom:
“Since the last newsletter, I have enjoyed being married
and having a partner to share things with and travel with.
We bought a conversion van (a mini RV) to travel and
camp in - very luxurious compared to the old geology field
trips and a step up from the pickup camper I had at field
camp. Our general plan is to travel every other month in
the winter and stay in beautiful, cool Colorado in the
summer. The past 3 years we have traveled in November,
January, and March to Kentucky-Tennessee, Oklahoma,
Texas, southern Arizona, northern Colorado and NEW
ZEALAND (March of last year). I've seen a lot of great
geology along the way.
I've continued my regular activities of running, hiking,
biking, mountain climbing, skiing (down-hill and cross
country), fly fishing, river running, boating, and
golf. Highlights include 2 Ride the Rockies, the Geology
Dept. Ride the Rockies, the past 5 Bolder Boulders and the
Tucson Senior Olympics where I got 5th in a bike race and
won gold in the 10 k. So it's been a busy life and I'm
stretched pretty thin but still managing to cope.”
Mary Lou Bevier continues to teach at the University
of British Columbia along with her husband Jim
Mortensen. They recently bought a “retreat” cabin on
nearby Salt Spring Island and spend a lot of free time there
along with sailing now and then. Mary Lou reports that
her text book, Introduction to Field Geology was
published in April 2005 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson of
Toronto. The book was written for field geology students
from all of North America and includes both USGS and
GSC maps and US and Canadian examples. Potential US
adopters of the text can request complimentary copies and
get ordering information by visiting
(http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/
highereducation/php/bookinfo.php?isbn=0070931097)
and clicking on 'Requesting a complimentary copy"
followed by clicking on the 'Customer Care' link. This
takes you to the appropriate 800 number (1-800-565-5758)
to contact McGraw-Hill Ryerson (the Canadian subsidiary
of McGraw-Hill US).
Active (currently employed) Division:
-note who has time to do interesting things
Bruce and Ted Violett at the 2006 Graduation
Holly Brunkal joined the department last fall. She
taught introductory geology classes along with GIS and
Hydrogeology to fill in for Rob and Allen who were given
release time to prepare for the GSA convention. Holly has
a Master’s degree from California State University Chico
on the Tuscan Formation in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Last summer Holly was a park geologist at Mount Rainer
National Park surveying glacial and fluvial features. Holly
will continue with us teaching courses in Geomorphology
and helping with the Signal Peak mapping.
Jim Coogan – Spring commencement brought me fullcycle as I watched graduates who took Geology 101 from
me as freshmen tossing their caps with abandon. My reflex
was to think “I’m getting old”, but I quickly thought of
Bruce Bartleson and Tom Prather and realized that Ponce
de Leon should have thought about teaching Geology at
Western. I find the “Prather Rule” of hiking twice as fast as
students half your age to be an important part of my annual
training regimen.
There have been many changes in the Geology Program
and the profession at large since I first signed on at WSC.
Petroleum Geology is now a rigorous and respected part of
the Geology curriculum, and every qualified student who
has sought an industry job during the past four years has
found one – often as an important bridge between
undergraduate and graduate school. Much of the credit in
our placement success is due to our dedicated network of
alums in industry. I particularly want to thank Mark
Stewart ‘79, Brian Cellura ‘95, June and Bob Just ‘74,
Steve Reynolds ‘78, Connie Knight ‘70, Peter Dea ‘76,
and Paul Rady ‘78, among many others, for their keen
interest in mentoring and encouraging our students in the
profession.
We have much more work to do to stay ahead of the
curve in recruiting students and placing graduates in a
profession that is once again hitting hyperdrive on all
fronts. We’ve seen a spike in petroleum, mining, and
environmental job opportunities that is tied to prices for the
short term, but that also reflects the fact that we
“GeoBoomers” are getting old and looking toward
retirement with few youngsters filling in the replacement
ranks. One of the great benefits of the new Moncrief Chair
in Petroleum Geology is that it will help us to expand our
reach from an in-state emphasis toward regional and
national recognition. I plan to spend part of fall 2006 on the
recruitment trail to places like Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma
City, and Tulsa talking to science teachers and guidance
counselors about Geology at WSC. At the same time, we
will have a parallel effort to highlight the special character
of WSC Geology to Colorado teachers and counselors.
When I first visited WSC, Bruce Bartleson informed me
that he provided “cradle-to-grave” attention to his students.
From my own experience, and watching Allen, Rob, John
Fletcher, and Holly Brunkal in the trenches day after day, I
can assure you that WSC geology is still based on tireless
personal attention to the individual student. It takes an
incredible amount of time compared to the 200 seat lecture
model of large universities, but that is precisely what we
want to highlight to aspiring science students at high
schools around the country.
On the research front, we never think of research as a
main mission of WSC Geology, but the nine papers,
Jim dashing to the rescue – brunton in hand!
posters, and field trips presented by WSC faculty and
students at the Rocky Mountain GSA meeting,
demonstrated the strength of our student-assisted research.
Much of my research time has been with the Colorado
Geological Survey mapping program around Gunnison.
The main attraction of this program is that two WSC
students are hired for each project as CGS Interns while
acting as our field assistants. Last year’s assistants,
Raelene Wentz ‘06 and Alex Csar ‘06 are published coauthors on the Geologic Map of the Gunnison quadrangle.
This summer we were on to the Signal Peak quad. The
mapping has the added benefit of helping us whittle away
at some of the remaining big problems in the Gunnison
area. Allen, Rob, and I presented a poster at RMGSA on
the northeast boundary of the Ancestral Rockies uplift
based on our work on the Almont quadrangle. I also led a
post-meeting field trip through the Almont area that was
well attended by many of the key workers on the Ancestral
Rockies. I continue to spin out a few 7.5’ geologic maps
with the Utah Geological Survey from my pre-WSC work
in the Sevier thrust belt. At a regional scale, I am coauthor
with Peter DeCelles of the University of Arizona of a
synthesis of the structure and timing of the Sevier belt in
central Utah that was out in the July/August issue of the
Geological Society of America Bulletin. I presented a
synopsis of the oil and gas implications of this research at
RMGSA that I’ll be expanding over the next year. One of
the fun parts of the regional work is having students
looking over your shoulder throughout the process. For
example, Monica Stoeber ‘05 helped assemble much of
the data and draft many of the figures for the central Utah
papers. The Sevier thrust belt work also helps to increase
industry awareness of WSC. I had the pleasure of
conducting a 3-day field trip followed by a 3-day
workshop on the Sevier belt for ExxonMobil in July 2005.
I like the fact that they now know our area code.
Robert Fillmore ‘86 – I continue to work on my book
on the geology of Arches, Canyonlands, Glen Canyon, and
the San Juan River areas. This is almost word for word
what was in the last newsletter, but I am finishing up the
Quaternary chapter as I write this! Honest. I presented two
papers at the GSA meeting here in Gunnison last spring.
One was a geoscience education presentation on the field
trip that I take every fall with my SedimentologyStratigraphy class. It deals with Permian depositional
systems in the Paradox basin as we travel from the
Ancestral Uncompahgre highland and alluvial fan deposits
at Gateway, Colorado to the shoreline facies exposed just
below Dead Horse Point. The other presentation was on the
effect of salt anticline uplift on fluvial deposits in the
Triassic Moenkopi Formation in eastern Utah and western
Colorado. I will be looking in more detail at this “problem”
for my sabbatical next spring semester, among other things.
As Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Section of the
Geological Society of America (sounds impressive doesn’t
it) I worked for the past year to host the section meeting
here in Gunnison May 17, 18, and 19th,, 2006. While the
title is impressive and cumbersome to type, as near as I can
tell my job was to cajole various people into doing things
for GSA that they would otherwise never consider doing.
That and making sure that there is plenty of ice water for all
the speakers.
extensional tectonics and the geologic history of the Gulf
of California. John taught Geomorphology last fall and
promptly whisked his students off to the Baja Peninsula
where they studied the geomorphology of active fault
scarps. In the spring, John and his Research in Quaternary
Geology students concentrated on recent normal fault
scarps on the west side of the Sangre de Christo range in
the San Luis Valley. He presented the results of this
research, with his students as co-authors, at the GSA
meeting in Gunnison. He is now back in Ensenada where
he is recovering from his intense teaching experience and
warming his bones.
Allen Stork – I’m rotating out as department chair and
will be glad to get back into the classroom full time.
I’ve continued my research on local volcanic rocks.
Most of this work has been on the ash stratigraphy on the
north slope of the San Juans. I’ve been collaborating with
Peter Lipman to ensure our recent mapping of tuffs in the
Gunnison and Signal Peak quadrangles correlate well with
his remapping of the central San Juans. The last Research
in Volcanology and Petrology class studied Tomichi Dome
and had the opportunity to visit Mt. St. Helens when it
started to erupt in October 2004. In addition, recent
discoveries in Japan have rekindled interest in my work in
Fiji. I was able to present two papers on the
transformation of island arcs into continents at the Western
Pacific AGU in Hawaii. This has led to some interesting
collaborations with people in Japan and Australia.
Peter is a senior in high school and starting to look at
colleges. Judy finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts and had
a wonderful chance to study art in Italy as part of a WSC
summer class. We hope you will stop by if you are ever in
town.
What is Rob thinking about?
On the family side of life, Everett is 8 years old and in
second grade. He is taking Tae Kwon Do, but only because
we told him it was where all ninja warriors begin. He
practices on his little brother Henry, who is 5 years old. In
the last newsletter I happily reported that Henry was going
to be a Beatle when he grows up, but he recently changed
his mind. He now wants to deliver pizzas. I’m not sure
Briana Lamphere ’05, Raelene Wentz ’06, Deb
where I went wrong, but he’s pretty impressed with the
Calihan
‘06, Cody Allen ‘05, Dylan Tullius’;06 and
pizza delivery guys.
Allen Stork at Mt. St. Helens
John Fletcher – John was a visiting professor for 200506. He came on a sabbatical leave from CICESE, a
graduate school in Ensenada, Mexico where he works on
______________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alumni News
Bruce has summarized your letters, e-mails, and phone
conversations. Thanks for updating us and telling us what
you are doing. Please take a moment to tell us what you're
doing if you haven't already. Information from you helps
us assess the Geology Program. We do listen and
appreciate your comments, whether critical or
complimentary. (Editors Note! - Keep in mind that you
have to send in those little orange cards or at least talk or
email me to get into the Newsletter.)
