I've been a mineral collector since I was 14, in 1962. I started in New Jersey and was a member of the Trailside Mineral Club while in High School and college. I obtained geology degrees at St. Louis University (BS in Professional Geology) and Indiana University (MA in Geology) and lived in Kansas City and St. Louis before settling in Houston in 1977. I was a member of the Kansas City Gem and Mineral club and the St. Louis Gem and Mineral Society. I've been a member of the Houston Gem and Mineral Society for 30 years, and currently hold the positions of Mineral Section Chairman and School Collections Chairman. I'm active on the club show committee and have run the swap area at the annual show for over 25 years.
My collecting interests are many and varied, but in the past few years I've concentrated on collecting prehnite from the East Coast of the USA and worldwide localities and also stilbite, apophyllite and heulandite. In the past I've assembled collections of Viburnum Trend minerals, Pea Ridge Mine minerals and Arkansas minerals. I also collect calcite, fluorite and occasionally galena. I am an experienced mineral photographer with over 25 years experience shooting slides of minerals and now working with digital images. My images have been published in Mineral News, Rocks and Minerals and The Mineralogical Record. Also in the privately published Collecting Arkansas Minerals by Art Smith. In 2000 I started an online mineral business, Truscon Minerals, which remains active today but at a reduced level from past years. My only active field collecting interest currently is Texas petrified wood, which is reasonably abundant within 100 miles of Houston. This wood is primarily Eocene and Miocene age and most is not of cutting quality, though they make good display pieces.