I have been interested in minerals since I was 12 years old. That interest blossomed into a lifelong interest in minerals both from a professional standpoint and a continued involvement with mineral collecting. I started out as a member of the junior club, the “Rockids”, of the Scarborough Gem and Mineral Club, back in the 60’s. In the past, I’ve been a member of the Scarborough Club, the Willowdale Gem and Mineral Club, the Richmond Gem and Mineral Club, the Sudbury Gem and Mineral Club and for the past 35 years-plus the Walker Mineralogical Club, the oldest mineral Club in Canada. For more on the Walker Mineralogical Club go to http://www.walkermineralogicalclub.com . I have been president, vice president and have held various positions on the council of the Walker Mineralogical Club. For several years, now, I’ve been a member of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society and volunteer at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
I have collected minerals extensively, from coast to coast in Canada, in particular with my collecting partners Daniel Joyce, Ray McDougall and Chris Rayburn amongst others. I am privileged to have lived in a number of places in Canada from Vancouver, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland. My main goal when field collecting is to uncover a mineral specimen of suitable quality for my personal mineral collection. Of course, I end up with many nice specimens that I can offer to my customers.
Since I now spend half of my years living in a winter home near Tucson AZ, I have become well acquainted with many Arizona mineral localities and look forward to becoming even more knowledgeable about Arizona minerals and localities, in the future.
Young Toronto Mineralogist Club (YTMC)
In 1999, several of us started a club for kids interested in earth sciences. We called the club the “Young Toronto Mineralogist Club” or YTMC for short. We hold monthly meetings with guest speakers from various institutions or other Clubs. As well, we have mineral identification exercises each month (the What’sIt), hands-on activities and monthly “give-aways” of nice mineral specimens that have been donated to the club. In normal times, we meet at the Ontario Science Center and usually have 40 or so members plus their parents attending. Some older members transform into volunteers to help run the club! Usually, the season ends with a barbeque/picnic meeting with pot luck lunch. We are happy that the YTMC has prospered for so many years! If you’d like to learn more about the “Young Toronto Mineralogists Club”, please go to http://www.ytmc.org. The YTMC has been going for over 20 years now!