Bruce Bartleson or Allen Stork
Geology Department
Western State College
Gunnison, CO 81231
email: [email protected]
[email protected]
We still have a few people that we can’t find. If you have
any clues contact us.
1960’s Mike Arndt (‘66), Peter Buchanan (‘64), Own
Abdali (‘68), Sultan Al-Somali (‘69), Thomas
Schanefelt (‘69)
1970’s Aboullah Baroun (‘71), Jon Jezisek (‘79)
2000’s Jason Chapman (‘01), Andrew Lockman (‘02),
Annie Owens (‘02), Sarah Dougherty (‘05)
WSC Geology Graduates by Year
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001
In Memorium —
Dr. Frederick Menzer – see article above
Dr. Frederick Stein – I’m sure many of you remember
Dr. Stein who taught Chemistry and (to some of you)
Physical Chemistry in the 1970s and 1980s as well as
serving as Department Chair in the 1980s. I regret to say
that Fred also died of cancer in the fall of 2005
1965
Gil Noice reports that is still with the National Park
Service in the Southeast Region Lands Office as a
surveyor and cartographer. He has had some “tough”
assignments such as in St. Croix and St. Thomas, but is
thinking of retiring and returning to Colorado.
1968
Linda (Powers) Barrett has had a few momentous
events in her life in the past few years – like becoming the
best looking grandmother in Grand Junction last year and
her younger son Colby was discharged after a 41/2 year
tour with the Marines. Linda reports that husband Bob
spends about 340 days a year working with his own
engineering geology company (after retiring from the
Colorado Department of Transportation), they travel a lot,
and that they recently bought a home on Vancouver Island.
Connie (Trainor) Durand - Many of you will
remember the delightful Connie Trainor who took many
Geology classes and field trips with us in the late 1960s.
We finally tracked her down in New Mexico. She writes:
“While I didn’t pursue a career in Geology I still raft the
heavenly canyons of Utah and Colorado and wonder at the
rock formations. On weekends I hike with friends in the
Santa Fe Group looking for bones of camels, oreodonts,
gomphotheres (an elephant ancestor), deer and rodents.
This is WSC Geology Department’s legacy in my life.”
Dan Pavey - After retiring as Chief Geologist from the
Alaska Highway Department a few years ago, Dan and his
wife Linda (Ashbaugh) have done quite a bit of traveling
in the past few years. Dan and Linda were here for the
2003 Geology Homecoming party and field trip and then
came back through again in the summer of 2005 for a nice
visit. Dan and I keep in frequent contact by email! A hint
for all of you.
1969
Gary Dixon - I’ve been trying to find Gary for at least
seven years and just missing him in various places. So
what happened? He finally found us by looking on our
website and checked in. Welcome back Gary! Here is a
synopsis of his career since leaving Western:
Gary spent 33 years working for the USGS mostly in
the Las Vegas, Nevada area originally working on the
Nevada Test Site for radioactive disposal and working his
way up to the Program Manager for that project and
supervising over 40 employees. Later he became Project
Chief for the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping
Program, Las Vegas Urban corridor Project and
coordinated 15 project scientists in the geologic mapping
(1:100,000-scale geologic mapping) in the Las Vegas and
Lake Mead quadrangles. “The purpose of the mapping was
to record the geologic, geophysical, and hydrologic history
of the quadrangles before urbanization destroyed the
record. The study resulted in over 50 publications, which
was concluded in 1999 with the publications of the two
maps. Worked closely with the Las Vegas Valley Water
District, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Virgin Valley
Water District, National Park Service-Lake Mead National
Recreation Area, and Nevada Bureau of Mines and
Geology - Las Vegas, Nevada.” Upon retirement from the
USGS in 1999 he was named Scientist Emeritus in the
Geologic Division Regional Geologist Office, Menlo Park
California and provides scientific and technical leadership
and guidance to USGS scientists and staff as needed. Not
one to wither away in retirement, Gary has founded
Southwest Geology, Inc. whose focus is primarily in the
desert southwest specializing in geologic framework
studies related to geologic hazards, the potential of
ground-water resources, geologic mapping, geophysical
investigations as applied to solving aforementioned
framework studies, and working closely with other
geosciences in solving modern urban problems. He has
consulted for the Virgin Valley Water District as expert
witness for the protestant in the Tule Desert water right
hearings and for the Southern Nevada Water Authority in
matters of geology, geophysics, and hydrogeology as
needed. Currently working on the geologic framework of
the White River Flow System. Whew!! Tom and I would
like to take credit for some of this, but Gary has done it all
by himself!
Howard Fishman We have seen quite a bit of Howard
lately. He was here for a talk to our departmental majors in
2004 concerning working for a major oil company and
now Howard and I are both on the Western State Alumni
Board of Directors together. Howard recently celebrated
30 years with Chevron. He has been in Midland, Texas for
20 years and is now the project manager for the UNOCAL
G&G integration project for the Mid-Continent Business
Unit. He continues to provide support for seismic and
geological applications. Last summer he and his family
journeyed to Alaska for the second time and enjoyed the
great geology and the wonderful wildlife.
Jay James has recently (June, 2004) formed his own
business, James Environmental Consulting Inc.,
“specializing in permitting for the mining industry.” You
may recall that Jay formerly worked with Montgomery
Watson, an environmental firm based in Steamboat
Springs.
Gordon (Dick) Jones is still having a good time
running bridge games on cruise ships and chasing
dinosaurs in his spare time. Dick and his family are indeed
renowned dinosaur hunters and are credited with some
major finds including the famous Supersaurus found at
Dry Mesa near Delta, Colorado.
Jon Untiedt writes that he is “Retired-Mostly” Jon has
been toying with retiring for some time from his contract
land business.
1970
Dr.Connie (Nuss) Knight along with her husband
Roger, very kindly allowed us the use of their beautiful
backyard in Golden in the fall of 2004 for a really great
alumni reunion. Connie has recently taken a new job has
VP for exploration for Robson Energy, a new company.
She will have a long commute to her office in Golden,
across the street from her house.
Jim Brown was, once again, the hit of the day when he
brought his famous deep-fried turkey to the alumni
reunion in Golden in October, 2004. Thanks again Jim!
He also reports a visit from Paul Crews, famous WSC
skier of the 1960s in 2004. Remember him?
1972
Tim Kelly is still with the State Land Board and
reports “We have been busy here at the Board with all of
the run up in oil/gas prices. I bet I know every operating
company in Colorado these days- at least the land side of
the business.”
George Podsobinski is now a member in good
standing of the informal WSC geology online chat room.
George recently retired from teaching high school Earth
Science, Geology and Physics after 30 years. Now, that is
exceptional! But, just to keep from getting too mossy,
George is teaching 2 classes of Geology per semester at
Pueblo Community College. For fun, George motorcycles
all summer to national parks and geologic areas. George, I
should put you in touch with Jeff Littfin, ’83 who is also a
motorcycle enthusiast.
Steve Taylor is still working as a geologist with an
emphasis on GIS applications in mining mostly working
on properties in Alaska and Mexico.
1973
Dr. Dave Lageson is working with Jim Coogan on the
structural geology of the Elk Mountains near Crested Butte
and is mentoring one our students, Justin Tully ’02, for
his Master’s thesis on that subject. They were both out
here for a few days of recon. field work in 2005. Dave
keeps busy with other projects in Montana and Wyoming
and in his own words; “Still having fun!” Dave wrote this
last year: “Well, I'm the department head again. This is
my second term (I was department head for about 5 years
in the early 1990s) and I guess I'm not smart enough to
avoid the damn job. Here are some highlights of our
program:
We have around 220 majors in five undergraduate
degree options (geology, geohydrology, paleontology,
geography/GIS, and snow science). I think offering
students some academic diversity is the key to success,
like you guys have done over the years. We have a new
PhD program with about 5 new grad students starting this
year. Our master's program continues to thrive, with about
30 students. We've added four new tenure-track faculty
positions this year in dinosaur paleontology,
geomicrobiology, Quaternary climate change, and
petroleum geology.
“So, it's been a good time to be department head!
We've received a lot of support from the upper
administration for growth, despite terminally bad state
funding in Montana for higher education. Of course, in
return they are expecting more research and external
funding from the faculty. We are slowly turning into more
of a research-oriented department.”
Marty Wittstrom was here for Homecoming in 2004
and visited the department and enjoyed talking with all the
new staff.
1974
Steve Biesman celebrated 25 years in business of
Biesman Construction in Bend Oregon in 2005. Steve and
Tricia continue to be active in their spiritual community of
30 years.
Steve Craig reports that he “has left Reno, Nevada for
a new job in Lakewood Colorado. He was appointed Vice
President of Exploration for Gryphon Gold Corporation
with responsibilities back in Nevada. So, he is already
planning to add a lot of air miles to his seat rather than
truck miles. On weekends he heads back to his old home
town of Leadville to visit his folks. He makes sure that
both parents remain healthy by insisting they continue to
shovel snow (mom is 82 and dad is 90). He gets the snow
blower out to get rid of the bigger piles lying around.
Steve still has interest in high speed skiing and hiking and
he is looking forward to getting back into the spirit of the
Colorado Rocky Mountains again.”
Ray Hensley sent in this biography after a WSC
alumni meeting in L.A. in 2004 with college president Jay
Helman and Duane Vandenbusche. “I was raised in, and
my family managed, two small ski areas in the San Gabriel
Mountains about 35 miles north of Pasadena. I attended a
one-room school- house with 16 children spanning 12
grades, until I met up with big La Canada High School.
After 7 years of skiing before, during and after school, I
did well competing nationally and it naturally became a
focus of expression and passion. Unfortunately, my
academics did not receive the same energy. I naturally
wanted to attend an institute of higher learning with a ski
team. I applied to D.U., C.U., Utah, Wyoming, and
Western. The reply from all went the same, athletics
(GOOD), academics (BAD). All suggested that I attend a
Junior college and try again. That was until Coach Ken
McLennan wrote and offered to me the opportunity to
come to Gunnison, Colorado and take an entrance
examination that if I passed would allow me to attend
Western State College on probation and try out for the ski
team. Ken wanted down hill skiers. My parents and I
scraped together enough money to get me on a Continental
Airline flight to Grand Junction, and a private flight to the
Great Divide, darn near. The long story, short. I passed. I
got on the team. Got my full scholarship. Got the two-time
NCAA All American Awards, alpine ski team (thank you
Ken). Got my geology degree, (thank you Tom and
Bruce). Graduated with 3.2 gpa. Got a great education. At
your introduction Jay (Helman, President), "It's all about
people," never wiser words spoken.” Editors note: As
many of you are aware, the college decided they could no
longer afford to fund our skiing program and decided to
try to keep it going by alumni contributions. Fortunately,
many stepped forward and the program will continue. Ray
was one of those who made a significant contribution and
helped keep the program going. Way to go Ray and
Harbottle says hello!
June and Bob Just have been involved in a number of
our alumni functions including our road bike trip through
western Colorado last year and the alumni reunion in
Denver. June, still with Geographix, has had several
spectacular biking and hiking trips to Switzerland and Bob
was recently induced to come out of “retirement” and is
working as a geologist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
We had a nice hike together up the Copper Creek valley
above Gothic last summer.
1975
Elliott Crist sends in the following: “Thanks for the
message about Fred Stein. I didn't actually have any
classes from him, but he was part of that great era at
Western State.” In regards to Fred Menzer Elliott suggests
that perhaps at some point, Fred’s students, professors and
friends should get together. “We could plan a raft trip,
hike up a geologically interesting cannon some place or ? “
A good idea Elliott!! Let’s work on that.
“Things have been quite busy the last three years or so.
I've been working for a lot of Canadian Juniors and some
majors as well. I've managed to stay in Nevada for the
most part and avoid the month + trips to foreign lands. The
down-cycle in the gold prices was actually quite good for
me. It was nice to spend some more time with the family
and I did a couple of interesting jobs. I worked for the
Census Bureau for about 9 months as a Crew Leader. I
trained my own crews of 25 or so and got my own area. I
think I found out why I wouldn't want to work for the
government full time. I also mud logged over in the
California gas fields. I started a training program that was
supposed to last 6 months and 10 days later was out on my
own. It was interesting to study the gas business and
culture. Gas prices took a hit in the fall of 2001 just as
minerals started to recover. I've had numerous calls since
then to go back to mud-logging. If I go back to oil and
gas, I think I'll try to do it as a geologist. The things that
they do are not that complicated compared with some of
the things that we do in minerals. There are several small
consortiums composed of a geologist, a geophysicist, a
land man and a money guy. That's it! It's nice to hear
from you. I'll try to keep in touch.” Please do!
Don Graham continues to make a living as a
consultant geologist in Gunnison. Most of his work
consists of conservation easements and other
environmental type geology as well as being an occasional
partner to me in various forms of recreation such as backcountry skiing, mountain biking, etc.
Peter Herzberg is in Corning, New York and enjoying
a lot of traveling with his wife to various European
countries including Scotland, where I’m going to join him
one of these years. Relations with the U.S. will never be
the same again.
Kevin McAndrews is still in Austin, Texas and
watching various business enterprises in mining and oil.
1976
John Brunel reports that his oldest son graduated from
Colorado School of Mines and that his daughter is a
straight “A” student at Regis College in Denver- and as he
puts it (before I could) “not exactly a chip off the old
block.” His youngest son is a sophomore at Golden High
School and is contemplating coming to Western. John’s
final words are that he is “trying to live life large and
enjoy this interesting planet.” John – good for you and
you know; we all, your fellow students and the faculty,
enjoyed the planet a little more when you were around.
Peter Dea wanted me to condense this, but I kind of
like it the way it is. Here is his report (from the upper
levels of the corporate world):
“On Jan 6, 2006, I participated in and sponsored the
National Western Stock Show (NWSS) celebrate it's 100th
anniversary by ringing the opening bell of the New York
Stock Exchange with Pat Grant and the NWSS executive
team and NYSE CEO John Thain. We may have been the
first ones to ring the bell dressed in cowboy hats!! (It made
for a classic photo in the Denver papers and the fodder of
endless kidding from friends - "why were you wearing the
bad guy black hat!) As we entered the trading floor after
opening up the 21 trillion dollar market, the traders yelled
out yeehaw, yeehaw as they spotted our hats. The yeehaws
rippled and resonated across the floor as Mr. Thain
escorted us through the organized mayhem. I also rang the
opening bell in May, 2005, exclusively for WGR,
(Western Gas Resources) celebrating a record year and
was interviewed live on CNBC Squawk Box and
Bloomberg in 2005 as national interest in energy escalated.
Western Gas Resources, (NYSE: WGR) was
recognized in the Jan 9, 2006 Forbes magazine as one of
the top 10 Oil and Gas Companies in Forbes "Best
Managed Companies in America" issue citing a 29.9
percent five year annualized return to shareholders. This is
second year in a row for this recognition for us. We
delivered our shareholders a 62 percent return in 2005.
Elsewhere on the media circuit, I was interviewed on
Bloomberg Moneyline TV show on Jan 3, 2006, quoted in
TIME Magazine Jan 16 and will participate in a national
media blitz with Denver Mayor Hickenlooper Jan 23 and
24 to NYC and Wash. DC to promote Denver as the
Balanced Energy Hub of the West. The tour in part is
derived from my role as Executive Chairman of the Metro
Denver Economic Development Corp, Energy Committee.
We will be on CNBC Sqwawk Box Jan 23 at 7:10 or
8:00am, Bloomberg at 12:45pm ET, and have interviews
with Time, Business Week, WSJ, Financial Times,
Economist, etc pending final schedule.
I have been asked to give the keynote address at the
AAPG Annual convention in Houston April 11, 2006 on
"Perfecting the Search for Unconventional Resource
Plays" and the Keynote speech on August 7, 2006 at the
RMAG Annual meeting in Denver.
In my spare time I have been skiing up a storm in Vail
and Crested Butte with well above average powder days
and keeping up with the twins, Drake and Austin,
freshman at DU and WWU and Cort, freshman at
Colorado Academy. Cathy and I are co-chairs of a gala
event, "Museum After Dark" at the Denver Museum of
Nature and Science later this year where I am on Board of
Trustees.
PS – Peter is also on the Board of Trustees for
Western State College!
Cathy Hedin-McNiel sent regrets about the Golden
alumni party last year but sent me this message: “Have
lots of fun, and remember the days when everyone was a
lot less uptight about everything, ------ Amen Cathy – and
thanks!!
Fred Menzer III was the General Manager of the
Henderson molybdenum operations in Colorado from
April, 2004 till November, 2005 at which time he was
named Vice President for Global Operations for the
Climax Molybdenum branch of Phelps Dodge (officially a
“business unit” of PD). Fred and Vicky celebrated
becoming grandparents in October, 2004 when
granddaughter Obbie was born. Daughter Heather is in her
4th year at CSU in mechanical engineering and pre-med.
Dawne (Miller) Pennel is now a Development
Geologist for Aera Energy in Bakersfield, CA working on
the Belridge Asset that is in a diatomite section in the
shallow, upper Mio/Pliocene with light oil. She previously
had been with Occidental doing practically everything.
Her son Travis is in the Ohio State band and Dawne and
family went down to the Fiesta Bowl (Notre Dame vs.
Ohio State) to watch her son play but as she says: “He's in
E Row toward the center. I can never spot him as they all
look alike. Son Adam will be going to UC San Diego next
year (and playing soccer-a star, according to the
newspaper reports) while Erik in the 10th grade made the
Kern County honor band playing tuba. Seems like Dawne
has fostered a family of musicians.
1977
Al Cough writes that: “Life is good- Working full
time as Deputy Commissioner of Alaska Department of
Commerce in Juneau. I teach skiing part time in the winter
and fly commercially for a local float plane airline in the
summer.” Sounds good Al – Why not fly down to
Gunnison some time and land on Blue Mesa Reservoir –
we’ll pick you up.
Colleen (McShane) Cope - After getting her Master’s
in 2003 and several years of substitute teaching, Colleen
landed the big one – a permanent teaching job in Ft.
Collins. Here are her impressions of her first semester of
teaching:
“It’s been exhausting and challenging and overall it’s
definitely a “keeper” job (if they hire me back!). And the
way it works here is that there are no guarantees and you
must reapply for a position every year. Then on the first
day of your 4th year you walk around with a halo because,
you have tenure and no worries (unless you really screw
up!). I, of course, am teaching the courses no one else
wants to teach, but they are all perfect for me: Geo-space
(astronomy/geology), Environmental Science (Tragedy of
the Commons; ecological disaster at Rapa Nui; Population
growth; Ecology: Energy and Fossil Fuels;
Atmosphere/Water; Alternative Energy), and the Intro to
Chem, Phys, and Earth Science, ICPE (which is a yearlong course and covers lots of great concepts). It’s not the
content of these courses that teachers are not attracted to,
but the population of the kids. Like I’ve mentioned, the
geology and environmental science courses are geared for
students who have low math skills, not motivated, etc. So
they become the science credit options for kids who can’t
handle the chemistry or physics (or ICPE, even). So,
overall some challenging students (pink hair, tattoos, etc.
not uncommon) but once you get to know them, they are
just as capable as anybody. (Editors note – sound familiar
to some of you?) And, of course, there are many students
who are just typical kids who are taking the class because
they have a strong interest in the subject. Yeah, we like
those!! My philosophy has been to have high expectations
with intensive and meaningful class-work, but grade easy.
I still had about 12 D/Fs in a class of 29 in geo-space and
environmental science, and about 4-5 in ICPE out of a
class of 34. Anyway, it is just an amazing world to be part
of -- a large, dynamic high school. WOW! Sometimes it’s
like being in another country with its own culture and
language. I feel privileged in so many ways -- not the least
of which is that I know that if I don’t do well enough,
there are 100 people waiting in line to take my place.
Sounds radical, but in this town it is true.”
Colleen was also one of the alums who attended Fred
Menzer’s funeral in Vail, driving in from Ft. Collins –
Really nice to see you there Colleen!
Jim Douglas sends in this note: Jim was recently
promoted to “Executive Engineering Assistant to the Chief
Engineer” at Caltrans (CA's DOT) following a year as a
Project Management Coordinator for the southern part of
the state. In the past year, he completed the Caltrans PM
Certification program as well as obtained his Project
Management Professional certification from PMI. After
18 years with Caltrans, Jim relishes spending time with his
wife on their 5 wooded acres in the Sierra foothills
remodeling the home, working with wood, and
just keeping up with the weeds, well, when he is not
trying to ride the edges off the tires of his BMW
K1200RS. He recently received his 200,000 BMW -Miles
award and is a confirmed motorcycle road-racing fanatic
working as a turn marshal at regional, national and
international races.
Bob Dickerson writes that “in the past two years I
have completed numerous geologic studies for the DOE,
including volcanic stratigraphy in Nevada, secondary
mineral studies, dust deliquescent studies and Quaternary
geology studies. I remarried two years ago to a wonderful
woman who climbs and canoes with me.” What more can
you ask? Bob presented o paper at the GSA meeting in
Gunnison last May.
Freddy Frankel is still in Houston with ChevronTexaco but had an exciting adventure during Hurricane
Katrina. Here is his report. “We're fine - no damage to
property –It was a Class 5 with cross hairs directly on
Sugar Land. I secured the house as well as could be
expected - windows, doors, etc, paintings and valuables in
closet and turned circuit breakers off (except refrigerators).
The 4 of us (and doggie) left Wednesday evening at about
7 p.m. to go to Fort Worth where I had booked one of the
only available motel rooms in Texas (about 200 miles
away). Approximately 18 hours later we arrived there after pushing the car in neutral with the motor off, for
about 3 hours (to save gas). We were only moving 10 feet
at a time anyway - it worked and we bought gas on some
back-country roads later. We stayed there 3 nights and left
to return via the back roads Sunday night. It was much
cooler in the night (over 100 degrees day temp) and I had
two 5 gallon gas cans strapped to the roof of the car. Made
it home in about 6 hours. The pool and yard was a mess house is fine. Freezer defrosted - no big deal.”
Greg Liller just checked in with a bunch of photos of
him fishing and a big mine he helped develop in Mexico.
Here is his report:
I have changed my job title somewhat and I now am
a sculptor specializing in large media. The first photo is of
the leach pad at Gammon Lake Resources’ Ocampo gold
silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico. For some reason they
made me V.P Exploration and Development. It’s a
combination open pit underground mine with both heap
leach and conventional milling. Production should be
around 200,000 oz gold and 8 million oz silver. I have
been working on this project for 9 long years. Managing
and planning it from the first drill hole in the district until I
turned it over to the engineers for construction. I have also
learned to watch engineers like a hawk. This is my
5th baby to go to production and I know they tend to screw
things up as only engineers can. I also run exploration and
development for a second company, Mexigold Resources.
Whereas the Ocampo mine is in the middle of the Sierra
Madres, with an accompanying lack of creature comforts,
Mexigold has three mines in Guanajuato Mexico. I can
take a cab to work. How many mining/exploration
projects can you say that about?
Rod McCabe and Jan came down from the hills to
come to the Golden alumni event and as usual, brightened
the place up. Good to see you guys!
Kimla McDonald - “I'm just out here delivering babies
as a midwife employed by a birth center and hospital in
Annapolis, Maryland. Still living in DC and taking part in
as many regime-change rallies as I can, aided by my
daughter Rosa, 17, my son Kevin, 13, and my husband
Michael Kelly, former San Francisco mime troupe member
and current director of housing in the District of Columbia.
Glad you're doing well. Thanks for keeping me updated re:
Gunnison winters. I don't miss those.”
Nancy Molyneux lives in a beautiful old home near
Newport, Rhode Island that she and husband Rich fixed up
over the past few years. They have been having a fun time
like biking trips in Spain. Deirdre and I went down to visit
them last summer, ate lobster, clams Casino and had a fine
time – what a great place!
Lauren (Hart) Wolfe reports in that: “I’m still lucky
(or stubborn) enough to be living in the San Juans and
enjoying my passions of skiing and riding horses. I have a
great job working with high school kids with disabilities
who are preparing to transition to adult life. Between this
and my two kids, I think I’ve earned a PhD in Teenaging.
They are both, right now, training to be Ski Patrolers.
Hope to see you soon Lauren!
1978
Eric Bard writes the following: “I turned 50, got a 15
year pin at WesternGeco and had a 20 year wedding
anniversary. To celebrate I drove a boat down the Canal
du Rhone across the Etang de Thau up the Canal du Midi.”
I’m sure most of you will, of course, know that this a
beautiful area on the southeast coast of France west of
Marseille. How did you find out about this somewhat off
the beaten path area Eric?
Mark Fernandes was out here in the winter of 2004
trying to relive his youth and skied a few days at Crested
Butte (with Don Graham,‘75 as local guide) and
Monarch. I asked him what he was doing this winter and
this is his reply: “With my broken arm; (multiple fractures
skiing; had an MRI last week; looks like it was broken in 4
places; plus rotator cuff damage; ouch!!); I haven't been
able to do much this winter. But I am working; and will be
spending a week in the Caribbean next month with my son
exploring the Bahamas on a 45' Catamaran. We have an
extra berth if anyone is interested!!”
Pam Klessig is still in the mining business but has
switched gears from the gold industry and is now running
an energy company, Western Uranium Corporation,
focused on uranium exploration and mine development.
The company began trading publicly in April on the
Canadian TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol
WUC. “Other than business trips, I made very few other
excursions during 2005. I made a few short trips here and
there but nothing all that grand and exciting. Most of my
spare time during the past year was spent hiking with the
pooch up in the Sierras. Both the dog and I put in many
miles last summer on a variety of trails.”
Myra (Vaag) Lugsch - “Myra, her husband Bill and
their twins Mitch and Dean live in Applewood on the west
side of Denver. Myra thought she would have time to
catch up on projects at home now that the twins are in 1st
grade. However, she is serving as Secretary of the PTA at
Stober Elementary, is in charge of the After School
Spanish program and is helping with the Race to Read
program and various field trips, book fairs, etc. at the
school. So, nothing is getting done at home. Myra is also
still involved in Twin Connection, which is a support
group for mothers of multiples. Myra runs, lifts weights,
and plays a little tennis and golf in her spare time. On
weekends, Myra and the boys ski, hike South Table
Mountain, go on bike rides, or play golf. Myra has a new
email address: [email protected].
Carol Ostergren is still hanging on at the USGS
working on partnerships to build out geographic/spatial
data in California. “I’m starting to take my 8 year-old son
river rafting – He’s a natural!
Paul Rady - “I am busy in Denver coaching two of our
three little daughters' soccer teams, and we're building a
barn to spoil them with a pony. Also, I'm constantly
training on the road bike to try and fight the (losing) battle
of slowing down. Just like a "peak-bagger" for
Fourteeners in Colorado, I have been bagging all the
majors "cols" (high-mountain passes) in Europe the past 5
or 6 years while following the Tour de France, and only
have about 20% more on the list. I'm working hard to
build the next Antero Resources after selling the last one
in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. We're drilling now in
the Piceance Basin near Rifle and Silt, and hope it'll work,
although nothing's quite like the Barnett. We have four
"young bucks" from the WSC Petroleum Geology
Program working for us now in Denver, and I tip my hat to
Jim Coogan, as well as Alan and Rob, for the fine job they
do in preparing the young bucks for industry. Jason
Elliassen ‘03, Andrew Wood ‘04, Josh Shaw ‘03 and
Jeff Jackson ‘03 are outstanding, and continue to take on
more and more responsibility. Great job Western!!!
Thanks Paul and by the way – Where do you find the
time??
Steve Reynolds writes by email: “I'm still the Vice
President of Infinity Oil and Gas, Inc. We are an
unconventional gas exploration company with over
800,000 acres of active leasehold across the US producing
over 130 million cubic feet of gas a day. Work is still a joy
that I give much credit to WSC preparing me for. With my
three daughters, ages 12, 11 and 8, life is full. I'm still the
President of the 1500 kid soccer club, watch lots of
"cheer" competitions and horse training. Skiing and
cycling are still my two passions.” Thanks for everything
Steve!!
Robert Spencer is still in Stevensville, Montana
Rick Stefanic is with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (that
makes two WSC geology alums: see Bob Just,‘74) in
Billings, MT and checks in with the following: “The past
couple of years have been filled with preparing and
contributing to environmental documents for oil & gas,
coal bed methane, timber sales, water impoundments,
housing and CASINOS. I still get to play geologist
sometimes, but primarily its economics.” He has one son
in Engineering at the University of Idaho and one still as a
freshman in high school, so he’s not quite an empty-nester
yet. Rick also relates that his very patient wife still puts up
with his beer-making, but is already looking forward to
retirement.
Jeff Wingerter is a partner with RDG Oil & Gas,
which is based in Coeur d’Alene, ID. “I live just north of
Spokane; WA (Can’t afford Coeur d’Alene).
RDG is going strong; I joined them in September, 2004
as a geologist/partner. We have purchased the North
Tisdale Lakota field near Kaycee, Wyoming (which is a
fluvial sandstone reservoir at a whopping depth of 270300 feet. Conoco discovered the reservoir in the 1950’s
and began a ‘Gravity Drain Program’ in the 1980’s by
sinking a shaft into the reservoir for subsurface originated
drilling. New Tech bought the field from Conoco in the
late 1980’s and did some more underground drilling. We
bought into the New Tech position last year. It is amazing
to stand in the middle of a reservoir and to watch the oil
ooze out of the sandstone. The problem is that the
reservoir is under pressured (no pressure). There is approx
15 million BO (29 gravity, sweet) in place, 1 million
produced to date. The reservoir is oil wet and we are
treating the reservoir with non-ionic surfactants to change
the wettability to water wet in preparation for a water
flood. We desperately need a reservoir engineer to help
design a water flood.”
1979
Huntly Boyce-Armstrong checks in with the
following: “Hi Bruce!” Myra e-mailed me about the
alumni gathering in Golden. “If I were still as free and
independent like years ago, I'd be there. My 8 and 10 yr.
old daughters are taking up my weekend time with soccer
and dance classes this fall. My role as a mom has been the
best part of my life since good old geology/WSC days of
yore. And now I get to turn my girls on to minerals and
rocks and any other geologically related topics of interest.
I am teaching high school Sciences-Astronomy, Geology,
Environmental Science, Health, and Anatomy-a variety of
subjects at North American Hockey Academy. This is a
high school in Stowe, VT that offers a session from OctMarch for female Ice Hockey players from USA and
Canada, who are fostering their talents in pursuit of the
Olympic Ice Hockey Teams. The girls are both dedicated
students and athletes! Meanwhile, my girls are in the Mt.
Mansfield Ski Club Jr. Alpine Racing program and
enjoying the competitive races!” Huntly, you really would
have enjoyed the party in Golden – sorry you couldn’t
make it!
Tim Hall is still with Kennecott Minerals working with
the Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Company in Juneau,
AK.
Bill Heffron wrote in last year with a nice note. “I
want to thank you for the invitation to the Geology Alumni
party in Golden on Oct. 9th. My daughter unfortunately
has a volleyball tournament then and I won't be able to
make it. I also wanted to say that I'm very impressed and
appreciative that you and Dr. Prather take the time to do
these kinds of events. My wife (Melinda, who also
graduated from Western with a major in biology) is
somewhat jealous because she never hears a thing from the
biology alumni. When I get together with old friends from
Western we usually talk about the great days we had there
(with the exception of a few of your tests). It’s always
great to hear news about Western and thanks again for
keeping in touch.” Thanks Bill. Much appreciated. Hope
we get to see you again one of these days!
Mark Stewart put together a great tour of the Rangley
area for our Petroleum Geology class last fall and initiated
Schlumberger interviewing some of our students – Thanks
again Mark!!
Kevin Taylor was up here a few weekends ago with
Ken Tornquist, ‘81 for their annual ice-fishing
expedition. Sorry I missed you guys!! Kevin’s son James
is now a geology major at Western.
1980
Dave Colburn has his own company called DC
Services doing consulting and field services operating out of
Mead, Colorado. In case you’re wondering, like I was, Mead
is just north of Longmont.
Doug Dennison - “I’m sure like some other alumni of
the WSC geology program. I’ve found my way back into
the oil & gas business. I joined Oxy in Grand Junction in
mid-November and am responsible for their regulatory and
governmental affairs activities in this area. Prior to that I
spent about 2 ½ years with Garfield County in Rifle as the
liaison between the County, citizens and the oil & gas
industry to try to resolve issues, provide education, etc. It
was a fun stint, but I’m glad to be out of the “complaint
department” business. I’ve been running into a number of
WSC alums the last few years, including Scot Donato, ‘81
and Mary Bergman,‘81. I see from the recent news that
the petroleum geology program at WSC is stronger than
ever. Even though I’m not doing “real” geology anymore,
I’d also like to offer to help with any needs the program
may have. If the program would ever like tours of drilling
and completion operations or guest speakers on specific
topics, let me know. I put together a “Drilling 101”
presentation while at Garfield County that was designed to
educate the public on the whole process of drilling,
completion and production and would be happy to present
it to students if there’s any interest.
Peter Dwelley left Meridian Gold in November, 2004
and took a position with Granite Construction in
Sacramento. “I will be directing their acquisition and
permitting group to develop new material sources for
aggregate...should be a great experience and more stable
than the cyclical gold business...also a great opportunity to
blend my geologic background with more recent
regulatory experience. How are you doing? Hope you
are healthy and enjoying life. My family is doing
great...kids are big into sports...skiing, football, basketball,
baseball...and on the honor role at their schools; now that
the kids are older (10 and 13) Joan is going back to school
to get her nursing degree.”
Carol (Mooney) Hogsett reports that “Vic and I both
pretty busy at work (Los Alamos National Labs.), Vic Homeland Security stuff, and I’m still recruiting hot
science and engineering talent. Our vacation last summer
turned out great! We found NV opal, OR sunstones, CA
obsidian needles and beach agates. We are into lapidary
and jewelry now! Fun stuff! We will be heading to
Exhuma Bahamas in May for a 1 week dive/snorkeling trip
on a catamaran - live on boat. Can't wait!”
Brian Johnson is back in Australia. Here is his report:
“Took a slight tangent from the geologic profession after
starting professional life as a field geologist in the
petroleum sector. Since then, I have had stints in: New
York as research director at the NYMEX; commodity
treasury advisor in Sydney at Oakvale Capital; in London
as a strategy advisor to energy companies with a
consulting firm called Caminus, and now running the
Melbourne Resources Practice. I continue to bring in
projects to the firm as well as get pulled into projects on
the basis of a level of technical understanding. I have
branched out from just oil and gas and cover coal,
refining, electricity and the pipeline industry as well as the
water industry. I plan to try and get back to Gunnison this
next year to check up on the 40 acres I bought some years
back just west of town a mile off Highway 50 and the
current tenants - about 40 deer. Brian adds that he and his
partner, Shelley now have “almost” 3 kids – Shiani, Mitch
and one due in June! Quite a career, Brian!
Kim Mauch came up to Gunnison from California in
the fall of 2004 for a visit and took a tour of the new
building and, of course, the new brew pub in town.
Glen Ortel built and owns a new Ace Hardware
(13,500 sq. ft.) in Tucson, AZ. He adds that his daughter
is in the engineering program at the University of Arizona
and “Thinking of getting back into the oil business – Just
Joking!”
1981
Scot Donato is now the Manager of Environmental
Health and Safety for the Bill Barrett Corporation. Many
of you will recall that both Paul Rady and Peter Dea
worked for Barrett Resources before Williams Production
bought them out a few years ago. Bill is back at it again
with a new company exploring for oil and gas in the
Rockies. Way to go Scot!
Caron (Sanford) Koll reports that she is “married with
two wonderful daughters, Carly and Sarah who are
supportive of my passion for my geologic consulting
profession. I have worked with current employer,
Blasland, Bouck & Lee Inc. for 23 years.” (Editors note –
This is a pretty big outfit with offices all over the U.S. and
ranked very highly by Engineering News Record’s ratings
of environmental science firms – look them up on the web
– very impressive!) Caron has a CPG and PG license in
Pennsylvania and a Licensed Site Professional in Mass.
Bryan Roberts couldn’t make the alumni bike trip in
spring, 2004 but he did respond: “Give Tom and Bruce my
best regards and wish them well on their bike trip. I wish I
could join them; however, family and client requests have
clogged my agenda. Visions of the Rockies are still bright
in my mind.”
Tom Shrake continues to develop a gold property in
El Salvador that is progressing towards mine development.
Tom and Anne (Boucher-formerly of the Red Dolly
among many other accomplishments)) visit Bonaire every
Christmas for snorkeling and wind-surfing. Son Robert is
now at Montana State University where Dave Lageson
‘73 is Geology Department Chair – Hope they get together
one of these days! Tom and Anne’s two girls, Katie and
Mariah, are both great soccer players (I know- they beat
me up pretty good!) and turning into beautiful young
ladies. Tom is the coach of the soccer team and club
president.
1982
Kristen Andrew-Hoeser is “still doing geologic
hazard and slope stability studies at Entech Engineering.
The Colorado Geologic Survey Landslide Susceptibility
maps documented many of my studies and mapping in
Colorado Springs. I wrote portions of AEG’s “Engineering
Geology in Colorado, available from the CGS. Also
teaching Geology 101 at Univ.of Colo., Colorado
Springs.” Kristen has been a loyal alum, drove up from
Colorado Springs for our Golden event and attends
practically everything in Colorado Springs. Thanks,
Kristen!
Dennis Beaver came to the Golden alumni party last
year with his wife Lea Anne who charmed everyone.
Dennis reports as follows: “I quit working for the militaryindustrial complex on January 1, 2006 (sort of a New
Year’s resolution) and am plunging into solar energy!
Anyone on the Front Range interested in photo voltaic
systems give me a call @ Beaver Solar (303) 507 9748.
Eric and Laura Ruud Laura is back working with
the Geological Society of Nevada for 25-30 hours/week,
but also has a position with the Renewable Energy Center
at UNR for another 21 hours/week. And just to make sure
she doesn’t get lazy she is still volunteering with the 10th
Grade Confirmation class, the homeless family program at
church and now is President of the NJROTC Boosters
Club. What are you going to do when you retire Laura? I
believe the NJ stands for National Juniors and you know
the rest. Both of their kids, Alex, 187 and Erica, now 16,
are involved with the ROTC while Erica is the only female
cadet on the armed drill team. Alex, now almost 6’ 4’’
(and bigger than his dad), is big into the Run & Shoot
biathalon. (Remember Josh Thompson?). Eric continues
working with Geobrugg, (a Swiss company that makes
rock-fall barriers) a job that keeps him traveling much of
the time, but still finds time to ski quite a bit at Mt. Rose
just above the Shrake’s house.
1983
Sue Barrett has given up the bright lights of big cities
and is living near Meeteetsee, Wyoming. “Our newest
ranch, Flying River Ranch, is now an USDA Certified
Organic beef ranch. With this holistic thinking, I also
started my own business, the Vibe Center Ltd., in Cody,
Wyoming. I have found my calling and truly love what I
am doing. Finally! In the oil business, thank goodness,
just oil of different molecular compounds. See:
www.thevibecenter.com
Steve and Nancy Carpenter “Steve is working like a
madman at INEL site up here in Idaho Falls, I am working
not so much after selling my business in Littleton. Starting
back up takes time and I am enjoying some time off.
Austin (8) and Logan (6) are both very busy with sports of
all kinds through out the year. Hockey right now and
Logan wants to try out for a part in Aladdin. They both are
playing piano and I am getting pretty good at shuttling. It
reminds me a lot of Gunnison up here. COLD!!!
Yellowstone and the Tetons make for a nice backyard and
daytrips are awesome. Hope you are all well.”
John Evans “Married for the past 18 years to Liz. We
have two kids, Alex, 13 and Lillian 4 in Broomfield where
we both work in commercial real estate. I worked in wellsite geology and sedimentology (John has an M.S. from
CSU) until the early 90s when the environmental field
beckoned for about 8 years until that too, cooled off. Now
we have a small commercial real estate business that keeps
us busy. It’s exciting to hear of the success of Peter Dea
and Paul Rady – Congratulations! Hearing news of the
boom times in the oil and gas patch makes me think,
“maybe I can get back in the game?” But really, life is
good here, raising kids and being grateful for what we
have. Greetings to all.”
Rod Graham is still working in Mongolia for various
mining interests, but comes back to Gunnison every year
for ice fishing and looks us up. We had a nice chat over
breakfast one day in January. Rod is absolutely timeless
and looks just like he did when he graduated – maybe
better.
Craig Holsopple checks in with the following: “The
first job (summer) I had with the FHWA was in 1980. The
division within FHWA that I worked for was the
Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD).
CFLHD manages highway construction projects on
Federal Lands in 14 western states. My duties
were highway inspection, surveying, and materials
analysis. I worked for them until late 1984. I made
enough money to pay for my education and also worked in
some incredible places (Glacier NP, Sequoia NF, Rocky
Mountain NP, Yellowstone NP, and Teton NP). In 1990 I
returned to college and earned a degree in Environmental
Management. Upon graduation I worked in construction
management at DIA. After DIA was completed I worked
on the construction of a landfill in California and then
accepted another position in DIA's construction branch.
In 1997 I returned to CFLHD where I accepted a
position in their environmental department where I worked
on NEPA compliance. I transferred to the construction
branch in 1999. My responsibilities are construction
management but most of my time is spent working
on construction claims. One claim you may find
interesting occurred on a project in Taylor Canyon. The
project involved the construction of three bridges over the
Taylor River. The contractor submitted a differing site
condition claim, stating they did not expect to encounter
large boulders during construction of the bridges. My first
thought was "you have got to be kidding". As you well
know there are numerous large boulders throughout the
canyon, especially at the bridge sites. The claim was
eventually resolved to a fair settlement. So, life is good, I
get to use my Geology training every once in a while and
work in some of the nicest places around.
Andrea Heller “I have been teaching and working
with young students teaching and enriching their reading
and mathematics. I have been successful with many
private tutorials and work with 2 to 5 students a day. One
family has me teaching enrichment and overseeing their
two elementary students organization and work. I see their
family 5 to 7 hours a week. One parent told me I was not
unlike an Olympic coach! I loved that compliment. He
loves the coaching and enrichment I bring to his son.
I love teaching. It’s helpful to be busy to pay the bills.
Gunnison County can be a challenge in the economics
department. One family pays me to go to their child’s
classroom twice a week to work with whoever may need
help. They want the classroom to roll smoothly. Their
child is a pretty good student. I will undergo major surgery
this St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. I found out in Dec. 05
that my hip socket never fully formed at birth. It has
chosen the last year to dislocate and curtail my mobility
and flexibility. So, I has a hip replacement at Porter
Hospital in Denver by Dr. Dennis! Wow and yes I am
fearful, yet excited to have my range of athletic ability
back. I am so young and there are so many places to go
hike, ski and bike!”
Jeff Littfin - “I just returned today from 14 days in
Belize. We rented a 38ft catamaran "bareboat" and sailed
from San Pedro to Placencia with two other couples. I
recently became certified in diving. I dove 5 times in
different areas and saw loggerhead turtles, moray eels,
spotted rays, swam with the sharks and feasted on conch
and lobster and beer. "The Most Remarkable Reef in the
West Indies" So Charles Darwin referred to the Belize
Barrier Reef in 1842, in his study of the origin and
evolution of coral reefs. Since then it has become
renowned as the largest barrier reef in the Western
Hemisphere. Nearly 20km long, it runs from the northern
border of the country, where it is only about 1km offshore,
south to the Sapodilla Cayes that lie some 40km offshore.
I have been doing some work in eastern and western
Montana at several rock quarries for a company called
Montana Rockworks. My work consists of design,
planning and development, mapping boundaries and
elevations during extraction stages used for Environmental
Impact Studies for the EPA. The rock is used for
landscape and building purposes. Troubleshooting
computers and networks keeps me busy full time when I'm
not out skiing, kayaking, dirt biking, waterskiing, diving,
fishing and hunting. I recently built a shop for my metal
sculpting, wood work and music studio. The past year has
been great. I got to go deep sea fishing off the tip of
Vancouver Island, touring the Juneau Icefields, Hubbard
Glacier and Misty Fiords Wilderness in Alaska, and
harvested another 6X6 bull elk.”
Dale Marcum As mentioned in the past, a group of the
’83 alums frequently gets together in an adventure known
as Destinations Unknown or simply DU. This year Dale
was in charge and here is his report ”The DU group got
together last year. Everyone made it, including the wives
and kids. It was my turn this year, so we did a trip to the
Central CA coast. We couldn't get a camping reservation
for the first night, so we spent a day and evening in Los
Gatos. 18 people camping in the backyard! (we've got a
big yard...for CA anyway). That evening we watched an
outdoor 'movie' on a 10-foot big screen in the backyard.
The 'movie' was a DVD Jeff Littfin made of our past DU
trips. We then drove south, crossed the San Andreas
Fault, and down the Salinas Valley, took a right and went
up and over the Coast Range. Camped, surfed, frisbeed,
boogie boarded, bacci balled, skim boarded, drank,
sang...all the typical boring stuff for the next several
days.”
Rebecca Miller remembers the cold winters in
Gunnison this way: “Well my thermometer in Gunnison
was the car seat in the Jeep (always exposed to the
elements). I could always tell when it was -21 degrees
(not -20, not-22) because the vinyl in the seat froze at that
temperature. I did almost get frostbite on my fingers
driving in from the airport after landing after Christmas
vacation one winter. The Jeep never had any windows
and I had forgotten my gloves. I had to clean the snow off
the Jeep to drive and by the time I got home I had some
pretty frosty fingers. I miss Gunnison and always brag
about suffering the cold weather. I did participate in a
WSC alumni reunion here in Phoenix (April or May?
2005) and donated the sum $400 at the time. I am
currently past chair and program chair for the Maricopa
Section of SME in Phoenix, Arizona. I will be chairing a
session on mine waste characterization for the joint
SME/7th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage
(ICARD) conferences in St. Louis, MO at the end of
March 2006. My company (sole proprietor) is currently
busy preparing submitting storm water pollution prevent
plans to the AZ Dept of Environmental Quality for City of
Phoenix and Arizona DOT projects. Still no miningrelated work but I bet things will pick up soon in that
category as well. Rebecca now has a website which can
accessed at: www.ramillerrg.com
Rebecca thanks for everything and I am still so
impressed that you came all the way from Phoenix for
Fred Menzer’s funeral!
Joe Winston reports that “I own my own law firm,
“Winston Law Firm, P.C.” After working as an
engineering geologist for 6 years I went to law school at
Denver University and have now been a practicing
attorney for 15 years.” Good to hear from you Joe – Hope
you can make it to one of the Colorado Springs alumni
functions.
1984
Rick Klebanow sent us a card, a picture of lady friend
and dog and a nice letter: “I am working on my 4th career
– Real Estate investment – fixer uppers, flippers, property
management, and rentals. So far so good, at least until the
next bubble popping. As you can see from the holiday
card, I am teamed up with a beautiful woman, Tana Leach,
and Shadow, the Wonder Dog. We’ve spent the last year
building a house for Tana. My closest connection to
geology these days is buying gold bullion coins with rental
income. Thanks for the Geology Newsletter. I still get a
smile on my face and warm feeling in my heart when I
hear from you folks and know that I am still connected to
WSC Geology.” Nice Rick!! It is a lifetime membership.
1985
John Lamborn “I want to stay off the bad boy out of
touch list so here is an update. I finished mining the
gravel pit and could not get another pit going. Water
prices in Colorado are not worth the hassle. Last fall I got
on the horn and landed a short- term job on an exploration
project in Nome, AK. Things worked out and they invited
me back this year. The reclamation is complete at the
gravel pit; we sold off all the equipment and are disbursing
the proceeds. (That’s the fun part.) Since then we sold the
house, buildings and ranch and moved to Sterling AK.
Our new home is located 2.5 miles from the Kenai River.
I have been fishing a little, like every waking moment I am
home. Things are really busy in Nome, I am working for a
Canadian company called Nova Gold. It is a new
company started in 1999. They have some spectacular
deposits and seem to be very marketable. I am having a
great time trying to unravel the geologic secrets of the
Seward Peninsula. I have taken my gold pan and shovel to
the beach in Nome and sure enough the beaches are truly
golden. That is still a hot spot even after +100 years of
mining. I have to get going, I think my reel has cooled off
by now and the silvers are supposed to be in at Seward.”
And not too long ago, John adds: “Things are going well
in Alaska. My contract ended in Nome and I have taken a
job working at a small prospect in central AK near
McGrath called Nixon Fork. Some Canadians are trying
to reopen the old mine. It is a nice change to see lots of
work for geologists out there.”
1986
Nick Demos - “Bruce, it’s been a while since I've seen
you, I assume all is well because you keep us (quiet ones)
well informed with the mailings. I enjoy the readings and
hearing of your trips etc. I've been a geologist at the
Rocky Flats Plant since '89. Yes I've seen some --- in that
span and it’s been great. We are tearing this place to the
ground at present.”
J.Scott Honodel “Hello, Western! It seems so
incredible how time flies. I still have just my Bachelor’s
degree from Western and I have worked various positions
in geology from early on. Most work was seasonal, with
an underground geologist job in Wallace, ID lasting 13
months until mine shutdown. Recent work has involved
radon gas abatement both indoor and outdoor. I work as an
argon analyst here in Coeur d’Alene doing monitoring
work and compliance inspections. I named my oldest
daughter Katie after Dr. Prather’s daughter – she is now 11
years old.” Good to hear from you Scott – Stay in touch!
1988
Carol Gallatin is still in the environmental business
with more or less the same company whose name has
changed so many times, she get confused. Right now it is
Tetra Tech EC. Regardless, she has recently moved back
to Colorado. Here is what she said in March, 2004 while
still in New Mexico. “As a consultant, your job borders
on "prostitution" to a certain degree, and I don't remember
such a degree program at WSC. Needless to say, that after
15 years with my company, I still truly enjoy my
job. Really! Well, what am I up to these days? Still just
over 5 feet. A few wrinkles and a few gray hairs. Puffy
eyes after too much office work. Living in Albuquerque
and working for Tetra Tech FW; my company was the
42nd "acquisition" of a poorly-sorted (well-graded)
conglomerate of a company dominated by a moderatelycemented matrix consisting of financial terms which prove
I was meant to be a geologist and not an accountant. In
my spare time I volunteer in the fossil preparatory lab at
the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. A great
place to meet interesting people and learn more about New
Mexico throughout geologic history. Currently, we are
preparing Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Saurophaganax
(allosaurid) specimens taken from a quarry site within the
Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation 40 miles
west of Albuquerque. I am quite at home with this site as
a child of Morrison, CO and have "brushed" up on my
sedimentology and stratigraphy of the area. I even rewrote my sedimentology paper on the Brushy Basin
Member, and I am sure Bruce would be pleased with the
state of my improved writing style. Honestly, the criticism
I received in college truly paid off in my career. After all
of that, I get out as a rabid hiker and
snowshoer, occasional bicyclist, sporadic skier, and avid
dinosaur hunter.”
After moving back to Colorado, she sent us this note:
“My work responsibilities will change somewhat now
that I'll be the company's marketing representative for
Department of Defense clients in NM and CO. Of course
I'll continue my other project management and technical
oversight. My volunteer position with the NM Museum of
Natural History will remain unchanged as well as my cochair position of Field Programs with the NM Friends of
Paleontology. It is field season and I'll journey to NM for
field digs and mapping adventures. Work on the Morrison
Fm. is coming along and I hope to do some work this
summer on the local Jackpile Member as my schedule
allows. I may not have been the brightest in
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, but I certainly enjoy the
work, research, and knowledge they both provide when
working in the field. Not to be idle, I already have two
volunteer positions awaiting me in Denver. I'll return to
Dinosaur Ridge as a guide and hopefully help get their
fossil preparatory lab going; and the Morrison Museum of
Natural History is interested in having me do fossil prep
and field work. Should be exciting since Robert Bakker is
the museum's director and he's reopened some of the
original quarry locations in the Morrison area discovered
by Arthur Lakes and O.C. Marsh.
And finally the really big news: “Not married yet but
thinking of something impromptu in late spring. Got
engaged in July, at Dinosaur National Monument
where Terry surprised me (understatement) with the
proposal. Just celebrated my 17th anniversary with the
company in January. My paying job is still captivating. My
only volunteer position has been at the Morrison Natural
History Museum. Knew the first day of volunteer duty that
this is where I want to spend my time, especially when I
got to dig in Quarry 10 with Bob Bakker on the first day.
Pretty thrilling. Since then, I keep busy with fossil prep,
fossil casting, and exhibit development and set-up. Stop in
for a tour!!” Carol in now married
Scott Effner As usual Scott and wife Sue’s life is full
of biking and environmental work. Scott joined us on the
alumni bike trip last year and of course, we all had to wait
for him frequently. Deirdre and I stopped by in La Veta
last spring and saw his place and had a nice visit – Sorry
we missed Sue. “Sue spent about 10 weeks drilling, testing
and installing pumps for an industrial water supply near
Moab. The hours were long, but the accommodations were
good – she stayed in a luxury condo and ate smoked
salmon, Caesar salads, roasted vegetables, almond-crusted
trout, etc. at any of two dozen restaurants in Moab. Scott
spent 11 weeks drilling and testing monitoring wells in
southeast Idaho. The hours were long and
accommodations were less plush – he stayed in a cramped
motel room (filled to the brim with field equipment) and
dined on the fine cuisine of the Ranch Hand Truck Stop.”Such is life!! For fun last year they put together a
Mountain Madness bike tour of 14 days doing 1200 miles,
climbing 85,000’ (6,071/day) over 21 passes and crossed
the continental divide 8 times. The route covered such
places as Trail Ridge Road, Loveland Pass, Vail Pass,
Independence Pass, McClure Pass, Nine-Mile Hill to
Powderhorn, Slumgullion Pass to Monte Vista and so on.
Mark Owens checks in for the first time in years: “I
finished my M.A. in Anthropology this year at New
Mexico State University. I am currently the lead
anthropologist for the U.S. Army at Ft. Carson, Colorado.
Married (finally) in 2003 to a historian named Pam.”
Congratulations on all of your accomplishments Mark!!
Still do any fishing??
1989
Christine Peak has returned from sheep ranching in
Australia and is back in Montrose! It was getting too tough
and all of her kids were here anyway. She also reports that
her son Jefferson (the lizard king of the San Juan River)
continues studies at the University of California but
seemingly does not plan to finish and wants to live simply.
On the other hand, daughter Kara graduated from
Colorado School of Mines went on for a Masters, is
married to a Columbian, lives in Houston and is one of the
14 financial analysts for Mobil Exxon. Quite a contrast –
one again proving that genetics trumps environment!
Doug White is now married and living near Lake
George but still working as a Senior Mine Geologist for
the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company. Here
is his update. “I did get married. My wife Michele is also a
geologist / freelance writer/ bassoonist/ substitute teacher
and general all around good gal. She writes under
her maiden name Michele Murray and has short stories
published in the Mountain Gazette. Some of our vacations
are the subject of her short stories; they do have a certain
amount of color added for entertainment purposes.
See: http://www.mountaingazette.com/index2.php. She is
currently working for Golden Star Resources in
Denver. We are living on the east side of Wilkerson Pass
or ten miles west of Lake George, just outside South Park.
So I am slowly inching my way back to the western slope.
I think we are almost at the geographic center of the
state. I do remember the winter of 88-89. Two mornings
in particular when the temp was - 50 and the suspension
on my truck was non functional and the seat was also rock
like. Somehow I remember it very fondly and I tell the
story of my frozen truck whenever it gets cold.” Doug
hired one of our recent graduates last summer and is
looking for another one this year. Thanks, Doug.
1990
Mark Larson is still at the University of Wyoming at
the stable isotope facility.
Julie (many names) Coleman Singer “Got married in
Peru December 21, 2004 and did it again in Silverton on
June 2, 2005 for all our friends and family. I served for
two years on the BLM National Preservation Board. Just
got a job with the Forest Service/BLM in Durango- I will
be the Heritage Team Lead for the San Juan Public Lands
Center. In essence this means I'll be in charge of all of the
archaeology for SW quarter of Colorado except for Mesa
Verde, Hovenweep, and Canyon of the Ancients. I'll be
leading a team of six BLM and Forest Service
archaeologists! Yikes, that's enough to scare the daylights
out of any sane person!! I'll be living in Durango and
Silverton starting April 2. Come down and visit
sometime!! We are leaving for Costa Rica in a week, and
are going back to New Zealand and Tahiti in November.”
Thornton Mount is still in Gunnison working in
construction, has two kids and is currently building a
house near Hartman’s Rocks.
1991
Liz (Wallner) Francisco has been an archeologist
ever since graduation and a Supervisory Archeologist at
Mesa Verde National Park since 1999. Liz is married to
Jon Francisco who was a WSC Geology Minor. . “Very
proud to be a Western graduate.”
1992
Elizabeth (Budzien) Toivonen writes in December
“Bruce, I thought I would send you an update before I
become a "lost geologist" again. Since we corresponded
last I got married, changed jobs and moved. I did receive
an alumni update card in the mail, but with all that goes on
around Christmas it's gone missing (a very Australian
phrase). Trevor and I moved into our new house last
January and we were married last March. I now work for
HLA-Envirosciences, in the Contaminated Lands Audit
Group. NSW EPA accredits Auditors to act as their
representatives (trying to avoid liability issues of course).
HLA has 4 of the 20 or so accredited auditors in the state. I
am really enjoying working at this end of the field, but it is
extremely disappointing and frustrating to see the
extremely poor quality of work (both on the technical side
and the communication/writing side) put out by so many
environmental consultants in Sydney.”
1994
Suzanne (Schauer) Carmody is teaching Earth
Science and Geology at Widefield High School in
Colorado Springs. She and husband Shaun Carmody have
two daughters, Kiri, aged 6 and Cambria about a year old.
Suzanne, Were you thinking of the Cambrian Period??
Sonia (Hutmacher) Cunningham has a number of
big-ticket items in her update: Married in 2004 to another
Western alum. Completed a paleoenvironmental analysis
of the eastern Great Basin. Promoted to Senior
Archaeologist overseeing all archaeology done in the
Great Basin for AMEC E&E. And finally, the big one, she
adopted a rescued Brittany Spaniel in July, 2005.
Eric Dillenbeck checks in with this: “Beautiful
weather here in Houston, not often we can say that.
Starting my 4th year now with Exxonmobil and enjoying
it. This is an exciting time in the oil patch, lots of jobs. Of
course the minerals industry has really picked up as
well. All in all a great time to be a geologist. I'll be coming
through town in June for my annual trip to the Black
Canyon with Todd Shaw (owner of the 1/4 Circle) and a
couple other friends from Western. Maybe we'll catch up
then. I hope all is well.
Chris Lawson is a software engineer with Bentley
Systems Inc. out of Englewood. He came out to the West
Elks to do some hunting last year
Kirsten (Forkner) Sanders is still working at Six
Points in Gunnison managing the Residential Program of
Services. She is “happily divorced for almost 2 years now
and still enjoys skiing, hiking, climbing and looking at
rocks.”
Dr. Peter Stelling “So, some big things have happened
to me since we last met. I've been working at the University
of Alaska Anchorage for a few years, and I have managed to
work myself into a full-time term position. They have been
trying to get a tenure-track position for me, but funding is
always tight (despite record oil prices of late). Last year
about this time, my wife and I had twins, Naomi and
Tucker. They came out pretty early (about three months
early), so we spent many long months in the neonatal ICU.
In fact, yesterday was their first birthday. If you're
interested, you can check out the whole story at
www.thestatus.com , the patient name is "stelling" and the
password is "stelling2". . Also, my wife Jackie and I have
gotten jobs at Western Washington University in
Bellingham, WA. We're moving Dec. 15, 2005 (driving to
Haines and then taking the ferry to B'ham). We're really
looking forward to the move, but we're awfully sad to be
leaving Anchorage and Alaska. Both Jackie and I will be
teaching full time in the geology department there. It sure
will be nice to be on the road system again!
1995
Rosemary (Hart) Carroll - “Tor and I would love to
eventually work our way back to the Gunnison Valley in
4+ years. The key word here is "work". It seems I have
worked myself into a profession that is difficult to apply to
the Gunnison/Crested Butte area. Life is busy with two
boys (Ethan is 4 and Maxwell is 1.5 yrs) but they are pride
and joy. I hope semi-retirement is not keeping you too
busy.” Rosemary and her husband Torrey are living in
Crested Butte and Torrey is teaching math at Western.
1996
Kurt Feltus has a construction business in Crested
Butte – Double Top Frame and Finish. Kurt writes: “My
wife Mindy and I have a baby girl named Morgan born
Oct. 16, 2004. I’ve been splitting my time between Crested
Butte building houses and the Great Salt Lake, brine
shrimping.” OK Kurt, I give- are you selling or eating the
shrimp?
Rebecca Nanni and husband, James Porter, ‘97
came into town to visit Phil VanZale, ‘97, before he went
off to New Zealand (see below) and we all got together for
a mini-reunion at the Firebrand (formerly the Epicurean
for you old-timers) including messaging in Tom Prather
by cell phone! Hey, we’re thoroughly modern here.
Rebecca and James still live near Taos in an earth home
they built and Rebecca is teaching at a Waldorf School in
Taos.
1997
Rebecca Biglow is in Architectural school at the
University of Oregon. Here is her latest report: “This
winter my classes were all about technical passive solar
design of buildings and passive cooling, alternative
materials and energy and resource conservation. In my
class discussions, a person could forget that there was any
other kind of building going on! It was great! I had
fun, and I'm looking forward to more for the spring term.
I'm still going strong here in school here in Eugene, OR more than half way through the 3-year M. Arch. program,
which feels like a major accomplishment! It's exciting and
frightening at the same time to think of myself out there in
the working world of architecture and finished with school
after next spring. Architecture school is an insane amount
of work, but it's fun work - more fun than plowing through
a steady diet of technical scientific papers - or worse,
having to write them! I've been enjoying (as much as I
can) skiing Oregon's deep thick snow, the great people I'm
in school with, and the perpetual springtime in Eugene
(always green grass, rain, and flowers!). I'm really looking
forward to moving back to the Rocky Mountains,
though. I'm thinking Bozeman, MT might be my next
stop. I haven't totally abandoned geology-related work. In
summer 2005, I contracted to the Forest Service in
Asheville, North Carolina doing mostly road/stream
crossing engineering, and general erosion-control
consulting. It was a great job, and I'd like to continue to
work in that arena from time to time. Lots of people ask
"How can you marry the fields of hydrology/geology with
architecture?" My answer is that I can do both structural
and landscape design. New horizons!
Lynn (Padgett) Connaughton “I've been up to a lot as
always. Planning & Zoning Commission stuff for Ouray
County has been eating up a lot of time, as Ouray County
is feeling development pressures from Telluride and
Montrose, and from within, as our property values
continue to soar. There has been quite a bit of discussion
about creating a land use code section to deal with oil and
gas exploration, drilling, and production. I just finished
giving a talk to the land trust community about severed
mineral rights and concerns for land trusts and
conservation easements. Today I spoke to a smallish
conference put together by the San Juan Corridors
Coalition and Black Canyon Land Trust in Montrose. Last
week I spoke to the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts
conference in Glenwood Springs. My mantra is that
severed mineral rights need to be identified early in the
conservation easement project process because a finding
of "remoteness" from mining ("the probability of surface
mining is so remote as to be negligible") is not
guaranteed. A minerals assessment needs to base
conclusions about the mineral and mining potential on
geologic data and economic factors, not public policy, the
"they would have found it by now" rationale, and "public
outcry" rationale for mining remoteness. So far these
ideas have been viewed as a radical change to the way
land trusts do things (kinda scary) and have been well
received.
I'm still consulting with BIO-Logic Environmental as a
geologist/GIS & wetland scientist. We finished a large
GIS project last year with the Division of
Wildlife assessing sagebrush ecosystems in Colorado. We
modeled the current extent of sagebrush communities, the
historic extent of sagebrush, how species rich the current
sagebrush is, and sagebrush at high, moderate, or low risk
from weed infestation, pinon and juniper encroachment,
residential development, and energy development. I had
to upgrade my computer to do some of the raster
calculations, which would run over night and even over a
weekend.
I've been appointed to the Gunnison Basin Round
Table as the Ouray County representative that brings me in
contact with a lot of prominent members of Gunnison
country. And it’s now official, I own my own web design
and services company at www.mtngeogeek.com. I
designed the Town of Ridgway website last year which I
continue to update. I've also worked on a few small
business websites, and am working on other websites for
nonprofits and an artist; mtngeogeek offers "solar powered
web design" services, and "solar powered web hosting" on
a high-speed solar powered server located in southern
California, and a slew of other digital data and photo
services.
Cutler will be three years old early next year and
Anza turned 5 in December. Anza & I are both going to
be playing soccer (in different leagues!) this spring.
Amy Crawford wrote before she left for a Peace
Corps assignment in Mongolia. Mail is a little slow by
camel. “Bruce, I think I told you I'd keep you updated on
the Peace Corps. It turns out that I did get a Mongolia
placement (which is what I requested) and I'll be setting
off in early June, 2004. I'm quite looking forward to it and
am trying to learn the Cyrillic alphabet--more difficult than
you might think. I'll be teaching English among other
things while there (for at least two years) and hopefully
traveling around with Bactrian camels and living in a ger.
But you never know... Meanwhile I'm studiously avoiding
real work--I've just finished a long ski coaching season
with 50 adolescents (high school) and about the same
number of women over 50. A nice mix! Then, some more
wilderness guiding and on to Mongolia.” For those of you
who want to write her, here is her address: (Note her
name!) Arkhangai Aimag, Tsetserleg, Humuun School#1
Amy Teacher Mongolia (Via China)
Casey Dukeman wins the prize for being the first
person to respond to our card mailing. Of course he has an
office in Hurst two doors down from Allen Stork so it was
a bit of a fix. Here is his story: “Received a M.A. from
Univ. of Wyoming in 2001 and taught high school Science
for 4 years in Greeley and Boulder where I implemented
and still support Anthropology Focus Programs at 3
Colorado high schools. Casey is currently of Lecturer in
Anthropology and Geology at Western.
Sean Hlousek is with Premier Data Services and
writes: “Elaine and I are still in Denver and doing well.
I’m beginning to travel on business and am involved in
setting up GIS systems and providing land records data
and information for Indian Tribes, the National Park
System, and other branches of federal, state and local
governments”
James Porter (see Rebecca Nanni, above) is doing
carpentry and construction work near Taos, NM. He said
he was trying to write something clever and witty, but it
never came to him, so he came to visit Gunnison instead.
Phil VanZale came back to Western a few years ago
majoring in Computer Information Science and, get this,
graduated Summa Cum Laude. Wow Phil! Phil has been
around the block a few times, went down to the Bahamas
to teach for a while and is now in to New Zealand to seek
his fortune in the world. Good luck Phil!
1998
Katye McConaghy You might recall that Katye was
teaching part-time for us the past few years, but with a
little help from Fred Menzer III, ‘76, she landed a new
job with Phelps Dodge as a mine geologist in Silver City,
NM. She married long-time boyfriend Shelby Cox on
December 31st, 2005. “We bought a home that we are
renovating and have a happy puppy named Sin Vaca. I
miss all my friends at Western!” We miss you too, Katye
and by the way, I saw your wedding pictures via Janneli –
very nice and absolutely charming!
Zach Reynolds is still in Carbondale working as a
photo editor for Climbing Magazine for the past 3 ½ years.
He has two beautiful daughters, Emily, 5 and Megan, 3
and a new son Owen born in December 7, 2005. Zach is
married to Carman (Shoults) Reynolds of the class of
2000.
1999
Rebecca Bailey is finishing up her M.S. in Geology at
the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, working on fold
geometry. In the summers she guides tours up the Dalton
Highway to Prudhoe Bay. Last summer she was a
geoscience intern with BP Petroleum in Anchorage. “I’d
love to hear from people, please call if you’re in Alaska.”
Rebecca, did you know I started my career with Amoco
(later acquired by BP)? Of course many of our alums
worked for Amoco at one time, like, Connie Knight,‘70,
Paul Rady, ‘78 and Ken Nibbelink, ‘79, just to name a
few.
Brian Coven reports that his wife, Kimmy, gave birth
to Ruby Louise on July 14th. Brian was out here last
summer looking at some rocks for Encana Petroleum and
we had a chance to bounce around a little together.
2000
2002
Jason Eliassen is a Geologist with Antero Resources
where he has worked since 2003. He is learning the joys of
overseeing multiple rigs at all hours of the day.
2003
Jeff Jackson is in his second year as an MS candidate
at Colorado School of Mines following an adventurous
post-graduate record that included internships and
employment with Western Gas Resources and Antero
Resources as well as a stint doing surface sampling in
northern Canada for a mining company.
Jennifer McHarge writes that she is pursuing her MS
in Petroleum Geology under Randi Martinson at the
University of Wyoming. “Wyoming is great and very well
connected with industry!” “Hoping to graduate in
December, 07 or January, 08.” I guess I have told you Jen
that Randi is an old buddy of mine from way-way back –
Say hi for me!! (Bruce).
Josh Shaw migrated from his long time Gunnison
hometown to Denver where he is employing his famous
computer wizardry as a Geologic Technician with Antero
Resources.
Justin Tully is in his second year as an MS candidate
at Montana State University working with Dave Lageson
‘73 on the structure of Elk Range in the Pearl Pass area.
He has been very busy since graduation with internships
for Western Gas Resources and Ansbro Petroleum.
2004
Ben Jackson is a Geological Technician for Savant
Resources in Denver keeping the data flowing on a
number of projects in Colorado, Montana, Utah, and
Washington.
Andy Wood has been working at Antero Resources,
Denver since graduation where was recently promoted to
Geologist. He’s enjoying the city life and LoDo work
setting when not glued to his desk.
2005
Jake Baker completed internships with the Colorado
Geological Survey and Berry Petroleum over the past year.
He is living in Denver recovering from shoulder surgery
and looking forward to his next career move.
Perry Hooker is living in Elko, Nevada where he
works for Miranda Gold. He writes: “Give my regards to
the upcoming graduates. Let 'em know that if I can hold
down a job, they DEFINITELY can.” We knew he could.
Briana Lamphier recently began work as a Data
Analyst/Field Engineer with Ticora Geosciences of
Arvada which specializes in core analysis in
unconventional gas plays.
Monica Stoeber successfully sold her home-grown
Gunnison business – Mountain Mutts, and has taken her
entrepreneurial skills to Denver where she is cutting her
teeth in the oil business as a geological intern with Ansbro
Petroleum.
Ryan Murphy is in the Big Leagues with ExxonMobil
Exploration in Houston. Jim Coogan was glad to have a
friendly Westerner in the crowd during Jim's invited
presentation at ExxonMobil in July. Ryan also stopped by
Hurst Hall after skiing Crested Butte this winter.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
New Mexico - Field Trip 2006
Jim –assembling North America in
the Picuris
Holly at the upper falls in Frijoles Canyon
Allen and Rob explaining deposition of the lower Bandelier Tuff
– note the hand positions – it must be something important
John –ripping North America apart
at Mount Blanco
Help Support Geology at Western
photo from:
Spring Field Trip 2003
I would like to designate a gift/pledge for the Geology Department at Western.
Geology Fund
Bartleson-Prather Geology Research Scholarship
Valerie Ann Mitchell Memorial Geology Award
Richard W. and Belva R. Moyle Geology Scholarship
Fred J. Menzer, Jr. Geology Memorial Scholarship
Rady Endowment in Petroleum Geology
Moncrief Endowment in Petroleum Geology
Enclosed is my gift of $ ______________________ (Make Check Payable to WSC Foundation)
WSC FOUNDATION, ASPINALL-WILSON CENTER, P.O. BOX 1264, GUNNISON, CO 81230
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Hurst Hall and W-Mountain – spring 2006

Geology Alumni Newsletter - Western State Colorado University

Transcription

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